Stained glass techniques Page

• You can draw anything, by finding its shadow lines and edges. Don't waste your time with unwanted or misplaced lines.
• Drawing with a light box, using a T square, and masking tape makes for accurate, no worries design originals and cutting templates. If you've got your eyes set on making tidy stained glass, you'll be doing a lot of projects with templates especially those using opalescent glass and difficult shapes.
• For simple symmetrical pieces that will be used many times (like that of basic shades, pots, terrariums, boxes etc.) make cardboard templates and draw them up perfectly with a ruler and compass. I've provided instructions on how to design & draw lampshades. You'll find that here.

Cutting

• Get a real cutter! A self oiling one that will probably cost heaps.
• Use templates to get a drawing onto the glass ready to cut.
• Use a permanent spirit marker, defiantly black and new enough to go well.
• To see the marked line on dark glass you should score the glass over your light box or mist the glass with your breath.
• One clean, smooth score through each curve.
• Cut by your glass table's corner and let your whole body turn through the curve.
• Place as many extra prep and run scores down as you need to get into tight or complex curves.
• Follow exactly the inside of each marked line.
• Get to know as many ways as you can of pulling, tapping, pressing and splitting the glass apart. Each shall find its right time for use.
• Do not under estimate your power of will. It is sometimes your intention alone that makes the break right!!
• If you don't have a glass grinder, get one!! Accurate shaping and retouching is only possible with one.

Foil

• Any problems with it sticking? It's always the cloth you are dirtying the glass with or very old rolls of foil.
• As even as, and as pressed as is perfectly able!

Soldering

• Of all the skills, this is the one I love the most. I know that's not a tip, but it is the trickiest bit and defiantly makes for a scruffy or tidy finish.
• Before making the pieces fit pretty and ready to solder together, flux the lot.
• Get an 80 watt iron (for the small jobs) and a 120 watt iron that is thermostatically controlled for the rest!! Mess with anything else and you'll be wasting time and money in the long run.
• Thermal control is worth paying the extra money for. You may ask, "but from where do I find such an iron?" Where I get mine of course. Ron Enright Ltd. 1 Robert street, Ellerslie, Auckland 5. NZ. tel: 0064 9 579 4984.
• Build shades on an angle jig one layer round, then stack another layer above, one piece at a time.
• Spot solder the whole section then bead it in.
• Any given area while wet (hot solder) must be held horizontally.! !
• Spot narrow lines, run wide ones. By spotting I mean adding solder to the iron then dabbing the iron onto the line being soldered. The iron is drawn off to the side and excess solder will stay with the irons tip.
• To run the iron is to melt solder directly onto the line while drawing the tip smoothly back. The surface tension of the liquid solder creates the smooth line for you as long as your iron is steady and the solder supplied is constant.
• Remove excessive solder by sliding the irons tip aside.
• If the solder stops flowing, flux it again. This is an endless source of frustration for anyone who doesn't know better.
• As soon as it looks good it's done. Don't toy with it, you may be playing for hours.
• Pay good attention to the edges of the item, bead them well and evenly. They add greatly to the finished strength and appearance.
• When anchoring in hooks for hanging the project, (preferably 2) consider where the weight of the piece is being taken. Ask yourself would it hang there for the next 100 years and not pull itself apart? Remember stained glass will last a life time and can last several. So build it well and your creativity will be enjoyed for a long time to come..

Finishing

• As soon as the soldering is done, rinse it off in water, then use your copper sulphate solution. If you don't do it now, it wont take as good tomorrow and the finish will be less.
• Of course it's your choice of colour. The black finishes also work best when done fresh.

Advanced

• When you are working with prototypes, as long as your fundamentals are sound, handle the details as they come along.
• Gap filling is definitely a big part of shaping panels. Do not be too concerned how wide they become, after all, half the design is composed of it (line that is). So long as the lines are smooth you've got it OK. It's the trick of bridging those gaps that you need to learn.
• Remember to keep the melt spot level and don't melt too much at once.
• You'll find a very wet cloth behind the area you are working on stops most of the fall through.
• You are going to have to reposition the item while soldering every step of the way.
• Consider well the structural strength of the piece.
• There is no point putting lots of effort into an amazing project that's foolishly fragile.
• Build things to be as strong as possible, that way they've got their best chance at a long life.
• Doing it the careful, the slow way will always pay off in the long run.
• If you wish to try multiple layering, choose your colour combinations carefully. That blue you use over a yellow needs to make a clear blend, a workable shade of green. Once it's cut and soldered there's no turning back!

Attitude

• Really, attitude is a general life skill but if you don't apply it to your craft you'll always be trading it at some weekend flea market.
• Don't let the glass intimidate you. Sure it can cut you, but mostly it's just a pricked finger or a tiny slice.
• Take great pride in your work. Attend to every detail and it will show as a quality crafting.
• If you are serious about developing your own style you'll have to work with your own imagination and create original designs.
• The art work with stained glass is at the front of the job.
• If you are not enthused with your line drawing don't expect to be blissed out by the arrival of your projects completion!

Make a Stained glass lampshade
Here you'll find a brief walk through the process

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