The Omnifarium - Stained Glass

Introduction

Category: Stained Glass
Thu, 11 Oct 2007, 14:11

For a while, I've been interested in stained glass as a creative hobby, but was always intimidated by the skills needed. But this year, Sylvana signed me up for a course, and so now I'm taking the plunge. This section of my blog is intended to document my efforts in learning about stained glass. I plan to write about the tips I learn, as well as current projects.

My class meets once a week at the Cedar Ridge Creative Centre in Scarborough. At first, there were seven students, but three got turned off by the cost involved and dropped out immediately. Cost is certainly an issue since you need a number of tools specific to the craft. These include a soldering iron and a glass cutter. A grinder is also needed and is the most expensive of all the tools, but before making that commitment, we can use the grinder at Cedar Ridge.

Courses are also available at the local stained glass store, Glass Images, which provides a 10% discount to anyone taking a course in stained glass, including courses held elsewhere. When I bought my tools and supplies there, the sales person was very helpful, and answered all my questions. She even filled my glass cutter with oil, and engraved my cutter with my initials!

At this weeks class, we practised cutting glass. Personally, I expected this to be the most difficult aspect of the craft, but I had little trouble, even with breaking apart pieces of glass with my hands. We started with clear window glass, which easily broke apart cleanly. It takes a bit of a knack, though. The action needed is a combination of flexing the glass and pulling it apart. Cutting colored glass was a little bit more difficult, but still not as bad as I had first expected. During the class, I don't think I made any mistakes, even with more difficult inside curves.

Next week we get to foiling and soldering the glass pieces. I decided to start with an easy project, a butterfly consisting of five pieces of glass. I'll post a photo when I'm done. Later, I hope to try my hand at three-dimensional pieces.

Hans

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