Let there be light

Final stages of my first stained glass project.  So far we’ve designed, cut, polished edges, leaded and soldered.  Today we finish soldering, mud and paint.

Soldering definitely covers a multitude of sins. In my “many angled” project, some of the intersections aren’t perfect.  The solder not only keeps the piece together, it can also fill in gaps.  That’s good news for me.

unsoldered joints

soldered joint

Now for the messy part…. mudding.  Take a bunch of plaster of paris, add some (non sanded) basic black grout and mix.  Then, add some turpentine (as a drying agent) and some linseed oil.  Mix all to the consistency of silly putty.

Plaster of Paris and grout

Instructor doing the messy work for us

Plop the mud on window and, using your fingers, push into all the edges of all the pieces.  If you think this is smelly (and it is) be thankful that we no longer use what early stained glass artisans used … horsehair, straw and manure.

After sprinkling plaster of paris on the mudded window (a la icing sugar), take a brush and buff off the extra mud. 

the soldered joints are shiny
before they are painted

From here we spend some time cleaning up the mud from the edges of the lead and the frame, and then paint the soldered joints black.  We’re done.  Yay!   My first project – completed and ready to display.

My take on stained glass (lead came) ... 

I loved the process – it’s tactile, finicky enough that you have to pay attention, and progress is easy to see.  I plan to do a couple more panels as practice, and then, hopefully, tackle a larger project… the side window and transom (only just learned what that is) of our front door!