Fun with Stained Glass

After years of wanting to take a stained glass class, I finally did it and completed the last of the four-week course last night.  It was so much fun and both easier and harder than I thought, but mostly easier.  Here is what I learned. 

First, you should know that I’ve taken classes in the past (painting, quilting, mosaics) but never finished the projects due to a chronic case of perfectionism tied to a mild lack of confidence.  I’d hem and haw at the starting gate about what design I wanted to use or how to start while all of the other students took off like they were going for the gold at the Olympics.  I’d get discouraged and would sometimes just stop coming to the class altogether.  But this time I was determined that things would be different.  I would not spend inordinate amounts of time fretting over how to begin or bemoaning every perceived mistake.  I would not focus on perfection.  Instead I would focus on staying with the instructor, completing each task on the assigned night, and just enjoying the process.  It was my first attempt after all so my project was going to have flaws anyway but at least it would be finished.  On the first night, I even told the instructor, Jack, about my sordid past with art classes and he assured all of us that we didn’t need to be perfect.  That’s all I needed to hear.   Boy, did I run with it! 

First Night:  We got some basic instructions on cutting and breaking glass and practiced doing so.  It was surprisingly easy.  We were then given a paper with the same pattern, a star, on it and were told to cut out all of the black lines from around all of the pattern pieces, which would leave approximately a 1/16^th space between them.  We could do this with regular scissors or with triple-bladed scissors that cut the black line out for you.  I found the triple-bladed scissors a little hard to get used to but did like them.  However, here is where I made my first mistake as I cut some pieces a little too much and others not enough.  Some had remnants of the black line on them and others were slightly misshapen.

 

Next, still on the first night, we numbered our pattern pieces then chose the colors and textures of glass we wanted to use for our project.  We learned how to lay the pattern pieces out on the glass to cut them correctly.  (For example, you wouldn’t want to start scoring the glass for one pattern piece in such a way that will cause the glass to break where you have another piece waiting to be cut.)  Once the pattern pieces were laid out, we used a marker to trace around them onto the glass being careful to number them and then cut out each glass piece.  We left the glass pieces assembled together on a tray.

Lesson Learned #1:  Take your time and cut your paper pattern as precisely as possible!     

 

Second Night:  We took the cut pieces of glass and grinded the edges on a glass grinder.  The first pass was to smooth the edges of the glass but then we had to compare the glass to our original template and grind down any excess glass.  The  grinding machine uses water with the spinning grinder so each time we had to completely dry the piece we were working on before placing it back on the paper template (so the template wouldn’t warp) to make further comparisons.  I found grinding to be the most tedious and least enjoyable part of the class for a couple of reasons:  1) because I had so much of it to do; and 2) because teeny, tiny little bits of glass fly up and get on your face, in your hair, and on your clothes.  However, the last reason wouldn’t prevent me from taking the class again. 

Lesson Learned #2:  Do not squander your freedom from perfectionism so flagrantly!  Cut the glass more precisely the first time around to waste less time on grinding.  Also, note that we wore protective eye gear while grinding but one reference work said you should also wear a mask so you do not breathe in any glass particles.  I’ll do that next time.

Third Night:  We wiped the edges of all of our glass pieces with a cloth to make sure all dust and debris is removed.  We then began applying copper foil to the edges.  This was a little challenging as we had to apply a thin strip of adhesive backed copper to the edge of glass in such a way that an equal amount of excess foil was on both side of the glass.  We worked our way around each piece, cut the foil then pressed it to the edges before pressing down the excess foil on to the front and back flat surfaces of the glass.  We pressed down the corners with our fingers first then with a crimper before using a tool to burnish or flatten the foil on the surfaces of both sides of the glass.  If we miscalculated and got too much foil on one side of the glass than the other, we tried to add a little more foil to that section to fix it or had to remove the foil completely and start over.  This is important because when you look through the glass, it is obvious when this is not done properly.  We then put each piece back on the pattern in order on a piece of wood.  Our instructor nailed pieces of quarter-round around our design to hold all of the pieces in place firmly.

Lesson Learned #3:  Apply the foil more precisely and evenly to the glass pieces so it’s even on both sides.

 Fourth and Final Night:  We applied flux (an acidic mixture to make metal adhere to metal) to key points on our design then soldered them with an extremely hot soldering iron and tin.  This was to hold the design together.  We then proceeded to solder the rest of the design on one side.  (Sorry, but I didn’t get pictures of this as I was too focused on what I was doing and forgot.)  This was both fun and exasperating.  It was cool to see how the tin would melt down the surface of the hot soldering iron and pool along the line of copper being covered.  It was frustrating when I didn’t move quickly or slowly enough and the tin either formed a lump or was too thin.  The cure was a blessing and a curse.  You see, you could apply more flux and then touch the soldering iron to the tin and it would re-melt and be movable.  Great, right?  Yes, except it is possible to re-work something too much.  Oh, well, it was a first attempt remember? 

Once we were done with the first side (not the outer edge, since that would be covered with a zinc frame), we cleaned the flux and debris off with water and dried our piece.  We then flipped it over and did the reverse side being careful not to apply too much tin as it could seep through to the other side we just completed.  Yes, there was seepage and I had to fix it by applying more flux and reheating and removing some of the tin.  Once this was done and the piece was washed, Jack used a miter saw to cut out zinc frame pieces which he fitted to our projects and affixed using a different type of more caustic flux.  (I didn’t really like the way it discolored the zinc frame but what are you gonna do?)  We used a file to smooth the edges where the mitered pieces met.  Jack then drilled holes for our frame hooks which were applied with more solder and voilà!  My project was complete!

Lesson Learned #4:  Take your time soldering so you get smoother lines with consistent and correct amount of tin.

Final lesson learned?  Creative people must do creative things.  Even just being in a creative environment is invigorating and feels right to the bones.  Find new ways to express yourself creatively.  Take a class and see it through to the end.  Even if you never want to try that particular art form again, you will learn something about it and, more importantly, about yourself.