Learning Stain Glass

I took the first stain glass class about a year ago. It is hard. Not really, it is hard for me because it is so out of my comfort zone. But, I really want a few stain glass pieces and to buy a window is super expensive, so I am crafty, and eventually, I will make it. Eventually. First, I need practice.

During the class, we learned the technique by making three pieces. I gave most of them away as soon as I made them, but not before I took a picture of two of them. The first piece we made was the apple

This was easy because it is only three pieces. The red apple and two green leaves. Of course, it is not that easy. First, you need to cut the glass to the pattern, then you need to grind the piece of glass so there are no jagged edges. After that, and it fits the pattern, you foil the edges. Notice how the black is around the rim of the apple (and the leaves also). That is called patina, and you rub it on the foiled part as the last part of the piece you are making. There is also soldering. With a solder iron and solder, the leaves are put on the apple.

And this was an easy piece.

The cardinal was next, but I gave that away before taking a picture. Basically the same technique but with more pieces.

The final piece in the class was the tulip put in a miniature window pane. Same principal, Cut pattern, cut glass, grind glass, put glass on pattern.

This piece had 16 pieces total -- 4 blue, 3 pink, 3 green, and 6 clear.

The difference with this piece was that the window pane had to be precise, so it is trickier to get the pieces in the pattern. There is a lot of grinding, and for this first timer, there was a lot of solder used. That is why the bottom of the tulip is so heavy on the solder/the patina. I filled in with mesh because I was carried away with the grinding.



After the class was over, I wanted to try a piece I was responsible for. I opted to make a coffee cup with smoke rising from the cup. Nervous. Yes. But, I did it. I picked out my glass, made my own pattern because I couldn't find one in the many books the club has, and then went to work following the instructions given in class. I was so pleased with my finished product.

 I did the above. It was my pattern that I made, and I completed the project. I did not want the solder to be black, so I did not put the patina on; rather, I kept the silver finish of the solder and shined it. Put it on a stand, and gave it away. (I will keep one of my pieces one of these days).

I am making a pattern and selecting the glass for my next project. Everything takes time when you work with glass.

And, yes, working with glass still intimidates me, but I really wanted to learn fused glass, and I had to learn this technique before the fused glass.

Tomorrow, I will show you what I learned and the first project in fused glass.

Until then....have a great day!