How to Make a Leaded Glass Panel

Glass panels are a great way to express yourself through artwork or to add an accent to your home. Making your own glass panel may seem daunting but it is fairly simple. There are a lot of tools to purchase in the beginning but these tools are long lasting.

Things You'll Need

• Pattern
• Scissors
• Glazing blocks
• Nails
• Glass
• Scoring tool
• Pliers
• Lead nippers
• Lead
• Flux
• Soldering tool
• Solder
• Newspaper
• Cement
• 2 Natural Bristle brushes
• Whitening product

Instructions

Preparation

1. Set up your work area. You'll need an area that won't be used for any projects where the lead contamination is a problem. You will also need a surface that you can attach glazing blocks to with screws or clamps.

2. Choose your pattern and make three copies. You will need one copy as a reference, one to use to cut out the pieces of the panel and one to assemble the panel on. For beginners its best if you choose a pattern that has a lot of straight lines.

3. Cut apart the pieces of one of the pattern copies. The parts will give you a layout so that you can score and break out the parts of the glass.

4. Lay the pattern copy you're going to assemble the panel on your works surface and us it to check the size and shape of the glass. Take time to grind down or re-cut any pieces that aren't the correct size. You should be able to see the pattern lines around the edges of the glass piece.

5. Nail or screw down the glazing blocks outside of the edges of the assembly copy of the pattern. Make sure that the glazing blocks are exactly straight. Glazing blocks are simply two long pieces of wood that are attached to the table and ensure that the panel is perfectly straight as you are assembling it

6. Stretch the lead. Stretching the lead will strengthen it. To do this attach one end of the lead to a clamp and use plies to pull on the other end of the piece of lead. You will feel resistance, the lead will give away and then you'll feel resistance again as you pull.

Assembly

1. Cut the lead into pieces with the lead nippers. Most lead comes in an H shape that you'll see if you look down on the end of a piece of lead. The sides of the H are called the face, the middle is called the heart and the three sides of these parts is called the channel. To correctly cut the lead, cut across the two sides of the channel. This will avoid the ends of the lead warping.

2. Begin with the bottom and left sides of the panel. The U shaped lead is used for this so that the outside edge of the panel is rounded. Cut the lead sections of these two parts and place the piece of glass that goes in the corner.

3. Cut and place the H shape lead to go around the first piece of glass and place the next pieces of glass in the channel.

4. Work from the first corner piece outward to the top right hand edge. Place the glass into the previously cut lead channel, cut more lead to fit around the glass and repeat. Always make sure that the glass follows the pattern.

5. Secure the borders of the panels so that none of the lead or glass panels can move. You can use small nails to hold all the sides in place while you are finishing the panel.

6. Apply flux to all of the joints in the lead. Flux ensures that the soldering only attached to the areas you want it to.

7. Use a soldering tool and solder to solder all of the joints on the panel. Flip the panel over and repeat the steps on the back-side of the panel.

Finishing

1. Remove the nails and glazing blocks.

2. Cover the work surface in newspaper.

3. Sprinkle the surface of the panel with glazier cementing and use a natural bristle brush to push the cement up under the lead. The cement makes the panel stronger and more durable.

4. Use a whitening product made for glass work and clean the panel. Work the whitening in a circular motion. Follow the specific directions of the whitening to use it properly. The whitening product will clean the lead and brighten the glass.

5. Flip the panel over and repeat steps 3 and 4 to cement and clean the other side of the panel.

6. Allow the panel so cure for 24 to 48 hours.