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The Left Hand Bottom Corner

Stained Glass Cutting and Shaping

Stained Glass Picture started in 2015 and finished in 2017.
The Left Hand Panel of the Glass Picture.

Here is the left side of the two panel picture in stained glass. These are complicated shapes in a complicated design. The cutting of these pieces took a lot of time and in this picture there are a number of pieces yet to be cut to finish the layout.

Cutting Glass.

Cutting glass can be an exacting experience. Straight lines are easy of course and just a matter of practice. The best way to learn is quite simply to get on and do it.

Place your glass on a firm, flat but softer surface, such as a work bench but with a layer of old carpet on it to cushion the glass while cutting.

Cutting Tool and Method.

A GLASS CUTTING TOOL

Take your glass cutting tool between fore finger and thumb, hold it almost upright, apply pressure and keep the pressure downwards constant, then pull towards you using a straight edge to guide your scoring of the glass.

Snap the glass along the line by applying a quick pressure either side of the scoring. Alternatively place the glass on a bench edge with the scoring in line with the bench edge and press down ward with even pressure to cause the glass to snap along the score.

There can be mistakes with this where the break occurs along the score line, but veers off in a curve along a line that you didn’t want to happen.

This can be caused by: –

  • lack of practice.
  • the score line made with glass cutting tool was not made with a constant pressure and although you can see the line, there may have been a slight gap in the score.
  • pressure applied to snap the glass was not equal from one end of the scoring to the other.
  • faults in the glass itself mean that cutting a straight line or any shape for that matter, can be fraught with hazards.

Practice is the key to good scoring of the glass and also to recognising where problems may occur with glass that is ‘irregular’ in its make up. An example of irregularity would be bubbles in the glass, or a mixed stream of another colour.

Tapping.

Tapping is an important step to apply now. This is a technique to start the break in the glass along the score line prior to actually snapping the glass in to two pieces.

Where you have scored the glass on the top surface you now need to tap on the underside to start a crack / break forming. This is important with glass that has faults or textures in it or where you are cutting out a shape such as a curve.

You use the metal end of the glass cutter, not the carbide diamond wheel, to gently but firmly tap against the glass. With luck you will see a crack develop along the line of weakness caused by your scoring of the glass.

The break in the glass will ideally be vertical from the top surface to the underside surface and follow your scoring line.

Place the wooden handle of the glass cutter between the thumb and second finger with the handle extending across your palm. Use the first finger to flick the glass cutter upward so that it strikes the underside of the piece exactly beneath the line that has been scored in to it. You will see the glass gradually crack along the score line.

This enables you to break the glass along the intended line or curve.

Shapes In Your Design.

Once you have cut out a shape from a piece of glass you will probably find the edges are rough or sharp where the crack forming was not vertical as desired.

Use glass pliers to break off small bits until you have the edge of the piece shaped to your design. Then you will need to smooth the edge down to finish your piece.

Glass Grinding

This is when you will have to use a glass grinding machine to make corrections and smooth off any jagged edges or spikes.

GLASS GRINDING MACHINE Glass Grinder of similar model to my own

As long as the piece of glass has turned out just slightly larger than intended, then you can grind the excess glass off to get the shape right.

Lumps and bumps on the edges of your glass can be smoothed in this way.

If your piece of glass has turned out slightly smaller than intended you have two options if possible: –

  • grind the edges and smooth them down and make the shape look as though it was not a mistake. Then adjust the design of some of the surrounding pieces yet to be cut so that the inaccuracies of the piece you have made are compensated for.
  • cut a new piece of glass to the correct shape, discarding your previous attempt. This probably should only happen when the piece you are cutting must be the correct shape exactly.
Expensive Glass

Stained glass is expensive, so discarding a piece really means keeping it until you can find a way of using it in another design. Alternatively and more likely, cutting it up to fit in as smaller pieces for use in your current design in other positions.

The more practice at cutting and breaking the glass to the desired shape the better you will get at this.

Experience will show that the cutting of a shaped piece of glass can be done with the minimum chipping away at edges or the need to use the glass grinder to correct the edges and shape of the piece. You will begin to cut the shapes you desire without the use of the glass grinder at all.

Currently

My personal status in making stained glass windows or pictures, is very much as an amateur. I make mistakes and the shapes I create sometimes need to be cut again, or require extensive smoothing using the glass grinder machine.

I carry on in hope of getting better at it as I go along. It is an absorbing interest where it is possible to be really creative.

STARTING THE LEFT HAND PANEL WORKING FROM THE TOP DOWN

Next: – is the cutting of lead to join the glass together.

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