Signing a lease for your store

Once you are sure that you want to rent a store space, you'll have to sign a lease.  When starting a small business like a stained glass studio you will want to make sure you are making an informed decision as to the type of lease you sign.

NNN - Triple net is one type of lease you may hear about when out shopping for store locations.  With a lease like this, you will be not only paying your rent but part of the building owner's taxes, insurance and maintenance fees for that space.  You will notice that most of these spaces that are rented with NNN are more expensive to rent than others.  They also tend to be located in strip malls.

Just keep in mind that you don't need to fix up your store front, especially to make it look amazing inside, just to sell stained glass art or any other product.  The more you put into the building that you are only renting, the more money you are wasting, since you will NEVER get that money back.  

Unless you own a building already, we also suggest renting a store location before ever buying one!  

So it is better to rent a location that has walls, floors, even a bathroom already in place.  When you hear the term Vanilla Shell, it refers to a brand new building that is open and needs to be finished.  In that case, if you can work out a deal with the building's owner, for him/her to install the interior, without you paying anything, it would be advised.  If you are to personally pay for the interior, we suggest you not rent that location since you will never get back that money.  In this economy (or any economy) you want to spend the least amount of money on expenses like these.

Yes you can negotiate leases.  They are not set in stone.  You can negotiate the amount of years for the lease, typically property owners will ask you to sign a three year lease.  It is possible to sign a one year lease or even a six month lease, if you ask!  Another possibility is for you to ask the landlord to give you the option of ending a lease early without any penalties.  That means, if you must close your store before the lease expires, that you do not have to continue paying lease on an empty store until the end of the lease.  

Make sure that any negotiations agreed upon between you and the landlord are put in writing in the actual lease agreement!  Also you should always sign a lease agreement!  You need to be protected legally just as much as the landlord.  Be sure to ask your landlord what is included in your rent.  Typically water, and garbage are included but not always.  If you live in a snowy area, parking lot plowing may be included as well.  Further more, it is advised that you get insurance for the contents of your store and that your insurance covers injury to customers in your shop as well.

In conclusion, pay close attention to your lease and try to negotiate any part of it that you don't like or agree with.  Walk away from a bad deal, it might take some time, but eventually you will find another location that you will like.  Just remember that you really don't want to put out a lot of money in the beginning when you are just starting out!  Save that money to pay rent, business expenses and run your store in the beginning when your store is just becoming established.  You might have seen businesses move into an area, spend a lot on improvements and other non necessary items, only to see it fold quickly.  It's safer to start slowly, and work your way up.  There are many expenses that ARE important to new business, like advertising, signage, inventory and others that you don't want to skimp on because you either overpaid on your lease, or made too many expensive improvements on a building that you don't even own!  Think about it, be careful and frugal, it will help you immensely in the long run!  Hope this helps!

Location, location.... LOCATION

The location of your new, brick and mortar business is extremely important and should be considered carefully.  In the past Harrach Stained Glass did extensive research where to locate our own retail stained glass store.  There are many factors to take in consideration such as, what type of business do I plan to operate, and is there near-by competition.  Keep in mind that we are sharing this information with our stained glass readers but you will find that this information works just as well for any type of business!

The best way to find your competition is to go online and Google the type of store, (or items you plan on selling),  close to the location where you intend to operate your store.  So for an example, go to Google and type in,  "stained glass store Denver Colorado".  You'd be surprised at how easily you will be able to find all of those businesses in that Googled area!  You can also go to the online website of the state government where you intend to open your business and check its business license directory.  Remember, you don't want to open your store close to your competition, in most cases it will be difficult and slow going to begin with if you do that.  On the other hand, here in the Pacific Northwest USA, we see Starbucks and other coffee shops side by side, so WHAT type of product, pricing and quality, even luck are also very important aspects to running a successful business.

Will your store cater to tourists or locals?  Locals will find your store easily from either the phone book, friends or just from driving by.  Tourists will probably only find your store if it is located in an area of town where tourists shop, typically an old town main street or near a well known landmark.  As your business becomes successful, it is possible for tourists to seek you out, but when starting out, that probably won't be the case.

Look for good parking, signs, lighting and of course, a good amount of traffic on the street where you want your store situated.  Some side streets are excellent in a heavy tourist area where there is a lot of foot traffic.

Zoning laws are important to follow in most communities.  If you plan on manufacturing and selling your art in the same location, you must find out through the local zoning board if that is permitted in the desired location.  You will notice that in some older historic districts where there are many art galleries, no one is actually creating the art on the premises because of zoning.  You don't want to sign a lease on a retail location only later to discover that you can't do everything you wanted to do in that location!

Floor space and the amount of display windows are both very important factors.  Display windows are, in our opinion, the most important feature of an excellent retail location.  Floor space needs to be large enough to comfortably house your merchandise but not be overwhelmingly large.  If the store has too much non-utilized space, it will appear to your customers to be empty and not having inventory to choose from.  A store that is full of inventory, but not overflowing or packed in dangerously, always seems to appear more vibrant and even appears as though the store is quite doing well.  Customers like to look at many different items for sale as opposed to having no choice in merchandise to buy.

Cost vs. location is another important consideration when searching for the best business location.  You will typically find that the best location also has the higher rent.  It never fails!  Even if the building itself isn't the best, if it is in an excellent local, you'll pay for it.  NOW, that isn't exactly bad.  If you could rent a store, lets say, in a prime location, it could be quite lucrative.  Again, research that area.  See how long stores stay in business in an area.

As you can see there are many aspects to opening your own brick and mortar store.  Although it can seem frustrating and confusing in the beginning, it becomes easier as time passes and you become more educated in the subject!  Just remember not to jump into something without thoroughly researching the subject and the location first.  It is much better to lose a prime location than to open in a prime location only to discover you are losing money and have to close.  Closing a store can be financially devastating since there is the possibility of having to continue paying a lease on a location you are no longer using.  Keep this all in mind as we continue our next post with the subject of starting your own business!

How to begin selling - business licensing

We've focused our blog on stained glass and a little bit on social media (marketing) so much that we discovered that we have totally neglected the business side of creating arts and crafts!  You'll notice that once you begin crafting and creating your art or craft, you will eventually need to find a way to "get rid of" some of your artwork, or get over run by it!  Typically it becomes an addiction, where as you really want to create more and more exciting new pieces.  There are just so many friends, relatives, co workers and acquaintances to give these pieces to.  So what do you do next, you begin selling your works to the public.  


To begin with, you have to go online to your state's department of licensing,  there you will need to fill out a business license application.  Don't forget that even if you only plan on selling online, like Ebay or Etsy, or your own webpage, you must still have a business license!  Basically, if you sell your products anywhere, you will need to always file your earnings (or losses), plus taxes paid by customers,  with the IRS, and if it applies, your state of residency.  


There are quite a few different types of business licenses; Corporation, Limited Liability Company, Limited Liability Partnership, Limited Partnership, Sole Proprietorship, or General Proprietorship.  We suggest you research these different business structures so that you can make the best and most educated decision as to which application to file!


Keep in mind that you need to start out with a plan for your business.  Making a plan sounds harder than it really is.  If you need to acquire a loan for this venture, banks or lending institutions may need a more detailed plan than if you are going to finance this venture on your own.  So the easiest way to do this is by writing this all out!  


You will need to consider: 

• What type of business would you like to open?
• What types of activities will you be performing?
• When do you plan to start your business?
• Where will your business be located?
• What business structure type will you have?

All businesses hiring employees are required to register for worker's compensation and unemployment insurance.  By completing the Business License Application, you'll be registered for workers' compensation at the Department of Labor and Industries and unemployment insurance at the Employment Security Department.  After filing your application, the Department of Labor and Industries and the Employment Security Department will send you information about employee quarterly report forms.

You will also need to apply for city licenses at the same time you apply for state licenses and registrations.  Most city licenses are also available online.  Some states include city license applications with their Business Licensing Services.

How to add hanging hooks to a window with a zinc frame

Since we typically frame our Tiffany windows with zinc came, we thought we'd share with our readers how to hang those windows.  Unless we are using a wood frame on a window, we use zinc came.  We never frame a window with lead came, even when we used lead came in its construction.  Lead came is weak and over time it will stretch out of shape and fail.

We like to use tinned copper wire for all of our hanging hooks (jump rings).  It's strong, plus since it has been already tinned, it is easy to solder.  It is available in a few different gauges, like 14, 16, 18 and 20.  We prefer to use 20 gauge but it is not necessary.

Take the copper wire and twist it tightly, by hand, neatly around something round and straight, like a pen or pencil or dowel stick.  Whatever you use, it should be the size of the desired jump ring that you want to make.  After you've wound the wire a bunch of times around whatever you are using, slide it off.  It should look very much like a spring now.  Take a pair of dykes or lead nippers and carefully cut into the twisted copper wire loops, one by one, so you now have circles or rings.  You are now ready to solder these on to your zinc frame.

If you don't have a zinc frame on the window you need to hang, you can solder the jump ring on to the outer edge of your glass piece, making sure that the ring is soldered to a soldered copper area.  Do not solder the hanging hook on to the the foil that is on the outer part of the window since it is not strong and will not be able to hold any weight.  Instead, make sure the hook is soldered to an area where two pieces of glass come in contact, we call the area a solder joint.  At that area you can solder the hook on to the outer perimeter of the piece.

As you can see from the example to the left,  we soldered the hanging hooks to the back of the frame so that it doesn't look so distracting and obvious. And since we framed this suncatcher with zinc came, we can solder our jump ring at any location along the frame.  Just add enough solder to securely hold the jump ring in place, leaving enough open area in the ring to thread string through it or hang with a nail.

When soldering the hanging hook in place, hold it with a pair of pliers since the ring will get too hot to hold with fingers.

Another fancier way to make jump rings is to use a piece of copper wire about 2 1/2 feet long, fold it in half and hook it to the front of an electric drill.  Remove the bit and hold the wire in the section that typically holds the bit.  Secure the two loose ends of the wire in a vice.  Turn on the drill and the wire will twist tightly to look nice and uniform.  We have actually seen twisted wire for sale, and it can be quite expensive!  Now you can bend that twisted wire the same way we said above or loop this twisted wire over your zinc came frame and solder.  Always clean the flux off of those solder joints because flux will break down the solder over time and the hooks will fall off.

Soldering irons for glass art

Again, we always recommend that our students purchase a soldering iron specifically made for stained glass.  There are irons made for soldering pc boards that really won't work well for soldering foil or lead came.

Also when soldering lead came our studio glass artisans at Harrach Stained Glass always use  temperature controlled irons or we plug our irons into a Mini Phaser which is pictured below.  Just plug an iron into the Mini Phaser and control the iron's temperature by using the dial on the front of the unit.

We have found that a lot of glass artists prefer to use 60/40 solder for all of their soldering needs.  At our studio we use 60/40 solder on copper foil and 50/50 on lead came.  We also prefer paste flux for lead came and liquid flux for copper foil.

It is also important to always use an iron stand, to allow the iron to be easily laid down while still hot or plugged in, without burning a work surface!

There are quite a few different wattage irons available, such as 40w, 50w, 60w, 80w, 100w and 175 watts.  Some irons have ceramic heating elements, which are supposed to last longer than non ceramic elements.

Weller

Hakko

Inland

Glass grinder basics.

If you intend to do any glass grinding we always advise our students, blog readers, and everyone else wanting to grind glass, to only use a glass grinder that has been specifically manufactured for grinding glass.  In the past we have heard of people using Dremels, sandpaper and other tools that are very hazardous for this type of application.  It is important to read the grinder's directions and use it correctly making sure that there is always water in it's reservoir and that the sponge rubs against the bit at all times (this keeps any glass particles or dust from becoming airborne!  Silicosis is the name of the non-reversible, potentially fatal disease many glass artists and workers develop from inhaling glass dust.

We like to use grinders that don't have a lot of extra features since all we need them for is to grind extra glass away from the edges of our glass pattern piece.  It is nice to look for a grinder that has many different sizes of bits available.  The larger bits are great for grinding quickly but can't always fit into a small, tight curve.  Its nice then to have a grinder that can also use a very small bit for those areas.  We find that even the cheapest grinders on the market are excellent and can last an artist many years.  We like to use a drop of sewing machine oil on the thread of our bits during installation.  We do that so that the bit doesn't  freeze and stick on the metal post that holds the bit in the grinder.  If the bit gets permanently stuck on that post, the grinder will be ruined.

A face shield is an important feature to use on a grinder,  but not always necessary to have built in on a grinder itself.  You can buy an excellent separate shield attachment from Morton, called Mr. Splash that also surrounds your grinder, allowing any flying glass pieces to stay within your work area.  We also like to place a Morton cutting board under our grinder so that any water that drips from our grinder, or pieces of glass as well, will fall into the plastic Morton board instead of onto our work bench.  It makes cleanup much more easier.   Basically, you don't want tiny pieces of glass flying up into your face when grinding, thus the shield.  You don't want tiny pieces of glass laying on your work surface, since you could possibly scratch up your hand on unseen glass at a later date, thus the Morton System tools.

Examples of Glass Grinders for art glass grinding

Various grinder bits

Mr. Splash, by Morton Glassworks

Mr. Splash with eye shield 

How to cut and bend zinc came

Using zinc came isn't as difficult as it appears!  Yes it is quite stiff but with the correct tool, you can bend either "U" came of "H" came fairly easily.

Bending Zinc Came

When you use a came bender, you can bend the "U" shaped came into a fairly small circle and the "H" shaped came into a slightly larger circle.  If you need less than a circle shape, like a curve or arch, it is really easy to bend a piece of came to have only a slight bend using the came bender.  We recommend using this tool instead of trying to hand bend zinc.  Hand bent zinc looks sloppy (since it doesn't look smooth) and unprofessional.  When you buy the bender you will find instructions as to how to set it up.

Cutting Zinc Came

To cut zinc came you might need a came saw.  It depends on the type of came you are wanting to cut.  

The "U" shaped came is easily cut with a pair of hand held cutters.  Just mark the spot where you want to cut with a sharpie marker, and cut fully into both came sides with your cutters, leaving only the large back flat section of the came, uncut.  Next take the came and with your hands simply bend the zinc back and forth until the piece breaks in half!  

To bend "U" shaped came for a box or other piece where you want to make a 90 degree bend,  (but NOT to fully cut the came in half), just cut into both sides of the came with hand held cutters and then bend the came 90 degrees.  Once soldered in place your angle will look nice and it will also be strong!

To cut "H" shaped came you will need to use a came saw, like the one pictured below. 

We find that the we have to cut the thicker "H" came in two steps.  After marking the spot where we need to cut the came, we cut halfway into it on one side, then we flip the came over and finish cutting the came from the other side.  With thinner came we can cut the entire piece with one shot.  

Lampwork Silvered Ivory Stringer (SIS) tutorial

We found this excellent tutorial on the blog Spawn of Flame and had to share it with more readers!


All material contained within this Tutorial is protected by Copyright, “Spawn of Flame” Rosemarie Hanus, 2009; all rights reserved.


Rosemarie Hanus makes beads in her home studio. Almost all of them use Silvered Ivory Stringer – Look at these beads at Etsy,  Art Fire, or her Spawn of Flame website.

By rosemarie hanus.

This is a tutorial, not an expose!  To say that I use a lot of Silvered Ivory Stringer (SIS) is a huge understatement, and I thought that I would show how I make my version of the stringer.  It would give non lampworkers a look at one of our techniques, and it would give away my trade secrets to allow me to share with my fellow lampworkers.
What is SIS?  I’m quoting Lori Greenberg as explained at Glass Arts on Craft Gossip:

It’s ivory glass, rolled in fine silver foil and then pulled into long glass strings (stringer). These stringer are used as an artist would use a pencil or paintbrush…to melt on fine designs.  The reaction of the silver and ivory form a webbing and curdling effect that is both organic and mesmerizing.

Hidden Glade - Bead using Silvered Ivory Stringer

Items used:

• Ivory Glass ( my go-to glass is Effetre Dark Ivory) – 1 rod
• Clear Glass (Vetrofond clear) – 2 rods
• Fine Silver Foil (this is important – Foil, not Leaf)
• Sharp Knife (such as Exacto brand)
• Graphite Marver
• Water
• Mashers
• Torch & flame!

The short version:

• Prepare the foil
• Make an ivory plug
• Apply the silver leaf to the ivory
• Burnish the silver
• Heat
• Pull

These are the same steps that many lampworkers would use (I would say alllampworkers, but I’m an engineer too, so I just can’t bring myself to make that strong of a statement…), however, I do some things in my own specific way, so that I have a repeatable and reliable result.
This tutorial also quite long, so I’m splitting it into several posts.  For a teaser, here is how I prepare the silver foil.
First of all, notice that I use fine silver foil.  It seems to give a better result, and it is easier to work with than fine silver leaf.  I get one piece of foil and place it in the front of the foil booklet.  I then cut it into 8 mostly equal pieces with my razor knife.  I slice it in half, then I slice one side into halves and finally each of those quarters in half. I hold the foil with my other hand so that it does not bunch up.   I just estimate where the cuts should be – that is close enough.  With practice, it is easy to tell how much pressure to use to make a nice cut.

Silver Foil cut by Razor Knife

Next, I place a tiny amount of water onto my marver, with the water concentrated on the side away from me.  The water holds the foil down so that it does not blow away or fold onto itself.

Graphite Marver with Drop of Water

Finally, I put one piece of the foil onto the marver.  I try to make sure that the edge of the foil closest to me is not on the water;  I want that edge loose so that it will stick to the glass easier.  If the edge is on the water, as it is in the photo, it just makes it a little harder to pick up the foil.  Even more important, there needs to some room on the marver on the edge closest to me.

Graphite Marver with Fine Silver Foil

So now the foil is prepared.

Continuing the tutorial, here is another of my “secrets”.  I use a clear core in my stringers.  It gives me a little more control when applying the stringer (clear is more stiff than the ivory) and I think that it makes the ivory bubble more when finishing the bead.  Besides, clears are notorious for having bad batches and it is a good way to use it up!
I should mention that if you are not used to pulling a large gather of glass that you should definitely wear a leather apron at the very least to protect yourself.  I also will mention that it is your responsibility to take other normal studio safety precautions, including adequate ventilation.  This process involves burning fine silver.
Notice that I use a thicker rod of clear – approx 6 mm.  Sometimes I use smaller, but I like this size.  Starting about3/4 inch (1.5 cm) from the end of the clear,  I start wrapping the ivory around.  The wrap thickness itself is pretty thick.

Wrap Ivory Glass onto Clear

This is what it looks like immediately after finishing the ivory wrap.

Finished Ivory Wrap

Now I want to smooth the bumps.  I heat the ivory wrap and use my mashers to smooth it out into an even plug (my term).  I use a very light touch here, because I don’t want the plug to get longer and thinner; I want it to stay nice and thick.  I usually heat and mash several times.  I also rotate the clear rod around so that the plug gets pretty smooth.  Using the mashers instead of rolling it on a marver assures that both ends of the plug are the same size and it keeps the glass up near where I can see it better.

Ivory Glass "Plug"

I use the mashers to flatten the end of the plug too.  It’s not necessary, but I like to keep it tidy (the glass – not my workbench, as you can plainly see).  One tip here: compare the length of the ivory plug to the width of the silver strip.  They should be close, with the foil being maybe just a little wider.

Tidying the Ivory Plug

Now, the next step in this Silvered Ivory Stringer Revealed tutorial is to apply the silver to the ivory.  (In case you missed it, part 1 is here and part 2 is here.)
I gently heat the plug, concentrating the heat near the outside.   I try to keep the inside from getting warm or the plug will start to stretch out.  This is not a good thing, because if it gets too long, the foil will not reach the end of the stringer.  So, if it does get too hot, just tidy it up with the mashers again until it cools.
Ok, so now I finally have the outside of the plug hot, and the inside just right.  Tip – I keep the mashers in my “not rolling” hand in preparation for the next steop.  I place the plug onto my marver next to the foil.  Doing it this way helps to assure the the end of the foil is attached.

Position Plug on Marver Next to Glass

Then I start rolling the plug toward the foil, onto the foil, and continuing to roll until all of the foil is on the plug.  The photos are taken by my lovely assistant, Katie, so they are from the perspective of an observer.  My position is actually so that the direction of the rolling action is away from me.  I would guess that this whole rolling sequence takes about 3 or 4 seconds.  I would like to point out also that the foil does not go all of the way around the plug – I consider this to be a good thing, I believe that it introduces more variety into the final bead.

Roll the Plug onto the Fine Silver

Now I have the foil onto the plug and I use my mashers to secure the foil onto the plug.  I want to work fast, so remember at no point in this process have I put the mashers down.  They are also still warm from the plug making operation.  Mash firmly, but not so much that the plug gets squished out.

Use Mashers to Set the Fine Silver on the Plug

As the plug cools, I use more pressure and also begin to roll the plug a little in the mashers.  Then I use the edge of the mashers to finish burnishing the foil onto the plug.  I like that foil firmly attached.

Burnish the Silver with Masher Edge

Silvered Ivory Plug Puntied with 2 Clear Rods

Now, I punty the second clear rod to the end of the plug.  Just heat the end of the plug and the clear rod and push them together.

I promise – I will finish this  Silvered Ivory Stringer Revealed tutorial in this post.  (In case you missed it, part 1 is here, part 2 is here, and part 3 is here.)

Now, I heat the plug.  I heat from the bottom – my rationale is this: the silver is going to burn off, and it might as well fume the ivory while that is happening.  I really have no idea if this makes a difference, but that is what I do.

Heating the Plug

When I heat the plug, I always try and aim toward the center of the plug.  It is hard to explain and the pictures don’t show it very well…  But when I’m heating the right side of the plug, my right hand is closer to me, and when I’m heating the left side, my left hand is closer to me.  The motion is sort of like steering a bicycle.  When the glass starts to melt, my self talk changes the name of the plug to a gather; I’m sure that this makes all of the difference [said with a touch of sarcasm].

More Heat - Let's Call it a Gather Now!

When the gather is thoroughly heated, I bring it out of the flame, and wait.  How long?  Until it is ready.  I know when it is ready, because I have made lots of them, and I just know.  It is mushy and soft, but not runny – it also looks different; I have heard it described as “forming a skin”.

I often stand up at this point.  If this gather drops, I do NOT want it on my lap.

Gather Out of the Heat - Wait!!!

Then I pull, just a little, and wait.  It will begin to droop on its own.   If I didn’t wait long enough in the last step and it starts to droop too fast, I blow on the punty ends.  CAREFULLY!  Burned lips are bad. Letting the center droop before pulling keeps the ends from being real thick and being like “dog bones”.

Pull the Gather Just a Little - Wait!

Once it stops drooping on its own, I start to pull harder and faster.  The slower the pull at this point, the thicker the final stringer will be.

Pull a Little Faster

Finally, I pull firmly on the finished stringer.  I wait 10 or 15 seconds at the very least to make sure that the stringer stays straight.  See the nice lines on this twisty?  Perfect!  I finish by flame cutting it in the center and then trimming the stringer from the punties with my tile cutters.

Silvered Ivory Stringer

How to repair a broken piece in a leaded glass window.

Occasionally a glass artist will be asked if they can repair a broken leaded glass window but are not sure how to go about repairing the piece.  I think that repairing a leaded glass window is much easier than repairing a copper foiled window.  

To begin with you should tape together what is left of the broken piece of glass.  If necessary make a rubbing of the window.   Tape a piece of white paper on one side of the window,  lightly rub the window with a crayon or charcoal so that you can see the shadow of the lead came lines.

Next, remove the frame.  If you have a zinc came frame, you need to use a temperature controlled iron so that you can turn down the heat.  Then with the temp turned down, heat up and actually carefully move the solder from the soldered areas on the zinc came frame, use paste flux on the joint so that the solder will flow.  This will allow you to "break" or open up the soldered joints.  You'll have to do this on the corners of the zinc frame and the areas where the lead came is soldered to the zinc frame as well, remember to do both sides of your window.  Carefully remove the zinc frame from the closest side to the broken piece of glass, you might have to remove two sides of zinc came.  

Once removed, use your lead knife and cut into the closest soldered joints so that you will be able to open up the window to remove the broken piece of glass.  You will have to cut both sides of the window, in the same spots.  You might only have to cut up one area, but if the piece is large and you can't get into the broken piece, you will probably have to cut up into the window in two areas.

When you have cut both sides of lead came (only on the solder joints), front and back, up to the broken piece of glass, carefully remove or open up the window to where the broken piece is located.  Once there carefully remove the broken piece of glass with needle nose pliers.  Since the piece is cemented in place, it might take some work to pull the piece out.  Use your lead knife to clean out the lead came surrounding the once broken piece of glass.  If the lead came is damaged, you will then need to replace it.

Use the old piece of glass as a template to make a new paper pattern to replace the glass.  Place the broken piece of glass on a piece of paper, trace around it with a pencil, and cut it out with regular scissors.  Glue that piece of paper to the new replacement glass, cut, grind and its ready to replace.

If the piece of glass is too broken, or non existent,  to use as a template to make the new piece of glass, use the rubbing you made of the original window to make the new paper pattern piece.  We like to make a copy of that template first before doing anything else, just in case.  Take one copy of the etching and with regular scissors, cut out the piece or pieces that needs to be replaced.  When cutting, cut close to the center of the lead line that was traced in the original rubbing.

Once new pieces are cut and installed, re solder the once cut lead came joints.  By doing it this way, it is impossible to tell that the window has been repaired!  Then if the piece has a zinc frame, solder it back on before cementing.

Cement, clean and polish the window and it is now repaired!

How to repair a broken piece of glass in a Tiffany (copper foil) window.

I wrote this tutorial for those artists who need to replace a broken piece of glass in a Tiffany - copper foiled window.   This technique also works for replacing multiple broken pieces.

First, place your window on your work surface with the smooth side of the broken piece of glass, facing up.  (It is much easier to cut glass on it's smoothest side.) Take your glass cutter and score (cut) multiple times through out the broken piece.  I like to cut in a criss cross star or "x" shape.

Next, hold the glass window up on it's side (if possible) and take the "ball" side of your glass cutter and tap the broken piece of glass from the opposite side from the side you just scored.  If your glass cutter doesn't have a "ball" or metal cutter fluid cap on one end, use a small hard object.  As you tap the broken piece of glass,  the new score lines that you made will break and some of the broken piece of glass will fall out of the window.

Lay the window back down on your work surface and with a pair of needle nose pliers, pull the remaining pieces of broken glass out of the spot.  Once all or most of the glass is removed from the area, use your soldering iron and heat up a small portion of the copper foil that was originally wrapped around that broken piece.  Be sure to use flux.  Take your needle nose pliers and lightly pull off the old heated copper foil at the same time that you move the soldering iron.  Some times you can remove the old copper foil in one piece!  Other times you will have to pull off small pieces of foil.  Either way, keep removing the old foil until it is all gone.  Do not over heat this area or you might break some of the good surrounding glass pieces or you could possibly damage the good foil still on surrounding pieces.

Finally, smooth out the area where the piece was removed with flux and your soldering iron.  Once done, take a piece of regular paper (like computer paper) and lay it under your window, below the area where the broken piece once was.  Take a pencil and trace around the inside of this opening.  Use a pair of regular scissors and cut out this traced piece.  Glue this new paper pattern piece on to the new piece of glass with Elmer's rubber cement.

Cut, foil and re-solder this piece back into the window.  Clean, polish and it is finished and repaired!