Brighton Stained Glass | Burlington Stained Glass

Stained Glass... How do we make it?

Most people see stained glass in the contexts of light colour and beauty, not really giving
much thought to the actual process, which created this work of art.

Here I will explain the rudimentaries of this craft...

The first thing to decide is the size and design; Size is normally predetermined by window or door space. So how do we design our masterpiece? You can start off with a picture. The old way would have been to transfer the design onto paper using grid paper. You would then draw each part in the squares enlarging it to your required size. Or you could use an epidiascope; an overhead projector, which would enlarge the picture. Now today you can use a scanner. You can either scan your picture or use a software program which allows you to trace over the picture. This would also allow you to decide on the type of lead joins and the size of the lead.

Or if you would prefer, you can draw you own design using your imagination. I prefer this way as I can create my own designs. Once you have completed the design and you have decided upon the size, you can then print it off.

Some printers will tile your design, which will mean the design will be printed on more than one sheet of A4 paper. Each piece can be numbered and taped together, which can work just as well as large continuious prints.

As you can see in the picture to the left, I have decided upon my design and I am cutting the glass to the shape of the design.

Once our design is complete we need to decide on colour and glass. This is purely down to individual taste and budget. Glass prices vary depending on colour and manufacturing processes. Machine produced glass can be cheaper then hand blown and can look equally stunning with sunlight cascading through.

So now we are ready to start cutting our glass. This must be done very accurately as the rest of the process depends on it. I use a light box when cutting because this helps with accuracy. The drawing is taped on to the light box and assuming you have bought reasonable size sheets of glass you will need to cut it down to a workable size.

In your drawing write all the colours you are going to use in each pane. A strip is cut off the sheet. The size of say three to four pieces. Now a section is cut off the strip for the first piece. This is placed on the drawing and cut to shape, remember to use a rule for straight lines. Circles are cut out in stages then edges are cleaned with grousing pliers. Each piece must fit perfectly.

Now all the pieces are cut, the next job is assembling with lead cames. The drawing is laid out on a suitable wooden base (chip board is good) using wooden laths to make a right angle, these are nailed to the board.

Working from one corner the lead and glass are assembled; each piece is held with horseshoe nails till the next is ready to be positioned.

The next step is to solder each joint. Care must be taken, as it is easy to melt the lead. The work is then turned over and soldered again.

Now the job is ready for cementing. We rub the paste in to all the edges of glass making sure it goes right into the lead slots. Whiting is now applied. This dries up the paste which can be brushed off. A fid or rounded piece of wood is used to go round all the edges and clean away all the paste.

It takes a long time but I think you will find the results are worth it....