How to Make Curves on Stained Glass Art

When you look at the absolutely magnificent stained glass windows found in many cathedrals, you are often inspired to learn this beautiful yet challenging art. It takes a lot of time to master the art of cutting stained glass, and the best way to do it is start with simple shapes. Once you have mastered the skill of cutting straight lines, you need to progress to cutting curved lines.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Safety goggles
• Stained glass
• Marker
• Glass cutter
• Padded breaking pliers

1. Put on your safety goggles first. Every time you work with glass you should wear safety equipment.
2. Place a small piece of stained glass on your work area. Use the marker to draw a curved line on the glass.
3. Score the first third of the line with your diamond glass cutting tool. You can't break glass in complex shapes, so you must plan your cuts so that it breaks in small sections mimicking the curve of your line.
4. Use the breaking pliers to break off the piece of glass that you have scored.
5. Score the next section of your line, and use the breaking pliers to break off your next section of glass. Ignore any extra spurs of glass at this point.
6. Repeat the process of scoring the remaining section of our line and breaking off the excess glass.
7. Clean up the edges of the glass using a small file and the breaking pliers.

Tips & Warnings

• Cutting glass can be dangerous. Always wear your safety goggles. Flying glass shards are a natural part of cutting stained glass.
• Glass shards are sharp, and can easily cut your fingers while working with glass. Keep a box of band aids handy while you are first getting used to working with glass.

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