Stained Glass Supplies

Find your stained glass supplies here and enjoy a satifying hobby!
Absolutely nothing is as pleasing than admiring an activity that you just completed from scratch! From choosing or building the pattern, glass choice, cutting every item to the exact size, soldering, etc...

Hanging the piece then standing back to see how the light plays with the colors is the best feeling of accomplishment ever.

 

If you’re serious in starting work on a stained glass project and are new to the hobby, you’re going to find yourself on a shopping trip for glass supplies – either to your local hobby or stained glass studio or on the Web for stained glass supplies.

 

There are some fundamental tools and materials you will need to have prior to you start your 1st task.

 

 

 

 

 

Safety and clean up equipment.

 

The most important item will be well fitting and comfortable safety glasses. Also include a soft whiskbroom and a small wastebasket. You’ll need these for keeping your work area clean.

 

In your supply box, include some ammonia free glass cleaner and soft rags. These items are helpful in cleaning.

 

An important part of project is a good work board. You need something with a smooth surface, which will allow you to use pushpins or nails that hold your glass pieces together as you are working on your project. A piece of smooth plywood is ideal.

 

Other Basic Stained Glass Supplies

 

Soldering Iron and soldering supplies.

 

The soldering iron you use should be between 80 and 150 watts. Find one that feels comfortable in your hand. You’ll need solder and flux with its own brush. When you are working with copper foil, you need to clean the foil (that’s where the flux comes in) before you solder the pieces together.

 

Copper foil and fid/lithekin. Copper foil is applied to the edges of the stained glass pieces. It is smoothed out with a tool called a fid or lithekin. Copper foil comes in various widths and has an adhesive backing.

 

Pattern and Glass Cutting Supplies

 

First of all, you need basic drawing equipment – pencils, erasers, ruler, carbon and pattern papers. You will be using these to copy your pattern and cut out the pattern pieces.

 

You’ll need a good pair of scissors to cut out these pattern pieces. Many stained glass artisans use special pattern shears for this purpose. These pieces are traced onto the class using marking pens. It is a good idea to have both a black and a white to make sure you can see the markings on the glass.

 

In order to cut your glass, you’ll need a glasscutter and pliers. These are items that are used constantly when working with stained glass. You want to have several of them. This is not a place to skimp, since accurate cutting depends on these tools.

 

You’ll also need a grinder.

 

Grinders are used to smooth edges, grind down pieces to an exact fit or to create a specialty piece that could not be cut.

 

No shopping list of stained glass supplies is complete without antique patina. This is used to finish the solder joints to colors like brass or black.

If you’re just getting started in stained glass, you may want to buy a small sheet of clear glass. It’s relatively inexpensive and if you’re not sure of a tricky cut, you can practice using the clear glass.

 

Now that you know how these tools and supplies are used, review the following basic shopping list for stained glass supplies.

 

Clear glass for practice
Copper foil and fid/lathekin
Drawing and pattern supplies – papers, pencils, erasers, tape, marking pens
Glasscutters, pliers and grinder
Safety glasses, whiskbroom, dustpan and wastebasket
Soldering iron, solder and flux (with brush), antiquing patina
Work board or work surface suitable for pushpins or nails

With these purchases complete, you’re ready to start your first project.

 

You've created a piece of art that will bring color and light to all who have the privledge to view it. Stained glass art lasts for decades. Your grandchildren's grandchildren will have the opportunity to learn more about their ancestors because of your art work.

 

This site is designed to inspire and inform. Glass Art from beginning to end... patterns, how to's, tips and tricks, the best tools and equipment, etc. Sit back and enjoy - Guaranteed to spark a creative bone in anyone and everyone interested in stained glass creation!

 

It takes numerous and careful steps to create a beautiful stained glass object. Each of these steps requires specialized tools that have been designed for this work. While some of these tools are going to cost you a lot of money, you don’t have to worry about purchasing all of them at one time. In fact, as a beginner, you will only need to have approximately $100 worth of tools.

 

These will include a glasscutter, a breaker, specialized scissors and a soldering iron. Of course, you will also need some glass, foil and solder for the piece that you are making. The type of foil that you need will have adhesive on the one side so that it will stick to the glass edges. This is important because eventually your solder will also adhere to this foil and this is how you will attach the pieces to one another in order to get the leaded glass effect.

 

Advanced Stained Glass Making

While beginners can get away with only purchasing a minimum of tools and supplies, if you want to advance with this hobby, then you are going to need to purchase more sophisticated tools. Having the proper tools is an absolute must if you want to do bigger projects, take an advanced stained glass class or start your own home business with this hobby. If you don’t have a store near you that caters to your needs as a stained glass artist, then you should consider shopping online for these things.

 

Where To Purchase These Items

There are stores dedicated to carrying all of the supplies that you will need for stained glass art making. Oftentimes you will even be able to take classes here. These stores also exist online. Some of these online stores even have some free patterns available for you to use, as you desire.

If you are shopping for advanced tools for stain glass making, you should be aware that a lot of these tools are actually quite expensive.

 

In fact, such things as band saws, grinders, kilns, polishers and sets of glass cutting tools can cost you several thousand dollars. This is what you will have to pay above and beyond your basic needs for things such as colored glass, foil and solder. For this reason, you shouldn’t enter into this hobby half-heartedly. Make sure that you are interested in this hobby and that you have enough talent to be able to stick with it for the long term.

 

Whenever you decide to shop online for the items that you will need for this hobby, you will find tons of materials available for you to purchase. It is important to choose to purchase these items slowly and carefully. Impulse purchases could lead to items that you may never use. This is why it is so important to know what you need and only buy those things that you do need. In this way you will eventually have a workshop that is full of useful items that you have always planned on purchasing.

 

Conclusion

 

Creating big, beautiful stained glass projects will take a lot of training, materials and tools. Fortunately, with this hobby you can recoup your expenses by selling the pieces that you have designed. After all, there are very few people who will be able to resist the charm of a beautifully designed piece of stained glass art. You may even be surprised to find that you are able to create a very successful business by simply pursuing a hobby that you enjoy.