Stained Glass Supplier

Stained glass is one of the most widely recognized forms of art in the world. A stained glass piece can be very basic with only several colors or very detailed with hundreds of pieces in different textures and colors. A stained glass supplier can provide supplies for your project that encompass many different categories with many choices within each area to reflect the degree of skill and personal choices of each artist.

 

Almost any drawing. picture or image can be modified for stained glass, but patterns usually come from books. There are books with patterns on any area or subject imaginable, from humans to insects, religion to art deco. There are books on making lamps, inserts for cabinet doors and glass boxes.

There are literally hundreds or thousands of stained glass projects from simple to fabulous. Sun catchers or window hangings are popular projects with beginners and experts alike. A stained glass supplier can fill an order for everything required to build a stained glass clock, including the clockworks. Once you find a pattern you want to use, you will trace the various shapes on the correct pieces of glass.

 

Glass is the first consideration for stained glass projects. A stained glass supplier can provide glass choices that comes in many colors; one color solids, two to three color opals and wispys, two color, mottled, mystics, in thicknesses; 3/16” to ½”, and textures; smooth, rippled or granite, hammered, Flemish, Florentine.

 

It is also possible with the use of engraving tools or caustic creams, to add detail by etching or creating sections with a frosted look. Many times this technique is used around the borders of mirrors or to create designs on drinking glasses.

 

Every project requires the use of hand tools such as pliers: combo breaker/Grozer, plain breaker, running, wire cutter, lead came cutters, curved nose, round nose, flat nose and needle nose pliers. There are also cutters for circles, for straight and beveled cuts. Before you attempt to cut glass, make sure you are wearing safety goggles.

 

Since tool selection can be overwhelming for the beginner, a stained glass supplier often offers tool packages that include all the basic tools, from safety goggles to grinders to soldering irons.

 

After cutting, the piece must be prepared by using a grinder to give a perfectly perpendicular edge. You can order grinding machines from a stained glass supplier with different strength motors, table sizes and grinding heads and eye shields.

 

Once your glass is cut and the edges ground smooth you will need to apply copper foil to the glass edges so that solder will adhere to it. Choose a copper foil width to match your glass thickness and also an appropriate backing to match your solder color, i.e. if your solder is black, use a copper foil with black backing or if you want to use silver solder, buy a copper foil with silver backing. There are also hand crimpers, foiling machines and burnishers to complete this step of the project.

 

Fitting the stained glass project together requires the use of lead came solder, flux and soldering irons which come in different diameter soldering tips in heats ranging from 200° to 1200°. A stained glass supplier will have many choices of these items to help you complete your stained glass project.