How to Do Hand Stained Glass
Stained glass is an ancient and complex art form that can be achieved at home with some special equipment and supplies. For your first stained glass project, choose a small project with a simple design and only straight lines. Once you have mastered the techniques, you can design and create your own masterpieces. When working with glass, it is very important to take safety precautions--wear safety glasses, use only materials designed for stained glass-making and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for all your equipment. Stained glass patterns are available from retailers, or you can create your own on paper.
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Things You'll Need
- Pattern--2 copies
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Colored glass
- Glass marker
- Cork-backed steel ruler
- Glass cutter
- Glass grinder
- Glass breaking pliers
- Soldering iron
- Solder
- Copper foil tape
Instructions
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1
Choose what color of glass you want to use for each area of your pattern and mark this on one copy of your pattern with a pencil. Take the unmarked copy of your pattern and cut out all the individual shapes with scissors. Place the pattern pieces on the glass and trace around them with your glass marker.
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2
Take your ruler and glass cutter and score along the first straight edge of the shape you want to cut. However, you must start the score line at one edge of the glass piece and finish at another edge, as opposed to just scoring along the marked section. Use even pressure--you should hear and see the glass being scored.
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3
With the scored line perpendicular to the table, lift one edge of the glass with the opposite end resting on the table. Grip the edge of the glass on each side of the scored line and apply pressure with your hands toward the table so that the glass breaks cleanly along the score line.
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Repeat this for all the straight edges of your pattern pieces. If the pieces are too small to break them by hand while resting the glass on the table, position the score line along the edge of the table and use glass-breaking pliers to push the section downward, and break it along the score line.
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Grind the edges of your pattern pieces to smooth and straighten them. Follow the instruction manual for your particular model of grinder.
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Apply the copper foil tape by hand. Peel the backing off the adhesive side of the foil and wrap it neatly around all the edges of each glass pattern piece. Press and smooth the tape firmly around the edges using the blunt edge of closed scissors.
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7
Place your paper pattern on the table and arrange the glass pieces face-down over it in their appropriate positions. The pieces should fit together closely.
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8
Heat your soldering iron. Apply small drops of solder over the foil at the intersections of the shapes. Apply solder between the drops along all the seams. When this is dry, repeat with another layer of solder to make the lines look neater. All the copper foil should be covered in solder.
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Turn the entire stained glass piece over and repeat the soldering process on the other (front) side. Solder the outer edges of the piece.
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Tips & Warnings
You can frame your stained glass or add hooks to hang it.
It is a good idea to take a class in stained glass making to learn the proper techniques and safety precautions before doing a project at home.
Wear safety goggles and take extra care when handling cut glass.
References
- Photo Credit Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
