Take a Stained Glass Class

Tonight's fun activity was to attend a class that we've been taking on making stained glass. We've studied two methods so far: (1) copper foil, and (2) leaded glass. Below is a leaded glass window that we finished up tonight. Wendi designed this as a window insert for a built-in cabinet in our dining room. (Not the best picture in the world, as it's resting on a piece of foam we have lying about for another project, but at least you can see it.) Below, we'll write some more about the process!

Leaded glass, as sown, uses lead channels (called cames) to hold your glass pieces in place. You then solder the lead pieces together to create your window. It's actually fairly simple and easy to learn. It does require various tools but, if you're lucky (like we were), you'll find a local workshop that makes most of these things available. Aside from the tools, you also of course need to purchase your glass. (And, yes, that can get pricey -- or, "spendy" as they say here in Portland.)

One of the neat things about working with glass is learning just how easy it is to cut it -- just score it and ... snap! In fact, it's so easy that, when we replaced some of the 100-year-old windows in our kitchen recently, we thought, "Hey, let's take that old glass from those rotted windows and reuse it somehow." So, all of the clear glass in the window shown above is actually original glass from our home, which adds to the character and meaning of that new decorative element.

Below is an example of the copper foil technique (Jim's crow, completed a few weeks ago in class). Note that, in general, copper foil allows more detail (smaller pieces) than lead. With this technique, you cut your pieces out and then wrap them with a copper foil (which is like a very thin, metallic ribbon with a copper side and a sticky side). It's fairly simple -- just wrap the pieces by sticking the sticky side to the glass, and then solder it all together.

Anyway, sure, there's a little more to it all, but we'll leave it to you to learn in a class if you're drawn to it (or, feel free to ask us).

What else fun can we do for an hour? Leave a suggestion as a comment! We would like to pick things on a regular basis. If a suggestion if inspiring to you and you complete one of the activities, be sure to send us a pic!