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General Information About Stained Glass

For the stained glass rookie
Or in other words, for people who don't do stained glass

It seems that every time I give a stained glass something to another person I get the same basic questions. I've also included other common questions I keep getting asked. So I'm going to try and answer these questions.

1. What kind of colors does stained glass come in?

   • Stained glass comes in sheets of varying sizes. Every color you see on a lamp, panel, box or whatever, once started out as a single sheet of glass. And if your thinking, "wow Mr. Wizard, that's a lot of glass!". I'm glad you asked that question Jimmy, and the name is Mike.

   • Basically, every color, opacity, grain, texture, coating, etc., is a separate sheet of glass. "But Mr. Wizar..umm, Mike, how many colors are there? Well, Jimmy, there's an infinite amount of colors available. Plus if you layer glass on top of each other, there's even more colors available. And if you know how to fuse glass you can expand each color in shades. So a stained glass artist needs to have a well stocked shop. I for one have a lot of glass. However I never have the right color for the project I'm working on. :(

2. How long does it take you to do stained glass?

   • I personally hate this question because it varies so much. It's like asking a chef "how long does it take to prepare a meal?" What kind of meal? It could take anywhere from an hour to months per project.

3. Is stained glass hard to do?

   • Stained glass is not necessarily hard to do. It takes time and patience to learn how to do it, just like anything else. Some people give up easily, but if you really want to learn it you can. For me it's easy, though I've been doing it for a while.

4. Where do I learn how to do stained glass?

   • Look in your local telephone book in the yellow pages under "Leaded, Stained", or maybe even "Glass, Stained". Call them up ask them if they teach classes, and if they sell supplies.

   • a lot of times any shop that sells supplies will also probably teach classes (so you can buy from them). Or you can look up a night class that teaches it (very often local high schools have adult education classes).

   • There's always video tapes and books; some people can learn from these, but I would only use them if you had no other choice. It's better to see it in person, I think.

5. Is stained glass expensive to do?

   • Yes it can be. It depends on where you live and what kind of glass you like buying. Figure a class is anywhere between $30 to $200 and initial supplies between $100 to $300 and that doesn't include glass. The average price for a "cheaper" glass (like Spectrum, Wissmach, Armstrong, Kokomo, etc.), is around $5 to $10 a square foot. The average for the "pricier" glass I (like Uroboros, Youghiogheny, Desag, Bullseye), can be around $20 to $40 a square foot, though these are usually priced per pound because of thickness.

   • And if you're a stickler for beauty and have deep pockets, Dicroic is the coolest glass around, though it has a price tag of between $80 to $150 per square foot! Dichro is usually used in fusing, but I've seen it for panel and lamp applications. Therefore the bulk of the money will go into getting glass; the other expenses are for supplies and "toys".

6. Do you have to be an artist or be creative to do stained glass?

   • Yes and no. As long as you can cut, foil, and solder, you can make a nice looking project. A lot of people get a great deal of pleasure from doing this and that's just great. However, if you are "cutting by number", so to speak, (using projects you copy from a book), you are a stained glass craftsman, not a stained glass artist. If you want to call yourself an artist, you need a good sense of color and a creative sense of design. Creativity does help. Most people can build projects from books, but they're not creating their own design.

   • You should have some common sense when picking out colors; the sky should be blue, pink, orange, red, gray etc., the usual sky colors. The ground can be any ground color, and so on. You should try to place the "grain" of the glass, to get the maximum effect from it. For instance, placing the grain horizontally in the sky to show movement.

7. Will I cut or burn myself if I take up this wonderful craft?

   • Yes, yes you will, most likely. In the beginning anyway, as long as you're careful, you shouldn't have to have spare blood on hand.

   • Buy yourself a grinder; you'll save on Band-Aids in the long run because edge of the glass will be much smoother. Mainly you'll notice it when you start to foil; one false slip, and boom no more finger :(. Just kidding, the glass won't cut your finger completely off, ...just mostly off. That's when I decided to buy my first grinder, when I slipped and got a really lovely cut. And remember foil doesn't stick to blood. After you do stained glass for a while, your fingers will toughen up, and before you know it, you'll cut yourself and not even know it, like a professional glass artist.

   • If you burn yourself for the first time (and you will), make sure to calmly place the iron back into the stand and not throw across the room. Or worse, leave it burning a hole on your bench while you tend to the wound.

8. Can my young son or daughter do stained glass?

   • I learned when I was 9/10 years old although later they raised the age limit to around 13 to start. The safety factor is the main thing to think about. The second would be the arm strength it takes to cut and break glass. Hand-eye coordination is important, but chances are (because of all the video games), they probably have that covered.

   • If you know how to do stained glass, you can work together. Let them pick out the colors and foil the glass, while you cut and solder (which a young child should not do). You can give them a mosaic or a patio stone to try out, using mosaic glass cutters. Safety Tips: Make sure they wear goggles, (you too, of course), wear shoes, and, at least for first time cutters, buy them cotton gloves that have little rubber dots of them (the dots provide traction; with regular gloves, everything slides around.) However, don't wear the cotton gloves for soldering because flux can absorb into them; when soldering, always wear rubber gloves.

   • Try to find a class that will teach stained glass to them. Maybe they can watch a video,

9. What is Came? What is Copper Foil? What are the advantages?

   • Foil is a very thin copper strip that's sticky on one side. Basically you wrap this tape around every edge of every piece of glass in a project. Foiling can take awhile to do, but you can get a much more intricate design than you can with came. Plus you can have decorative soldering done to a project. And 3-dimensional things can be made, with came it looks rather "clunky". However foil is flexible, which can be bad because it can allow a panel to flex, which means breakage. It's also not water proof, which means it's not a great idea to expose it to the elements, it may leak.

   • Came can come in different forms, lead, brass, zinc, copper. And there are many shapes for the came to come in (the profile). Generally came is lead. It's the easiest to work with (out of the came choices anyway). Glass doesn't really need grinding because the came doesn't need to stick to anything. Instead the came leans on the glass, and is later cemented in place. Lead came is the traditional method when doing church windows, and other large windows. It can withstand the elements far better than foil, usually for about 100 years or so. Lead came is much neater than foil because less soldering is involved, and the bead always looks neat (providing a bead shaped came was chosen). Zinc, copper and brass are special cames. There used for structural reinforcements and decorative items. Brass came is usually found in bevel windows. It's not that the brass is stronger (which it is BTW), but because it's prettier, flashier. Copper isn't used that much, but it's there because you might need it. And lastly, border came which is used around borders to help strengthen the window.

   • So which is better? Neither. Generally what you learn with is what you'll stay with. It's good to know both in case you need to use it. I like foil, because of it's wide application use though others swear by lead. Generally if your going to build a window that will be exposed to the weather, use came and cement it. If your want to make a lamp, a box, a nice looking suncatchers, choose foil.

10. Is it true that you get 7 years bad luck if you break a mirror?

    • Yes it is.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD STAINED GLASS PROJECT

1. Look for smooth solder lines. It should have a bead on it. Basically it's rounded over, so you shouldn't see any divisions between the glass. It should be smooth to look at and to the touch. There shouldn't be any peaks or sharp points. Nor should there be sudden drops, pits, or holes in it. Also look for splattering on the surface of the glass. If it was done right, there should be no splattering though a little bit of solder on the glass is OK. I never catch all of it all the time.

2. Look for cracks. A suncatchers or a box that's been there a while might get broken. So look at it carefully. If you're not sure if it's cracked (sometimes textured glass looked at in the right light might looked cracked), run you finger nail over it sideways. You should be able to feel a catch where the crack is. Unless you really like the project, it will be expensive to get it repaired, and it may never look right again.

3. Look at the color usage. Though it varies from person to person, colors work for people in different ways. Get what you like. Look at it and say to yourself, "does this look right?" Do the colors look good? Does the grain seem to flow in the right direction? I think my watch needs batteries? Is it really ugly, but still goes with my decor?

OTHER FORMS GLASS CAN COME IN

1. Stained Glass - This is my field. You can get or make panels, lamps, boxes, night lights, sun catchers, mirrors, etc. Usually when someone talks about doing stained glass, this is the glass they're talking about.

2. Mosaic Glass - There's different types out there. Mosaics are starting to become popular lately, mainly in stepping stones and hanging panels, where the colored glass is glued, then grouted to a piece of clear. Currently I don't do much with mosaics (or at all), though I have grand dreams of doing them someday.

3. Fused Glass - This is where you basically melt a few pieces of glass together to form one piece. It can be found as plates, bowls, vases, etc. Fused glass jewelry is really coming into fashion. There's pins, earrings, and other jewelry related items.

4. Blown Glass - You will usually find this as pitchers and glasses, though other's managed to make some really cool things. Dale Chihuly makes (or orchestrates), these neat looking colorful "floppy" looking bowl things. And he gets top dollar for them too.

5. Paper Weights - By it's name it's pretty obvious what I'm talking about. Paper weights are also coming into fashion (or at least more people want to make them). An amazing amount of detail can be put into one of those things. You should see Paul Stankard's work; lots of tiny details.

6. Marble Making or Bead Making - Bead making is almost as popular as stained glass. It's made by heating thin strips of glass in a torch, and wrapping the hot glass around a metal stick. That's the super abbreviated version anyway. And what you get is a colorful bead that can be used as jewelry or sold to bead collectors. Dicroic glass is used in bead making a lot.

7. Sand Blasting and Sand Carving - Sand blasting can usually be found in architectural elements. It's used as a screen, door detail, or mirror. Chances are that you've probably seen sand blasting at least once in your lifetime. Sand carving is more intricate and cuts much deeper into the glass, giving it a 3-dimensional feel. And at least one artist I heard of, makes intricate glass objects by blasting away sections of the glass, so the result looks almost like a wood carving. He also made chain links carved out of the glass.

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Started on 9-22-98