My First Stained Glass Project - Beginner

My First Stained Glass Project - Beginner

Alright, here I'll detail my first project that was done in March and the tools I used. The steps go over multiple days depending on what time I had after work and weekends. Let me also caveat by saying that I'm aware now of the ignorance of my choices but live and learn eh? :P And I had fun regardless lol.

So what the first thing everyone needs when starting a project? A plan or A Pattern to follow right? I checked out various downloadable patterns online and I just didn't care for any of the downloadable patterns that I found. They all seemed dated to me and I didn't feel like doing a light house or bird so in my infinite wisdom I did an internet search  and found a picture of a project that I liked (https://www.etsy.com/listing/229310790/raindrop-suncatcher-stained-glass) and then I used Rapid Resizer (https://news.rapidresizer.com/) to make a line drawing of the pattern and then the paint program to clean it up. As Shown below.

 

After I had my pattern in place I realized my printer was broken but figured that I would just trace the pattern from my computer screen. (Let me emphasize that this was a bad Idea if its not already obvious!! lol. Accuracy is so important when it comes to making pieces fit together) So there are a few ways to get the pattern from paper to the glass. What I did is I hand drew out 2 patterns one for cutting out the individual pattern pieces and one for placing those cut pieces on to ensure accuracy.

The other way I've come across to get the pattern on to the glass is to use a light table where you have a light that can shine though the pattern and the glass. Then you trace that pattern onto the glass or cut directly from the pattern you see. I haven't really used this technique So I can't say what I would think is better. I did make a DIY light table but I haven't used it yet.

Back to the project though. So I have my 2 patterns but now I need to chose the Glass I was going to use for the pieces. I bought a small container of square scrap glass from Hobby Lobby for $8.99. They usually come in various colors in small rectangles of approx. 4in X 3in. I've found these containers work well for me for their price and color variety so far.  They also have a selection of larger glass panels that come in 1ft by 1ft squares that are abut the same price of $8.99 but glass prices can vary depending on the color, texture and opacity of the glass.

I next laid out the glass squares that I chose and used a stick of Elmer's glue to apply the individual pattern pieces to the glass and drew around them with black sharpie. Then I got started with scoring and cutting the glass and may I say they were no where near the perfect lines that you seen in the videos online! They just do their score with a nice zippy  noise, they tap the glass a little bit and "pop" off comes this nicely cut glass piece. That was not my experience. lol I'd get the zip noise then try to use either my grozing plyers or my running plyers to break the glass but I was still left with these large chunks along right along my pattern line and no matter what I did I couldn't get these small pieces off.

So my next step was to break out my Power Max II glass grinder and take these chunks off of my pieces. I will say I tried to DIY a glass grinder with my Dremmel but it was loud, no water cooling and the variable speed control made it difficult to control. So I paid for a grinder that was made specifically for glass grinding and It was worth the purchase! I have pictures below of my ever evolving work station the first one with my DIY Dremmel and the next one I have my new glass grinder.

So I take my chunky glass pattern pieces that still have the paper glued to the top and the glass marked with black permanent marker sharpie and grind the crap out of them trying to get my pieces down to size. Here's where the problems started in. The glass grinder has to use water to keep the glass cool, the diamond bit lubricated and the glass dust down. This water unfortunately also removed all indications of my pattern both the paper and the sharpie marker. So here is where I started trying to eyeball the pattern into the correct shape. Bad move...

So after I try to eyeball the pieces into shape and place them on my other hand drawn pattern. None of the pieces fit together accurately. There are gaps galore and Even though I hadn't ever soldered before I knew that was going to be a problem. If you look carefully you can see where I have some black sharpie drawn on the pieces So I would know what needed to be removed and where it overlapped the other glass pieces.

So fast forward where I've Eyeballed these glass pieces to death and they're as accurate As I'm probably going to be able to get them, now I've got to start copper foiling my pieces together. So I clean off the pieces with soap and water to be sure there's no debris that will prevent the copper foil from sticking to the glass. After it's clean I apply the foil as evenly as I can and use a card as a fid to ensure the foil adhered to the glass completely. You don't want uneven foil on one side or the other as the foil indicates where the solder will be applied.

After the foil is applied then you will flux your piece and tack solder the pieces together. Then you will Solder the rest of the piece. Thankfully I didn't crack any of my glass through over heat but I don't know how many times I went  over and over my solder lines. I had some line with to much solder and some with not enough and on top of that I wasn't sure how much flux is to much or not enough. Long story short it was a process for sure! I'm pretty sure I've got a long way to go before I'm any good at soldering. :)  Here I have my finished piece. It's not perfect but it's mine!