Today’s Costume: Glazier

…..or You Can’t Have Too Many Hobbies.

For Christmas I received vouchers for two stained glass classes at GlassWerx, which is just a ten minute ride up the road. I didn’t run the risk of leaving town before I got to use them and now I’m hooked. So much fun. Here are some pictures of the process and the results:

One class was in a technique called fusing where glass is cut and layered then melted in  a kiln to form the final piece. I call these “Perfume” and “Inukshuk Fish”.

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The enclosure of my brother’s deck in Newfoundland was the inspiration for my stained glass project.

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I did a little research and drew up and copied my templates at home to save time for glass work.

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The cutting went better than I would have expected thanks to the use of a glass grinder to neaten up the rough edges.

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Of course, I can’t be satisfied with just one, so I paid a little extra to make two sun-catchers.

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“Curses, foiled again!” The technique we used is called copper foiling. The edges of the glass are covered with an adhesive backed copper strip which is pressed tightly to the glass (called burnishing) and to which the lead adheres when heated.

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The foiling is the most tedious part of the process and requires close attention. I only just realized as I was posting these pictures that that is most likely blood stains on the mounting tile in the background. Egads.

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My first lead line. I was terrified; not just of the blazing hot soldering iron but of doing it incorrectly. Turns out there is some wiggle room.

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Speaking of rooms, I wanted to add another piece to my set of sun-catchers so I fitted out myself to do the work at home

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I had a lot of trouble cutting the tiny amber pieces and settled for crude in the end as I only had a small amount of that coloured glass. We learn by our mistakes.

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The finished pieces. The rough string is only temporary; I just couldn’t wait to see them hanging with light behind them. I only burned myself once, trying to pick up a small hanger wire which I dropped while soldering. It was hot!! As I said, we learn by our mistakes.

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I call it “Pete’s Place” and indeed, it transports me to Hall’s Bay every time I look at it. Hmm, wonder what I can make next.

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Special thanks to Nancy J. for piquing my interest in glass work.

© Judy Parsons 2016

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