Getting Crafty

This week in stained glass class we finally started building our projects. To do this you need a board to build on. People use all sorts of things to build their projects on. My early copper foil projects were built on cork message type boards. However, since lead is heavier a stronger board is recommended. Our instructor, Jim, from Austin’s Blue Moon made each of us a special board to build our projects on. These boards are basically 24″ square and consist of a layer of 1/2″ think plywood and a layer of 1/2″ homasote. Homasote is a building material made from recycled paper. It’s sturdy and yet you can press the aluminum pushpins into it that stained glass crafter’s use to hold projects in place on the building boards.

In addition to your building board, you’ll need a set of layout strips. These strips will help hold your project in place while maintaining your 90 degree angle. First you place your bottom strip and then, with a t-square, you’ll place another strip on the left side, or if you’re a lefty, on the right side. Like this:

As you can see from the photo above, the layout strips are held in place by the aluminum pushpins. This is very sturdy. Your pattern goes on next. If your pattern has a caming line then you would cut it away and butt the pattern up against the layout strips. Next you’ll want to set your pieces into the pattern to ensure that all pieces fits snugly within the black lines of your pattern. If your pieces don’t fit properly, now is the time to grind them down to size or your pattern will get off kilter.

Next we’ll talk about lead caming and how to cut it and work it around your pieces.

Probably the most important tool you’ll own with your stained glass hobby is your glass cutter. You can’t exactly use your fingernail, now can you? There are several types of glass cutters on the market and I recommend that you go to a shop and try them out because choosing a glass cutter is very personal and unique to every person. You need a cutter that fits your hand and allows you to cut glass in the easiest way possible

Some examples:

• Pistol Grip - This is my personal favorite and a top seller. It fits nicely in your hand and the cutter is at the perfect angle for glass cutting



• Pencil Grip - As the name suggests, this cutter is pencil shaped. Some folks love this design because it’s more natural for your hands and they feel they can get right down in there close to the glass.



• Fletcher - This is the old fashioned cutter that’s been around forever. It doesn’t hold oil and needs to be dipped in oil before you begin to cut. This is not really an ideal tool for the stained glass hobbyist but for cutting inexpensive glass that you pick up to replace a broken window in a door or something of that nature, then it’s ideal.



• Custom/Thomas Grip - There are a few varieties of this cutter but basically they all have a “saddle” that fits between your thumb and, allowing the fingers to remain straight, relieving them of strain. To fit all hand sizes, the saddle is often adjustable to different heights.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s important to go to a shop that will allow you to try out different cutter so that you can find one that works best for you!