Back to the Glass

I need to continue my work on stained glass, so have taken a class from a new studio - not because I didn't like the first one (I did) but because they didn't have classes available that fit my schedule. Besides, I think it's helpful to learn from a variety of instructors.

This studio uses a different approach to cutting glass. I was previously taught what I now know is called the "English Method" which uses a Sharpie marker to trace the template pieces directly onto the glass. In this new method, we cut the template out of bristle board and then cut the glass using the bristle pieces as a guide. The theory is that this will result in a more accurate cut.

Pencil Cutter showing the cutting wheel.
This scores the glass so it can be broken
cleanly,

Different types of glass cutters. They all
have oil reservoirs to keep the wheel lubricated.

Cutting out the template pieces is an extra step, and I can see how if one was doing a copper foil project it might result in more precise cuts, but with lead came I'm not so sure (the lead is more forgiving, since the channels can cover a small nick or chip on the edge of the glass). Anyway, that's they way they teach, and that's what I'll do.

My last project was composed entirely of straight lines, so this time I'm looking for curves. I've chosen 4 colours of glass (yellow and three shades of light purple) and also some clear textured pieces.

Our instructor is very specific about how each piece is cut (has to be perfect) and every single piece is ground (which was different again from how I first learned; namely to grind only the pieces that need it).  Even with these stringent guidelines I end up having to recut two pieces (the half moon and the clear texture on the upper right) since they just don't fit correctly. 

Curving the came is not too difficult, and things are going along quite well - until I reach the top of the "flower" and piece number 5 decides to give me a hard time.  It takes some fancy grinding, but eventually we come to terms, and it and the came decide to work together! 

pesky piece #5

After some reshaping, the lead and the pieces
finally fit tightly together

The pieces are held in place with horseshoe nails and it's very important to keep all the pieces pushed tightly together since the whole panel is sort of a spring-loaded "puzzle".  If  the nails don't stop the pieces from moving, it's possible for everything to slide out and that would mean starting over (which would be heartbreaking).

After all the pieces and the lead came are in place, it's time to solder the joints.  The solder gun is plugged into a rheostat to keep the temperature from fluctuating. Each join is "fluxed" before it is soldered. Flux is a chemical compound that helps the lead and the solder bond together.

Solder gun and small cup of "flux"

My soldering technique is nothing to write home about, but it'll do.  Eventually the joints are all soldered (to the instructor's satisfaction), putty has been added to all the edges of the lead came, and the whole piece has been polished with "whiting" (powdered calcium carbonate; a safe inert fine white powder) to absorb the oil from the putty and to polish the lead and the glass.

finished piece

soldered joints

It will take a couple of weeks for the putty to totally harden, and at that point the panel can be lightly washed, and the edges cleaned up even more.  But for now it's done, and I'm feeling confident that curves and I can work together.  

Hopefully spring will arrive soon and
the leaves outside the window will be green!

Next project - a stained glass window for my bathroom (a project with an actual use).