How to make a 3D stained glass sleigh
Give your house a little extra Christmas spirit this year by creating a 3D stained glass sleigh. These 3D sleighs are ideal as centerpieces overflowing with flowers or candy, or on mantelpieces filled with tea candles or fairy lights. However you choose to display your sleigh, it's sure to become a conversation piece as family and friends notice the way the light plays on the angled surfaces of the glass's festive colors.
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Things You'll Need
- Pattern (you can find patterns in books or on the Internet)
- Lead pattern shears
- Marker
- Glass
- Rubber cement
- Small roller (used in stained glass work)
- Safety glasses
- Cutting grid
- Glass cutter
- Running pliers
- Grozing pliers
- Power grinder
- Dish soap
- Copper foil
- Scissors
- Homosote board
- Fid
- Solder
- Flux
- Flux brush
- Soldering iron
- U came
- Lead nippers
Instructions
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Number each piece of your pattern then make two copies. You'll use one pattern to cut and one to keep.
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Cut out the pattern using lead pattern shears. Pattern shears are special three-bladed scissors that remove a thin strip of paper as you cut around the pattern. This gap leaves just enough room for the copper foil, which is what you'll use to wrap the glass.
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Stick the pattern pieces on the glass using rubber cement. Go over the pattern piece with a roller or your finger to smooth out all the air bubbles. Rub your thumb along the edges of the pattern to remove the excess rubber cement.
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Cut out the glass. Place the glass on your cutting grid and use your cutter to score along the outline of the pattern piece. Apply firm, even pressure as you press down on the cutter. You should hear a zipping sound.
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Break the glass. You can break long score lines by placing your thumbs on each side of the score line, about 1 inch apart. Bend your index finger and curl it under the glass surface. Roll your thumbs outward like you are snapping a twig. Use running pliers to break glass if there is not enough room on both sides of the score line to place your thumbs. Place the running pliers about 1/4 inches onto the score line, lining the indicator line on the top of the running pliers up with the score line. Squeeze gently until the glass separates. To break away curves or small pieces of glass, use grozing pliers. Grozing pliers have a notched upper jaw and a curved lower jaw. Always place the curved jaw on the bottom side of the glass. Place the grozing pliers perpendicular to your score line with the flat tip of the pliers close to the score, but not on or overlapping it. Hold the pliers firmly and snap down while holding the glass with your other hand.
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Grind the glass. Push the glass into the grinder bit and roll all sides against the bit. This will smooth the surface in preparation for applying copper foil. Remove the pattern piece; wash and dry the glass, and write the number of the piece on the glass with a marker.
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Wrap each piece with copper foil. Center the glass on the sticky side of the foil and wrap it around the entire piece. Cut the foil with scissors, leaving a bit of overlap over the edge you started. Gently press the edges down, making sure there is an equal amount of foil on both sides of the glass. Fold the foil on the edges of the glass as you would while gift-wrapping a present. Burnish the foil by rubbing back and forth with your fid. A fid is a special tool used for burnishing in stained glass and can be purchased from a stained glass supplier.
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Apply solder to the copper foil. Brush flux on the copper foil with a flux brush, and then touch the hot tip of the soldering iron to the solder. Place the soldering iron on the foil you've just fluxed and turn the piece until the entire perimeter has been soldered. Apply solder to the edges overlapping the glass as well.
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Tack-solder the sleigh pieces together. Place one side of the sleigh down on a homosote board and position the front panel perpendicular to the side in the front. Make sure there are areas where the copper foil on the side sleigh panel touches the copper foil on the front panel. Use electrician's tape to hold the pieces together. Tack-solder by applying a small amount of flux with the flux brush to the areas where copper foil meets copper foil; touch the tip of your hot soldering iron to the solder; and then place the bead of solder on the area you've fluxed. You should tack solder in two places: the left and the right edge. Repeat to attach the back panel. Place the other side panel on the board, then carefully position the sleigh body you've just tack-soldered over the remaining side panel. Join the side panel to the rest of the piece by tack-soldering the front and back panels to the side panel where the foiled edges touch.
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Flat solder along all seams of the sleigh. Brush a small amount of flux along the seam, touch the hot soldering iron tip to the solder, then run the solder along the entire seam. Gather more solder with your iron if needed. This will help keep the solder from running through when you run your bead of solder.
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Run a bead of solder along all seams. Unroll a length of solder approximately the length of your seam. Don't cut the solder line; you'll just guide the line by moving the roll along the seam. Place the solder on the seam and put the hot soldering iron tip right next to the solder. Run the bead by pulling the soldering iron quickly along the seam with the tip always touching the solder.
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Cut the two lengths of U came about six inches longer than the bottom end of the sleigh. U came is a length of lead that is used to frame stained glass projects and is called "U came" because the lead resembles a U when you hold it with the flat side down. Use lead nippers to make the cut, holding it flat side down (you'll see that it resembles a U) when you make the cut. Curl each length of came in the front by wrapping it around your marker. Place the edges of each sleigh side panel inside the channel of the came. Attach the sleigh to the came by applying flux and solder to the areas where the foiled edges of the sleigh meet the came.
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Tips & Warnings
Be sure to remove excess rubber cement before you start cutting; the cutting won't cut the glass if there's rubber cement in the way.
Always run your score lines up, away from your body.
Make sure your cutting wheel is well-lubricated; fill up the reservoir with cutting oil frequently.
When soldering, remember you're joining the copper foil seams. Always position the pieces you're joining so two copper foiled seams touch each other.
Wear safety glasses when cutting or soldering glass.
Solder in a well-ventilated area.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit SANTAS SLEIGH image by brelsbil from Fotolia.com
