Stained Glass for Beginners

1. Introduction: Hi everyone. My name is a Maya and I'm an artist and video creator. In this class, I will be teaching you how to make stained glass. We will make a simple piece and go through each step of the process, from the supplies needed to soldering the final piece. If you've been wanting to learn how to do this and you have no idea where to start, this is a great class, four beginners. By the end, you will know exactly what goes into each step of making this stained glass piece. I've also included a PDF of this pattern so you can follow along and make the exact same piece I will be making in class. So go ahead and join now and let's get started. 2. Supplies: In the first lesson, we will go over all of the supplies needed. So first you will need your pattern. If you are going to be using the same pattern as me, then you can go ahead and download the PDF that I made available. You can find that underneath the class, print your pattern on your choice of paper. I will be printing my pattern on sticker paper and cutting it out with a cricket machine. But paper and a glue stick will work just fine, or even just using Sharpie to trace your pattern onto the glass. For glass, you can find local suppliers. There are some craft stores that will have glass or you can shop online. Anything in stained glass or Delphi glass is a good place to get supplies online and they have so many glass options. A glass cutter, this scores the surface of the glass, creating a weak point for a break to form. It scores the surface and then you'll use running pliers. These are pliers with a curved mouth that apply pressure on either side of the score line. And they're mostly used for straight lines, but they can also be used to start breaks grozing pliers. These are good for breaking off smaller pieces of glass. And then you'll need a glass grinder. This will smooth the edges of the glass and create a better surface for copper foil to stick to copper foil. Because solder will not stick to glass, foil is used on the edges of the glass so that the solder has a surface to adhere to different types of foil and they vary in width and backing color. 7/32 is the standard size and that's the size that I'm using. But a quarter inch may be easier to start out with. For the backing color, there is silver backed convert backed and black backed foil. And the color of the backing is important when using clear or transparent glass because it will show through if it doesn't match the solder. Because this is a beginner class, I will be using silver backed foil because we're just going to leave the solder silver. You will need some kind of burnishing tool. I just use the end of a paint brush, but you'll use this to smooth the foil over the glass. And then scissors and an exactor knife to trim the foil masking tape. We'll use the tape to hold the pieces together. When soldering corkboard, you just need a surface to solder on a soldering iron. Of course, this is the Hacco X6o1 and I'd recommend this one because it is temperature controlled, which is important when soldering to get smooth solder tip tinner. This helps to clean the iron and coats the tip in a thin layer of metal. And what this does is it helps the iron pick up and hold onto solder and it heats up evenly solder. This is 60 40 lead solder used to make stained glass flux. This is necessary because solder will not stick to the foil without it. There are three different types of flux, liquid, gel and paste. You'll need a damp sponge to clean the soldering tip. Copper wire to add wire to the piece for hanging. This is a pretended copper wire and you just want to make sure that you get the right metal because not all metals are solderable. Need some hanging material. I'm just using this chain, wire cutters and appliers. And then to clean the piece when we're done. Dish soap and a magic eraser. And then safety equipment. You'll need safety glasses, a mask and gloves. Let's begin with creating the pattern. 3. Creating the pattern: When I first started making seen glass, I printed my pattern on regular printer paper and cut it out with scissors, and used a glue stick to get on the glass. But in this lesson, I'm going to show you how I create my patterns using sticker paper and a cricket machine. So if you aren't doing this, then all you need to do is print out your pattern and cut it out. So let's start with creating the design. I always start with a rough sketch on paper to get the general idea down. Then I will take a photo of it and bring that into procreate, which is where I draw the final design. I use a canvas size of 8 " by 8 ". Since that is the average panel size that I make, I will lower the opacity on my original sketch and trace over it on a new layer. I use the round brush at 2% and raise these stabilization so I get smooth lines. When this is done, I will turn off the background layers and save it as a P and G. Now I go into Photoshop and size it and format it. The cricket machine will only cut 6.759 0.25 ". So that is the canvas size that I create in Photoshop. I bring my pattern in and adjust it to the size that I want the panel to end up being. When I bring this into the cricket design space, it resizes it and ends up stretching the image out. To prevent that, I create a strip of color along the side and the bottom of the canvas. This way it remains the same size, but I'll turn off the background and export it as a PNG. Bring it into the cricket design space for image type, I choose complex print, then cut. When it brings up the canvas, I unlock the size and change at 26.75 by 9.25 and zero zero for the position. Now I will print this out, the paper that I uses from online labels and it's the matt weatherproof sticker paper. This is what I use for all my patterns. It stays on perfect when grinding the glass, which is nice. And I recommend printing a second pattern on printer paper just to use as reference throughout the process. So now that we have our patterns, the next step is numbering each piece. I'm just using a marker and numbering each of the patterns the exact same. In the next lesson, we will pick out glass and apply the pattern. 4. Applying the pattern: So let's apply the pattern to the glass. All you have to do is choose your colors, just place the pattern onto the glass that you want. Since I'm using stickers, all I have to do is peel them off and stick. Or if you have cut out your pattern and you're just tracing with a marker, go ahead and do that. You always want to cut glass on the smoothest side. So just keep in mind that if you have any textured glass, you're going to place the pattern onto the smooth side of the glass and then cut it on that side. So it will have to be flipped if you want the texture to end up being on the front. Another thing to keep in mind is the placement of the pattern on the glass. You always want to place the pieces strategically onto the glass so that you are always cutting in straight lines or just slightly curved ones. Don't place pieces where they intercept with other ones because they will end up breaking in the wrong place. So I'm placing this piece here and you can see that I'm able to cut the glass straight across like this, or I can go through this curve right here. Those are two options to cut out those pieces of glass. Now, if I try to place this piece right here, I'm still able to cut straight across. But if I were to place this piece here, I am no longer able to cut straight across. It will break through this piece. These pieces I would not be able to cut out. I'm going to place that down right over here. And this way you can see I now have all those areas that I am still able to cut through. Just keep that in mind. When you are placing your pattern onto the glass, just make sure that it's still possible for you to cut out those pieces. Now that you have placed your pattern onto the glass, we can move on to cutting them out. 5. Glass Cutting: Now that we applied the pattern to the glass, we will cut each piece out. Let's go over the supplies needed for this part. You'll need your glass cutter, running pliers, grozingliers, make sure you wear safety glasses. You can also wear gloves if you want to. Although I prefer to not wear gloves because they make it a little more difficult to work with the glass. Something I recommend to catch tiny pieces of glass is a waffle grid mat. You cut the glass on top of it and the small pieces will just fall into it and keep everything contained. Let's just start with some glass and place it down. You want to hold the glass cutter so it's comfortable in your hand. You can either push it away from you or pull it. When scoring, you can try it both ways to see what's comfortable and which way you have more control and make sure you are always scoring on the smooth side of the glass. Since I'm using this pencil grip glass cutter, I'm just holding it up and slightly angled. What you will do is run it along the smooth side of the glass using a decent amount of pressure. You should be able to see the score line. Once you've made a score, you can't go over it a second time. So just make sure you know exactly where you're going to score before you start. The score line creates a weak point, and when pressure is applied, the glass should break along that line. Once you've created your score, find the line on your running players. I went over mine with Sharpie so that I can always see it. And just line that up with the score line. If it doesn't break all the way through, you can use the running players on the other end of the score line and try to break it from there. For smaller pieces, you can use the grossing players. Just make sure the curve side is always on the bottom and line the pliers parallel to the score line. Make sure you have a good grip and then pull away from the glass and it should break off. And you can also use the grossing players to remove smaller bits of glass. All glass is different, so it's not always going to react the same when cutting. You're basically always learning when it comes to how to cut glass because of all the different kinds. And you really don't know how certain glasses are going to break until you're working with it. A common question I get is how do I know when to tap the glass with the glass cutter or use the pliers? And it really just comes with experience. The more you cut glass, the more you'll learn how it tends to break, what kind of cuts are possible, and what tools are best for certain things. If you've scored the glass and you aren't sure how the glass is going to break, I would recommend using the tapping method. By tapping the glass beneath the score line, you are allowing the score to run itself instead of forcing it with the pliers. Just take the end of the glass cutter and tap the glass beneath the score line. I've experienced way less broken pieces when I tap the score line. And it's also the only way that I cut curved pieces. Sometimes you will have to open up a score line a bit by tapping before using grossing pliers to break pieces off. But if you're ever having trouble with the glass, not breaking at the score line, just try tapping it to get started and then you can go in with the pliers. If you mess up on any pieces and you need to redo them, just retrace or restick that pattern piece onto a new piece of glass and try it again. But once you've cut all of the pieces out, we'll move on to the next step which is grinding. 6. Glass Grinding: Now that all the pieces have been cut, we can start the next step, which is grinding. The reason that the step is important is because it gets rid of the sharp bits on the glass. And it creates a smooth edge that will give the copper foil a better surface to adhere to. This is when the second pattern comes in handy because you can use it as reference. When grinding, I like to tape over the front of the pattern to protect the paper from getting wet. This is a basic glass grinder, you just fill it with some water. And the specific bit on this glass grinder pulls water up. So if you don't have one that does that, just keep a wet sponge against the bit. When grinding, you always want to make sure that there's enough water in it and you never want to grind glass without water. That will create lots of dust and the glass may end up cracking as well. The water not only contains the dust, but it also cools the bit and the glass. When it comes to preventing water from making a mess, I have placed cardboard around the grinder, but another option is using a plastic bin on its side. And then placing the grinder inside it to contain all the water. Make sure to wear your safety glasses when grinding. And I also like to wear these nitro gloves, mostly just to keep water off my hands. First, you can run the entire piece of glass along the bit just to get rid of any sharp remnants. And then you can focus on one area, just slowly pushing the glass against the grinder. When grinding, you want the edges of the glass to match the pattern as close as possible. So I have my reference paper along with the rest of the pieces so I can go back and forth to see what areas need some more grinding and just to make sure it's all fitting together. Once you've done all the edges of a piece, you can dry it off. Just make sure that all the edges look like this. This will help the copper foil stick to it. If you glue your pattern onto the glass and it starts to come off, you can use the Sharpie to mark off the areas that still need grinding and then you can just continue. So at this point I will just peel off the stickers and do any further grinding if needed. And the piece should fit perfectly within the pattern, and you can move on to the next one. Once all the pieces are done, they should fit together nicely, like this. Since I use sticker paper on my pieces, I'm left with residue on the glass. The next step is just removing that. And to do that I use WD 40. If you are using something like that to clean your glass, just make sure to clean the glass a second time with rubbing alcohol. This way the glass is free of any residue and oils so that we can move on to the next step, which is copper foiling. 7. Copper Foiling: Now that all our pieces have gone through the grinding process and they fit nicely together, we can start copper foiling. The foil is necessary because solder will not stick to glass. It needs the foil to adhere to. And there are two things to consider when choosing your foil. The size and backing color. 730 seconds is the standard and that is what I'm using. But depending on how thick or thin you want your solder lines to be, you could also use three 16th or a four inch foil. It's also useful to have different sizes on hand if you are working with thicker or thinner glass. Copper foil also comes in different backing colors. So this one that I'm using is silver backed because I'm leaving the solder silver. But there's also copper backed and black back oil. And you would use those if you are using patina to change the finish of the solder. Need a burnishing tool to smooth out the foil on the glass. I just use the end of a paint brush. But you could also use a marker scissors and an exact knife to trim the foil. To start, just peel back a little bit of the foil. And you want to make sure you start the foil on an inside edge edge that touches another piece. Place your piece of glass in the middle. You want the foil as even as possible on both sides. And just press it down so that it sticks. Peel a bit more of the foil, line it up evenly, and continue until you get back to the start, Overlap the foil just a little bit and then cut it with the scissors. Now you can use your hands to pinch down the foil over the sides, or you can use the burnishing tool to fold them over. When it comes to curves, you want to slowly fold the foil over using your finger, doing the swarms up the foil, making it more flexible and it prevents splitting. I will show you what to do if your foil does split, but you want to try and avoid that happening, because when you go to solder that it's going to show, you won't end up getting a smooth solder line. The main thing is slowly working the foil over the glass. Once the foil is pinched down, place the piece onto your table and use the burnishing tool to completely smooth out the foil. Flip it over and then do the same thing to the other side. Now look at where the foil starts and ends. And if it doesn't line up perfectly, you want to chrim off that extra foil with the Exacto knife. If you leave uneven bits of foil, it will show up. And you go to, if you have a split in the foil, all you need to do is cut about this much foil, Place it over the split, smooth it over both sides of the piece. Burnish it just as you normally would. And use the exact knife to trim off the extra. And that is how you patch up a split. Once all the pieces are foiled, place them all together in the way that it will be. So this is where we will use the masking tape. We are going to tape over this entire side just so that we can flip the whole piece over and then start. So the tape will keep everything in the right place. While we, once you've covered the back and tape, just flip it over and if you have any gaps like this, you can cut a bit of foil and fold it so that it sticks to itself. And then trim it into a smaller strip. And then just fold that into the gaps, Just make sure that it doesn't extend above the surface. What this does is it will give the solder something to hold onto rather than just fall through the gap. Now this piece is ready for. 8. Soldering: Before we start soldering, we will first make the jumpings so that we have them ready. You always want to attach jumpings at a seam, this way it has a stronger bond. I'm going to take my pretend copper wire and wrap the wire around a paintbrush. Then I'm just cutting it so that I end up with this. You can make these however you want for this piece. I'm just keeping it simple and I'm going to fit them over the edge with the wire on each side of the seam. Leaving a bit of extra wire to actually fit into the solder will help to make it stronger. I'm making another one, just the same. And then I will put these to the side so that we have them ready when we need them. When it comes to soldering, make sure you are in a well ventilated area, open windows if you can, and wear a mask. You don't want to breathe in the fumes that are created by the flux. And also wear gloves to keep the flux off of your skin. Just pour a small amount into a jar, and once the iron is hot, use a damp sponge to clean it off. Before I start soldering anything, I always tin the iron with tip tiner. What this does is it coats the iron in a thin layer of metal. This way, the iron is not heating up the tip itself, it's instead heating up that layer of metal. This ensures an even amount of heat. So if you ever have trouble melting or picking up and holding solder, you may need to re tin the iron. I have my iron temp at 410 and that's what I keep it at while I'm soldering. So now we are going to apply flux to the foil. This cleans the foil and makes it so that the solder flows smoothly. Usually you will start by tax soldering, which is applying a small amount of solder to the joints so that everything is held in place, but with masking tape. You can skip that step since it's already being held together. Make sure you apply flux to the area you are soldering. Just unravel some of the solder and push it into the iron. As you move the iron along the foil, you don't want to press on the glass. Oil soldering, there's a risk of heat fractures and you also risk the foil lifting if it gets too hot. So make sure to keep the iron moving and don't keep it in the same spot for too long. As long as you give it some time to cool off, you can go over your solder lines and fix them whenever you need to. I've learned that everyone's solder is a bit different and you just need to find a way that is comfortable and works best for you. I like to hold the iron so it's almost flat on the glass and push the solder into the side of it. But you can also place the solder right behind the iron and let it melt as you drag it along the foil. And after you create a solder line, you can go back over it to smooth it out. It also just takes a lot of practice. And what's nice is you can go at your own pace and take your time. You can always work on a different area and come back to another area to work on it a bit more. The more you solder, the more you will get the hang of it, even if it seems really difficult. At the beginning, I did not like soldering at all when I first started, but I kept making more pieces and now I'm at a point where I'm getting the hang of it and it's a lot easier. Now, I'm not as intimidated when it's time to solder a piece right here where I'm adding the wire. I accidentally soldered. But the solder can be removed the same way you apply it. Just brush on a little bit of flux and basically wipe the solder off with the iron. Keep in mind to not solder those areas until you're actually adding the wire. Once the entire front is soldered, I will tin the edges, which is basically taking a very small amount of solder and just running the iron over the edges so that the foil is coated. I tin the edges. When I get to this point and soldering, mostly because I just forget and usually do it once everything else is soldered. But you can do it at the start, it doesn't really matter. Now that the front is done, we will flip it over and remove the masking tape, apply flux, and just start soldering the entire back until all that's left are the seams at the top where we will attach the wire. Now we can attach the wire. I like to hold the wire with pliers to keep it right over the seam. I also bend the solder and prop it up so that I don't have to hold it, apply some flux and drop a bit of solder right onto it to hold it in place. So now you don't need to use the pliers and you can just sold like you normally would. Just be careful here to not completely re melt the solder that you just applied. Otherwise, the wire will move out of place and you'll have to fix it and make sure to let it cool before adding more soder or smoothing it out. Now do the same thing with the other piece of wire and flip the piece over to solder the other side as well. So now that the front and back is soldered, the only thing we have left to do are solder the edges. We're going to hold the piece upright so we can solder the edge. Definitely wear a glove that will protect your hand. When you do this, I like to wear this nitro coated glove. Just apply flux and hold the piece as level as you can so that when you add solder it doesn't drip down the sides. So there are two ways that you can do this. You can either leave the piece flat and just drop beads of solder onto the edge. This way when you pick it up and hold it upright, you can kind of just apply flux and melt down those beads of solder to form the edge. Or you can just hold the piece upright and pick up solder and drop it onto the edge. And do that until the entire piece is done. So doing it the first way may be easier for beginners, but all you will do is grab a nice bead of solder and keep the iron parallel to the piece and drop it down. Let that cool for a couple seconds and then add some more. If your piece is round or curved, then you will have to turn it slightly as you add more beads of solder. So always keep it level. Make sure that after you add solder, you'll let it cool before turning it. It's up to you how thick you want the edges to be. Just continue this until you've soldered around the entire piece. And if there's any uneven areas, you can go back and add more solder. Just make sure to add some flux and then you can smooth everything out. And once this is done, we can go ahead and clean the piece. You will need some dish soap and a magic eraser. The dish soap will remove all of the flux. Because the flux, if it's left on there, it will make the piece oxidize super fast. And the magic eraser has micro abrasives that will give the solder nice shine. So make sure you wash it thoroughly and then dry it. Now we can add the chain. I'm just using the pliers to add the chain onto the piece and it's finished. Stained glass will naturally oxidize over time. If the piece does begin to dole, you can polish it with wax. Just don't use any ammonia glass cleaners to clean the piece. And make sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soapy water after handling stained glass. 9. Class Project: For the class project. Create your own stained glass piece following the steps in class. I have provided the pattern I used. If you would like to follow along and make the exact same piece, you can just download the PDF and print it out. Create a project in the projects and resources page. And add photos of your progress and your final stained glass piece. If you have any questions, be sure to ask me any discussions page. And if you enjoy this class, consider leaving a review and follow my page to stay updated on future classes. Thank you so much for joining.