Creating fused glass art design elements with a craft punch, tutorial

This tutorial should give our glass fusing readers a bunch of other creative ideas so that's why we are sharing it with our readers today!  It can be found on the Bullseye web page along with a lot of other excellent information.  Follow the product links below to purchase the glass and supplies used in the project from Bullseye Glass.

Holiday Punch

Holiday punch plate, 8" x 13", slumped on Rectangular Slumper, Mold 8929. The holidays are coming — break out the punch! (The paper punch, that is.) Combine punched silver foil design elements with Tomato Red Opalescent for something truly festive. Layup Arrange silver foil (007217-FOIL) punches on Tomato Red (000024-0030-F). You can use GlasTac (008232-GLUE) to keep them in place. Cap with 3 mm Clear (001101-0030-F ) and invert the whole layup so that the clear sheet is against the shelf and the Tomato Red is the top layer – or arrange the foil on the Clear and cap with Tomato Red. In addition to Tomato Red (left), try Red Opalescent (000124-0030-F) and Deep Red (000224-0030-F). The pieces shown here were fired "design down," so the side facing the shelf in the fuse becomes the front of the piece. To achieve an effortless semi-matte finish, slump with the shelf-side up. Hint: Sandwich silver foil between sheets of paper before punching out shapes (or cutting them with scissors). This creates a toothy structure that cuts cleanly and keeps the foil from tearing. Be sure to remove all traces of paper before firing. Firing We've had success firing this layup with an initial heat range of 200-400°F in the first segment of a full fuse. Remember Reactivity A dark reaction will develop around foil elements as a result of a silver-sulfur reaction with Red Opalescent. Reactions near the edge of the piece may "feather" because there's more airflow there. Some yellowing between Clear and silver may develop (this is called silver stain). Expect variation. It's part of the beauty of this combination. Firing with silver foil between layers of glass usually contains the silver. To protect your kiln shelf from silver contamination, place the foil elements at least 3/4" from the outer edge of the project. If firing with silver on the perimeter, keep it within the footprint of the base without any overhang.

Soldering tips from a pro

When we teach beginning stained glass classes we notice that quite a few of our students have issues and questions with soldering.  It is only natural!  It can be quite a daunting task for a student who has never soldered before.  I have come to the conclusion that there are two groups of new stained glass solderers, ones that get it right away and others that need to practice, practice, practice.  So today I thought I'd try to explain to new stained glass artists how to solder properly!

To begin with, you will need the correct foil, solder, flux and soldering iron.  In fact, you will also need a good work surface as well.  We solder our windows on top of a sheet of particle board which we lay on top of our work bench.  We prefer not to solder directly on top of our bench since flux will flow into and onto the work surface you will use.  Not to mention that you can scorch the surface you are soldering on.  We want to keep our work surface clean for making patterns, cutting our glass etc etc, for that reason we keep our table top flux free!

As far as using the correct foil, what we mean by that is,  using clean foil. That means foil that doesn't have the backing glue on the outer copper surface or contaminated with other materials.  If the foil is contaminated carefully clean it with either rubbing alcohol or Goof-Off.  When foiling you need to foil the pieces with equal foil on the front and back side of the piece of glass.  The foil needs to be flattened down with a fid (a flat plastic stick or even a pencil) to make a nice smooth surface for soldering.  If the foiling is flawed or sloppy, the solder job will also look flawed since you can't add additional solder to an area that doesn't already have foil.  So take your time when foiling and do a good job, or it will show later.  When soldering lead came, the came needs to be clean too.

For solder we prefer to use 50/50 solder for lead came and 60/40 for copper foil.

With flux we like to use paste flux for lead came and liquid flux on copper foil.  There are types of flux that seem to sputter when heated.  We try to stay away from those brands of flux.  They can actually become dangerous by allowing small particles of molten solder to become air born and perhaps land on skin or clothing.

We advise glass artists to use soldering irons made for stained glass.  Some irons used for circuit boards do not heat up enough to work properly.  Other irons only have small iron tips which can make it very difficult to solder easily.

Once all of the above conditions are met, it is time to start soldering.  We start soldering on the front side of the window, once completed we flip the window over, solder the back side completely, then flip the window over to repair the front where solder may have flowed from the back to the front.  We flip the window back and forth until we are happy with the soldering.  If the window is to have a zinc frame, we solder it on at this time, as well.

On the front side of the window, when we begin to solder a piece, we like to tack solder all of our glass pieces into place.  By that I mean, we like to put a little solder on every piece just to keep all pieces from moving and distorting the window's shape, as we solder.  We do butt our window up to the outer area of our work surface where we nailed two strips of wood trim into a 90 degree angle (we do this to keep our window square).  As seen in the picture below.

Photo from the Colson Stained Glass Studio

First apply the flux to the entire piece.  We use a small paint brush which can be purchased at most stained glass retailers.  When soldering you want the solder line to look rounded, not flat.  If an area looks flat, add more solder so that the solder line is rounded!  It is not necessary to solder in any specific manner, it is more important to have the correct finished look.  If you end up with rough, dull colored soldered areas, that is indicative of cold solder.  To repair an area like that, add a little more flux to the area and heat up the area with your soldering iron.  You also don't want excessive blemishes and large clumps of solder.  To repair, re-flux and re-solder.  It is not necessary to always add more solder, it is possible to just heat the offending area with your iron and correct the issue.  

When done soldering, both sides, wash off the flux.  Flux can eventually deteriorate the solder if left on the window.  We clean the flux off our windows by using a sponge with a small amount of dish detergent.  

Finally, please watch the soldering video we previously posted SOLDERING COPPER FOIL.  There are other soldering videos on You Tube and online which are excellent to watch and give hints and tips to new glass artists.

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!

How do you make a stained glass window fit a frame?

Often stained glass artists are not taught how to fit a stained glass pattern (or window) in to a specific sized frame.  Typically artists will be asked to make a window that will fit into an existing frame for a friend or customer.  Both the foil and leaded techniques use slightly different approaches to accomplishing this fairly simple goal.  After reading our tutorial we hope you will feel much more confident in doing this!

To begin with, we will start with the foil method.  Now, if you have a frame that doesn't have any glass in it,  and you can easily move it around...  place the frame on a piece of white paper on a hard surface (the piece of paper must be larger than the frame), the front side of the frame has to be facing you.  Before doing so, prepare the frame by cleaning out any old caulk in the frame, if needed.  The paper can be plain or it can have your pattern mostly drawn out on it.  With a pencil,  trace around the inside of your frame, where it touches the paper.   Now you know the exact size of the interior of the frame you are using.  You can now draw your stained glass window to fit in that frame!  

Next we will discuss how to do this with a leaded window, or a foiled window with a zinc or lead came border.  First follow all of the instructions for the foil method as listed above.  Then measure the width of your lead came from the outer edge of the came to the interior side of the came where it touches the glass in your window.  Ok, what that means is, looking at the drawing below, measure from the outer area that is marked 9/32" to the interior section that says 5/32".   The area between the arrows, drawn below.

Once you get that measurement (it should only be a fraction of an inch), draw another new line completely around the inside of the first traced line, that will be the width of the measurement you just calculated.   Use the first traced line as your reference.   Now the area of your pattern will be slightly smaller than the original window opening, as to allow the width of the came you are using as a frame.

If you are using a frame like in a door or house window that you can't remove for this tracing process, measure the area where you intend to place the window.  Once measured, we like to draw our pattern about 1/32 to 1/8 inch smaller than the opening.  Keep in mind that if you are using a came border to follow our paragraph above.

We advise new stained glass artists to practice fitting a window into a frame before agreeing to do this for a customer.  

Pattern shears vs Sharpie marker for patterns

Why do people use Sharpie markers to draw out the pattern they want to cut, on their stained glass pieces?  This method is inaccurate and basically a waste of time!  We can see how a person can lay a pattern on a light box, lay a transparent piece of glass on top of the pattern and trace the piece onto the glass using a Sharpie marker.  But what happens when the piece of glass is opaque and impossible to see even when using the light box?  When grinding a piece of glass that has a sharpie marker outline, what happens when the marker accidentally washes off?  Do you have to guess at the actual shape of the piece?  Do you have to go back and forth fitting the piece and then grinding, until the piece fits?

The professional method for transferring stained glass patterns, to glass,  is much different than the Sharpie marker method.  And it is faster, easier, and more accurate!  So below we have written a step by step tutorial for transferring your pattern to your glass.  This tutorial is for making a Tiffany window, yet a lot of this information also pertains to making a leaded glass window.

Transferring your stained glass pattern to your glass pieces tutorial

Step one, make a pattern to the exact size desired and number all pieces.  For reference we like to mark what color of glass each piece is, even the type of glass being used on each pattern piece as well (we also advise you to somehow mark the direction that you want the grain to go, on certain pieces of glass that you will be using- we do this by drawing an arrow) .  Once you are done marking everything, make another copy of the pattern, also using plain white paper.  Computer paper works well for smaller pieces.


We like to use regular white paper that comes in a roll that you can buy at Hobby Lobby, Walmart and a bunch of other stores.  If eventually you want to make more windows with this pattern, you should make more than just two copies!  Don't bother making mylar patterns, they are unnecessary.  We like to take our patterns to Kinko's to make our copies.

Step two, cut out all pieces on one pattern copy.  Save the uncut pattern to use later.  To cut out the pieces you MUST use either a pair of foil shears or lead shears, depending on what you are making, NEVER use regular scissors.  You can purchase pattern shears at most retail stained glass stores.  Never mix up your shears and use the wrong shears when constructing your window, because the pieces won't fit properly!

Step three, use rubber cement to glue your paper pattern pieces to your glass.  Make sure to pay close attention to the direction you want to follow on the glass.

Step four, cut and grind pattern pieces.  To confirm that the pieces fit properly, lay your ground pieces on top of the original uncut pattern to ensure correct fit.  Do not remove the glued on paper pattern until all pieces are ground and laid on top of original paper pattern.

Step five, remove and foil each piece, one by one, only after removing glued on paper pattern, and cleaning with a dry rag first.

Step six, with all foiled pattern pieces laying on original uncut pattern, tack solder pieces together.  Once done, solder all pieces.  Flip the window over and solder opposite side, then flip once again to make sure front side of window is still soldered nicely.  If not, touch up!  You're now done, add a frame, patina and clean and its completed.

Which foil to use on your next project

So have you ever gone to your local stained glass store or shopped online for foil and discovered that there are a lot of different types of foil to choose from.  We get asked this question quite often in our studio, what kind of foil should I buy for this window?

Foil color choices:

• black backed 
• silver backed
• copper 

The interior color of your foil depends upon the final color of your solder lines.  If you plan to use black patina on your piece, use black backed foil.  So silver backed foil would be used on a piece that would be left without patina and copper backed foil would be used on a piece with copper or perhaps a brass colored patina.  A rule of thumb for deciding which color foil to use is actually quite simple, match the patina color to the interior foil color.  The look you want in the final piece is a seamless look.  When you look through clear or transparent pieces of glass in your window, you should be able to see the same color on the inside of the foil as the color patina used on the soldered outside lines.  If done incorrectly, the window will have a sloppy, or novice appearance.  

New wave foil is a type of foil with a scalloped edge.  It also comes in different backing colors.  This type of foil looks wonderful on certain items such as vases, boxes and other items that seem to need a little punch of  "excitement"!   If used carefully and perhaps sparingly, it could be used on a modern style stained glass window.

Foil thickness

1.5 mil foil, is a very popular, general purpose foil

1.25 mil, is a little thinner than the 1.5 mil foil and is easier to wrap around edges

1 mil thick foil is thin foil that is mostly used on small or odd shaped pieces where an easy to fold over foil is required.  It is not recommended for larger pieces.

Foil Width's  

7/32 in

3/16 in

1/4 in

3/8 in

1/2 in

5/16 in

2 in

5/32 in

1/8 in

Foil comes in a large variety of widths!  The thicker widths work well on thick glass, such as glass with a deep texture.  We usually use 3/16 inch foil in our stained glass studio and occasionally 7/32 inch foil.  If wider foil isn't available and you have a thick piece of glass that needs foiling, it is possible to use two strips of foil on a piece, overlapping in the center.  Foil the thick piece of glass one side at a time, with the second side overlapping the first.

Foil vs Lead Came

Have you ever wondered how glass artists decide to use either foil or lead came for different stained glass pieces?  There are actually advantages and disadvantages to using one or the other of these stained glass fabrication techniques.  Basically, there are a few situations an artist should consider when deciding which method to use.  Below we have compiled some information that we use in our own studio to decide which method to use on various stained glass art.

• what is the traditional method of fabrication for this type of design
• does this piece have a frame from which it will be hung
• is there a weight limitation
• does this piece contain a large number of little pieces

Of course we must add that there is really no right or wrong method when creating stained glass art!  Also there are many artists that do not know how to work in both mediums.  

The design aspect

Look at the style of the piece and decide what you typically see used in its fabrication.  You will notice that beveled clusters and other beveled glass windows are usually leaded.  Victorian, prairie style and other geometric designs also look good leaded.  Landscapes and detailed scenes look nice foiled.

Suncatcher, or framed piece?

A suncatcher will last longer made with foil as opposed to lead came.  Unfortunately lead came will stretch and ruin a suncatcher.  If the suncatcher doesn't have a strong frame and will be hung from the lead came itself, the lead came will stretch and fall apart quickly.  We prefer not to ever frame our pieces with lead came, instead we use zinc came for strength.  Occasionally we frame a foiled suncatcher with lead came, but only if we do not intend to hang the piece directly from its lead came frame.  Instead we solder the hanging hooks to an interior foiled soldered line instead.

Weight

Hanging a heavy lead came window can become problematic.  It must be hung correctly from a window frame so as to handle the heavy load.  A very heavy lead window placed in a door can also pose a problem later with the alignment of the door itself.  In areas where weight can be an issue, we advise building a foiled window.  Lead came lamps are heavy and the lead eventually stretches and ruins the lamp.  Zinc came used in lamps works well but it's difficult to bend zinc so it works better for lamps with strait pieces of glass only.  We prefer to build foiled lamps ie Tiffany lamps, which look more pleasing to the eye.

Amount of pieces in the window

Finally, while there are some very talented glass artists that can utilize lead came in windows that have many pieces, we suggest using foil for these projects.  The thin foil lines used in a complicated piece seem to allow the actual image design to stand out as opposed to the heavier lead came (where the lead came might actually stand out more than the image itself).   Also keep in mind that the more lead used in a window, meaning a window with a lot of pieces of glass, the heavier it will weigh when completed.