Stained Glass thread!

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Reply 20

Bex W

Holy wow, that is amazing! I particularly love the anatomy panel. They're fantastic :smile:

Reply 21

Liberty.

Original post by alex193

The materials for that panel (54x28cm) came to about 50 pounds, but it's the 50+ hours of work that went into it (from design to final touches) that would cost you :wink:

Dayummm, fair enough on that one :tongue:

Sounds like something I'll be saving for (hopefully... at one point).

Reply 22

Slowbro93

Wow, these are so good :gah:

Should consider it as a hobby possibly :ahee:

what inspired you I to taking it up as a hobby? :h:

Reply 23

alex193

Original post by cpdavis

Wow, these are so good :gah:

Should consider it as a hobby possibly :ahee:

what inspired you I to taking it up as a hobby? :h:

Thank you! I just kind of got into it gradually really, my mum used to dabble in it many years ago so we've always had a few pieces around the house and I just thought 'Hey, that looks fun!' when I was about 11 :smile:

I've convinced her to take it up again now, looks like I'm going to be sharing the kit :ahee:

Reply 24

Hellcat12

WOW!!!!!
you are so talented!
These crafts are sooooooo beautiful :adore:

Reply 25

Sarky

Original post by alex193

I've convinced her to take it up again now, looks like I'm going to be sharing the kit :ahee:

I love the anatomy piece! When I get my own fancy private clinic i'll commission you to make something for my door. Beautiful piece of work :smile:

Reply 26

alex193

Original post by Sarky

I love the anatomy piece! When I get my own fancy private clinic i'll commission you to make something for my door. Beautiful piece of work :smile:

Haha, thanks :smile:

I'm trying to find it a spot in the dissection room at the moment!

edit - also, thanks for the rep, you put me on 6 gems :ahee:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 27

username456717

Did you ever finish the ocean wave one?

I would love to see it! :smile:

Reply 28

alex193

Original post by nebelbon

Did you ever finish the ocean wave one?

I would love to see it! :smile:

I'm going to see my mentor in a few days time to run the design past him, got waay too much revision to make a start on it this break, so it'll be an easter and summer project :smile:

Reply 29

username456717

Original post by alex193

I'm going to see my mentor in a few days time to run the design past him, got waay too much revision to make a start on it this break, so it'll be an easter and summer project :smile:

Ok, thats understandable!

I'll keep an eye out over here then :smile:

Reply 30

alex193

Hey everyone,
First update for a while, but med school rather got in the way of glassmaking :wink:

My most urgent project is one my mum started but needs finishing before Thursday as it's a birthday present for my grandfather (shhh :biggrin:

). There were only a few pieces left to cut, but they're the tiniest little fiddly ones so it's been quite a challenge! Need to foil and solder them pretty pronto too.

Here's the panel as it stands - nearly finished with the cutting!

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Because I'm working with very dark glass for the final pieces I've had to do a multi-step process for the patterns: first tracing onto acetate, then scaling it onto paper and finally cutting round the paper templates.

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More updates to follow this evening once I've finished cutting! :smile:

Reply 31

alex193

So, that's all the cutting and grinding done - now on to foiling!

The pieces after rough cutting. The base of the grinder is full of water and that sponge at the back draws it up and lubricates the wheel - this stops glass dust from getting everywhere! The spatter guard keeps the resulting ground glass water-y stuff off the surfaces and easy to clean, because breathing glass dust in isn't all that wonderful for your lungs :wink:

And yes, I own a tiny watering can just for glass making :biggrin:

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Just for scale! These are probably the smallest components I've had to work with so far.

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And the whole panel with the final bits

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Next update as soon as I've finished foiling! Should really help to start bringing out the definition of the individual pieces :h:

Reply 32

Slowbro93

Original post by alex193

And yes, I own a tiny watering can just for glass making :biggrin:

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Just for scale! These are probably the smallest components I've had to work with so far.

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And the whole panel with the final bits

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Next update as soon as I've finished foiling! Should really help to start bringing out the definition of the individual pieces :h:

Impressive work here :h:

Reply 33

alex193

Foiled again :wink:

All the parts have to be thoroughly washed and degreased before applying the foil or else it won't stick! The box on the left is warm water and gentle dish soap.

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And here after the foiling!

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Next step soldering, but that's a job for tomorrow :h:

Reply 34

Dunc1

This is really interesting, thanks for sharing your unique hobby!

Reply 35

alex193

Soldering done!

Set up in the garden to make the most of the sun, got distracted and now my back is sunburned to about the same colour as the red glass in the robin :colondollar:

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All that's left to do now is put reinforcement rods around the edges and give it a CuSO4 bath to get the patina!

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Reply 36

Old_Simon

My uncle is one of the best and most famous stain glass window artists in the world. Unfortunately I inherited absolutely zero artistic talents :frown:

Reply 37

alex193

SO IT BEGINS :colone:

Modified it a bit so it would be manageable haha

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Original post by Old_Simon

My uncle is one of the best and most famous stain glass window artists in the world. Unfortunately I inherited absolutely zero artistic talents :frown:

Cool, what's his name? Might have heard of him haha

Reply 38

alex193

And I've drawn the second project out - yep, the companion cube :biggrin:

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Reply 39

alex193

Busy couple of days!

Choosing the colours and textures of glass I wanted to use for the wave.

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Starting to cut for the wave! 8 bits down, 317 to go :tongue:

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Finished off the robin panel - tidied up the soldering, added reinforcing rods, and added the patina. The little toes are engraved into the glass then coloured with a paint marker.

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Here's early progress on the companion cube, from this morning: (the heart was an absolute pain to cut properly haha)

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And by this evening, all done and ground too! Ready for foiling tomorrow. There's already been literal sweat and blood (oops) in this one, no tears yet though :colondollar: