I have been working in the helping field for thirty years...that's a really long time. My work right now is as a trainer and developing information on suicide prevention. I wonder sometimes if the work I am doing is having a good effect on people. I hope it is and I have faith that this is the right direction for me.
Being in the helping field means there is usually not a finished project that you can look at from time to time. So I find other creative outlets that help me to work on projects from start to finish. Believe me, they are their own type of adventures.
About six months ago I took a Stained Glass course. I made a project and I discovered a new joy. It is time consuming but fun if you enjoy working with your hands. I did another project over the weekend and decided that I want to do more, so I bought some glass and I will purchase the rest of my supplies within the next two weeks. I think it will be a lot of fun. I'll share my projects with you. Here is a overview of the process of making a stained glass picture.
Being in the helping field means there is usually not a finished project that you can look at from time to time. So I find other creative outlets that help me to work on projects from start to finish. Believe me, they are their own type of adventures.
About six months ago I took a Stained Glass course. I made a project and I discovered a new joy. It is time consuming but fun if you enjoy working with your hands. I did another project over the weekend and decided that I want to do more, so I bought some glass and I will purchase the rest of my supplies within the next two weeks. I think it will be a lot of fun. I'll share my projects with you. Here is a overview of the process of making a stained glass picture.
This is the first project that I made. I love this picture. The sun brings positive thoughts and feelings. I live in an A frame house with a high southern window. It has nine panes of glass. I am planning to put the sun picture in the middle pane and place other pictures around the sun. I'm thinking flowers but I haven't finalized that decision yet.
This is the first step to making a stained glass picture. Choosing the picture and the glass colours to go into the picture. I was able to quickly choose as I like pictures of the sun. I decided to make a sunset this time to go on my west window. It took a long time to choose my colour. I checked all the colours, I asked for advise, I said a prayer and then I made my choice. I do this with everything I design....its a process!
Now I have to draw the pattern pieces I want on to the coloured glass. I put the patterns on the back of the glass. It is usually textured glass so the front is harder to cut. The colours also have to be numbered so I don't lose pieces.
Here are some of the cut pieces. Glass cutting is tricky and requires some practise. It is better to cut bigger than smaller as you can cut back or grind your pieces down but you can't build them back! I had to make templates of the tree so I could cut them properly. You can't see the pattern through dark glass.
This is framing the piece in order to keep it square as I work with it. If it is not as close to square as possible it will show in your finished piece. I have started to grind the glass to fit into the pattern. Grinding is fun and takes some time. You want to be slow with this so you can make the best fit possible.
This is the last colour I worked with. I had to grind and place the first colours and then use the light box to make templates for this background colour. It has to fit last and match the cuts I have made to the design. It is important to number your pieces or it's easy to forget where they go! I have to repeat this because it's so important!
Once I have all the pieces in place and have finished the grinding, I wash the pieces with soap and water, clean them and then begin foiling each piece with copper foil. This foil is used to adhere the soder to it and holds the picture together.
Now I am ready to soder the pieces together. I use flux to help the sodering process. The soder iron is hot and I usually forget and burn myself at least once. I soder the back first and then the front and go back and forth to fix any spot area that are pooling. This takes some time.
For this piece the pattern called for some copper wire to be placed on to look like branches. This really adds to this piece and I liked the effect.
Now I wash the piece again but I don't dry it. I use copper patina to bring back the copper effect and then I wax the copper lines. I also shine the glass to bring back the lustre and shine. Then I am done and it is ready to hang on my window!
Here it is, all finished with a chain for a border and I used fishing line to hang it with. I think it's beautiful. I can't wait to see what it looks like when the sun hits it!!
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