Just look around you and you can't help but notice the revival of interest in the ancient art of stained glass. Most of the beautiful windows, doors, and lampshades you see aren't coming out of the studios of the old masters of this craft. They are being skillfully created in home workshops and basements!

Stained glass is a craft anyone can do. A willingness to learn, a little patience, and a minimum investment in tools and supplies are all it takes. All of the lovely stained glass items you see for sale in stores can be made in your home workshop at a small fraction of the retail cost.

The intentions of this book are to guide the beginner in this craft and to acquaint him/her with the basic tools and techniques of creating with stained glass.

Many studios, as well as community colleges, and adult education centers, offer classes where you can pursue this exciting hobby under the expert supervision of experienced craftspeople.

Many different types of stained glass are available. There is a vast selection of colors, textures, and degrees of transparency from which to choose. These factors, as well as the cutting characteristics, differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Your supplier can help you choose the colors and textures that are appropriate for your projects. Allow a 25% waste factor when purchasing glass.

• Full Antique Glass, so called because it is made using antique methods, is made by blowing molten glass into a cylindrical mold. The top and bottom of the cylinder are removed and the glass cylinder is cut lengthwise and placed into an annealing oven where it gradually unrolls and flattens out into a sheet of irregular thickness. Full antique glass is very transparent and is most often used for painting and staining.

  A few of the special types of full antique glass are: CRACKLE, FLASHED, SEEDY, AND STREAKY.

• Semi- or Sheet Antique Glass is also mouth blown like full antique, but the molten cylinder or bubble is elongated by swinging it on the end of a blowpipe. The elongation of the bubble causes semi-antique glass to be thinner than full antique. The individual sheets are also somewhat larger.
• Machine-made antique, which is uniform in thickness and color, has an appearance similar to mouth blown antiques. It is commonly referred to as "Drawn Antique" or "New Antique."
• Cathedral and Opalescent Glasses are machine or hand rolled to a uniform thickness. Cathedral glass is usually one color. Opalescent glass is made by adding one or more colors to a milk white base. During the rolling process, engraved rollers give teeters and uniform thickness to the glass.

  Some common textures of machine-made glass are: figure c, granite, dew drop, moss, water, seedy, ripple, hammered, double-rolled, and flemish.

• Glue Chip is a very popular texture. Clear or double rolled stained glass is sandblasted on one side and the fern or "jack frost" design is achieved by the application of animal glue to the sandblasted surface. It is then allowed to dry and exposed to heat the glue "chips" the surface of the glass.

Other Types of Stained Glass

• Jewels are made of stained glass pressed into many different shapes. The most common ones are multi-faceted, convex, and sparkle like prisms. Glass jewels, faceted or unfaceted, add beauty to many types of projects.
• Nuggets or Globs are rounded blobs of stained glass that are also used for decorative purposes. They are not as refined as jewels, varying in size and are irregularly shaped.

Work Surface.

Your work surface should be absolutely flat. Any unevenness may cause your glass to break. An uneven work surface will also cause you to score unevenly, resulting in breaks that do not follow the score lines. A workbench covered with commercial or outdoor-type carpeting is ideal if you work with large sheets of glass, but for most hobbyists, a thin padding of newspaper is sufficient.

Keep your work surface free of small glass chips. A small bench brush will do the job and prevent you from being tempted to sweep away glass chips with your hands.

How to Hold Your Cutter.

Hold your cutter however it feels comfortable for you. You may score away from or toward yourself. It may feel a little awkward at first, but with a little practice and experimenting, you will find a way that feels "right" for you.

It does not take brute strength to cut glass, since glass is not actually cut, it is scored. Exerting about 15 pounds of pressure, the wheel of the cutter "scratches" the glass, created a stress point. When pressure is applied to this score line or stress point, the glass should break along the line.

The care and use of your cutter. Keep your cutter in a jar filled with enough lubricant to cover the wheel. Pad the bottom of the jar with a small piece of cloth or paper towel. It is recommended that you store your cutter in this jar of lubricant whenever it is not in use. Before each score, dip your cutter in this solution.
Cutting the Glass.

1. Stand to cut glass, so that you may see what you are doing and so that you can get the proper pressure from your shoulder rather than your wrist.
2. Lubricate the cutter before you begin, and between each score.
3. When cutting stained glass, always score the glass on its smoothest side.
4. Hold the glass securely with one hand while scoring with the other.
5. Begin to cut 1/8" from the edge of the glass.
6. Maintain an even pressure while scoring. Failure to do so could result in the glass not breaking properly. Your score line should be visible, and a gentle "ripping" sound should be heard. If you don't hear or see it, pressure is too light. A heavy, white, fuzzy line indicates that you are using too much pressure.
7. Never go over the same score line. Doing so will dull your cutter, and the glass will not break properly.
8. Make sure the wheel is perpendicular to the glass at all times. Slanting the wheel will give you a beveled edge, or even worse, you will not be scoring the glass at all.
9. STOP SHORT of the edge of the glass for longer cutter life.
10. Always do the most difficult scores first.
11. If you have to use excessive pressure to score, your cutter is probably dull, or you are using the wrong cutter for the type of glass you want to cut.
12. If your score line looks like a dotted line, the wheel of your cutter is probably dented, and it should be discarded.