How to Make Stained Glass

Posted on May 10th, 2009 by Carmelia

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Stained glass is an ancient art that has decorated old and grand buildings, castles and cathedrals over time. With the easy access to the glass that you need, the art of making stained glass is now more accessible. Remember though, that making stained glass means dealing with some heavy-duty materials, so you may want to apprentice or work with a more experienced stained glass artist. If you’re ready to make one on your own, here’s how to do it.

Tools

Stained glass
Glass cutter
Glass grinder
Glass pliers
Glass marker
Lathekin
Soldering iron
Work board
Foil tape
Push pins
Flux
Flux application brushes
Solder
Patina
Glass cleaner
Protective gear
Stained glass pattern

You may want to start with normal or ordinary glass to practice on before moving on to stained glass, as stained glass can get pretty expensive.

Make sure that your working area is organized and that it is not easily accessible to outsiders, pets and children.

Procedure

Choose a simple pattern, one for beginners. Create two tracings of the pattern and number each portion of the pattern. Cut them out to make the templates.

stained glass

Use a glass marker to trace the pattern template with its number on the glass you wish to use.
Cut the glass along the inner side of the tracing line using your glass cutter. Take your time and be patient in doing this step. This step calls for correct and accurate cutting. Continue doing this until all the patterns have been cut out.
After scoring the glass, use the glass pliers to carefully break the pieces off the bigger blocks. Arrange the glass pieces together on your workboard according to the pattern you’re following. Use the push pins to prevent them from moving around.
As you’ll find out, the glass pieces don’t fit in perfectly to each other just yet. Use the glass grinder to shape them and make them fit against each other better. Compare the glass pieces with the patter tracings, mark the excess glass outside the lines and use the glass grinder. Do this carefully as you may end up taking out too much. Do it bit by bit and check if the pieces fit.
Foil each glass piece along the edges. Use your fingers to smooth the foil tape, and then burnish them using the lathekin. Once foiled, you can put them together as you did before.
Be careful with this next step! Brush flux over the foil seams. Use the solder and hold it over the seams, melting it with the soldering iron. Solder the seams all the way through, and turn over the soldered part over to solder the other side.
Use a soft rag with glass cleaner to clean the glass.
Patina is used to give the stained glass an antique effect. Rub over the soldering using a soft clean rag.