Once you start crafting with art glass, it's hard to ignore the endless creative possibilities it presents. Glass is a unique and marvelous substance which has adorned our lives with vibrant colours for centuries and shines in the light like no other medium.
Some five years ago, due to the seasonal nature of my day job, I found myself with spare time to fill during the winter months. I had long ago received a panel of faux stained glass (made out of plexiglass) and got to wondering what it would take to build it using the real thing. A few dozen YouTube videos later I found myself in the local glass supply shop, and there was no turning back. I've done a lot of work with glass since then, although I quickly lost interest in replicating the plexiglass peice.
All my work so far has been done using the foil construction method developed by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the late 19th century. I try to keep things relatively small because I have limited space to work in.
There is a lot to say about glass crafting in the 21st century, which has changed quite profoundly in recent decades, but I'll try to keep this short. While there are still some superb glass crafters around, it is a bit of a dying art. The majority of stained glass work you see on the market today consists of mass-produced Tiffany knock-offs from Asia. Workmanship is not a priority, and they don't always use real glass or solder. But they are cheap. Very cheap. Bespoke peices simply can't be hand-crafted at comparable prices, which is one reason that the art is dying. Almost all forms of traditional crafting have been replaced by manufacturing, and stained glass is no exception.
Subsequently, like most people still doing this, my mission has been to see how exquisite a thing I can create, rather than how marketable a thing I can create.
While stained glass using lead came dates back to at least medieval times, the copper foil construction method was developed by Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) in the late nineteenth century. He wanted to make more elaborate peices with smaller panes, and work more readily in 3 dimensions.
Here is a brief summary of the copper foil construction process:
Cutting
After a pattern is chosen, glass is selected and panes are cut with a glass cutter to fit the pattern.
Grinding
The edges of freshly cut glass are very sharp, and the panes need to shaped for a better fit. This is done on a glass grinder.
Foiling
The edge of each pane is carefully wrapped in copper foil and burnished.
Soldering
The foiled panes are then laid out according to the pattern and soldered together. This is the most delicate and time-consuming part of the process. Getting nice, smooth, consistent seams requires considerable skill and patience.
Framing
If the project is a panel, a frame is cut from zinc or copper U-channel. A maker's mark and the year are stamped into a section of the frame before it is soldered into place. Rings are added for hanging the peice.
Polishing
Using warm water, dish soap, and very fine steel wool, all the grime and flux left over from soldering is cleaned off the peice. The steel wool is a great way to fully shine seams and frame.
Applying Patina
Solder is silver in colour and I often leave the seams silver. The alternatives are to apply either black or copper patina, which change the colours of the seams accordingly. Copper patina, which consists of a copper sulfate solution, requires that the peice be very diligently polished before application, which is quite time-consuming.
Final Wax and Polish
The last step is to apply some car wax to the peice and give it yet another polishing. The car wax slows down oxidation on the metal parts of the peice, as even without a patina the metal will gradually tarnish.