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Does the photo above seem a little familiar?
Well, it should as it has been on our "Festival" page since we launched our site. But more importantly, this photo
of "The Chimneys" taken from Highway 441 while making a trip though the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the inspiration
for a stained glass design.
What we hope to do on this page is show you most of
the steps in how this photo became a finished glass creation. Check back in often for updates on the progress.
Getting Started - Developing an Idea and Drawing a Pattern
Any beautiful piece of art work always starts with inspiration.
As mentioned above, the Chimneys were my inspiration for a
piece of stained glass. But, just having a good idea doesn't make a piece of stained glass a reality. You have lots of decisions ahead of you.
The first thing you need to determine is how "large" your complete
design will be and whether you will be constructing your design by using lead or copper foil.
After you make those decisions, you are ready to develop that
idea into a pattern.
The completed pattern serves many purposes:
- It gives you a work surface upon which to "fit" your glass pieces.
- It gives you the opportunity to look over the pieces of your
design to see if your idea is actually viable.
- And by making a "second" copy which you cut into pattern
pieces, you can trace the outline of your pieces onto your glass as a guide for "cutting" your glass.
Notice the piece of board that this glass
is sitting upon?
This is a jig that we built. This panel
is going to be 2 ft. by 2 ft. square and will be framed when it is complete so just like in construction of a building or
home, we want the piece to turn out "square". Therefore we have made this jig and will be building the piece of
glass inside the confines of the jig.
After you get your jig set up and your pattern pieces cut apart,
you are ready to trace out your pattern on the glass. Take another look at the glass in the photo above.
This is a very patterned glass with lots of variations in color so we are going to choose sections of the glass that will
compliment the mountain design. Once the pattern is traced onto the glass, then you are ready to begin "cutting"
out your glass.
Cutting...........Grinding
Well...........in all honesty, cutting is not really the correct
term. You actually score and "break" your glass. You will utilize a hand held cutter with a cutting wheel
and score your pattern lines. Then with a pair of "breaking pliers", you cause the score to run and break the piece of glass out of the larger piece.
To smooth out the edges and also to re-shape and fit the glass pieces
to the design we utilize a grinder. The grinder is...........sort of a "wet router". Using a
diamond coated bit, cooled by water and turning at very high rpms, the grinder takes off all of the little sharpe edges and
fine tunes the glass pieces. Time consuming and tedious? Yes, but necessary for a good fit.
Oh yeah.........remember to wear your safety glasses. Little pieces do sometimes go flying and it is better to
be safe than lose your eyesight!
The photo at left, shows the mountain pieces cut, ground and "rough
fit" prior to starting the leading process. The photo above "right" shows all pieces including the sky.
Once we start assembling the pieces with the lead channels, we will probably have to do a little more grinding to fine tune
the fit of the pieces to the design.
Lead and Solder
Once we "rough" fit all of the pattern pieces, we are ready to start
the actual construction of the design. We have designed this pattern to be put together using lead came.
Lead came for the interior of a stained glass panel is shaped like an "H" turned on
it's side. The glass will fit into each side of the "H" channel. You have to bend and
shape the lead to fit the shape of your glass pattern pieces. But before you can even start using the lead in your design
you have to "stretch" the lead to straighten it. After straightening your lead you can then begin
to cut the lead to go into your design.
Special care is always exercised in fitting the lead came to
the pattern pieces of glass. Sometimes a little extra persuasion, bending and pushing is required.
If you look really close at the photo, above and right, you will
see some other "tools of the trade". A glazing hammer, lead nippers and horseshoe nails are all
utilized during the construction process.
This photo shows the "Chimney's" with all of the mountain pieces
in place. Of course I still need to fit in the sky but we are over half way finished with all of the cutting and grinding.
Once we get the sky in place, the joints where the lead comes together will be soldered.
After soldering the "front", the piece is very carefully turned over
and the soldering of all the joints is repeated on the back.
Cementing!
How many of you remember the PopEye Club and the ouey-gouey bag?
Well, most of my friends from the Atlanta area remember Officer Don
and that game really well.
And, if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, then puttying
or "cementing" of a leaded glass panel would be right up your alley!
After soldering the lead joints on both the front and back of a panel,
it is time to secure the glass into those lead channels and to provide some strength by applying a special stained glass "glazing"
or cement into all of the lead lines. This cement "locks" the glass into place once it dries. The actual
idea here is to "force" the cement under the edges of the lead channels.
Needless to say, this is not easy on the fingers. I know
that I have tried numerous methods of applying the cement and nothing truly works better, for me, than just taking
your time and working your way around each piece of glass.
Cleaning Up and Finishing Up!
Well, of course we are not going to leave all that cement on the
glass. It has to be removed from the glass before it gets too dry and therefore "more difficult" to remove.
The methods of removal vary depending on the type of cement you are using so I won't get into those details here.
Let me just say, this can be a very tedious and frustrating job just like cleaning the windows in your house.
Everytime you believe you have gotten them clean, you see another spot, etc. But you will get it I promise. After
the glass is cleaned, leave the glass is left "flat" overnight to allow the cement to cure and harden.
The next day, you are ready for, guess what? More cleaning!
But just think, the project is almost ready for display at this point.
Here at AutumnView Studio do mill custom hardwood and pine frames for most of our stained glass pieces. We believe
this adds a "finished" look to our work and also adds protection for the glass. So that would be the next
step for us, but you can just add some hanging hardware and display the panel.
Well, here are The Chimneys framed in a
beautiful natural Cherry frame.
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| The Chimneys |
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