February - Stained Glass Workshop

Crossing the Moss.

Fresh from the excitement of the Cambridgeshire weekend, I was off again the following weekend to another workshop.  I went to tinker, or perhaps that should be tinkle, with glass.  
 This time though, it was local so I was able to travel from home.  ​It was a beautifully sunny, cold and frosty morning as I crossed the Moss.

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Kirsty Brady of 'A Touch of Glass Studio' started her Beginners Stained Glass panel making weekends, and I was fortunate enough to take part in the first one.  I’m rather enjoying this weekend workshop malarkey & am wondering what I can do next weekend! Starting with a cup of tea in Kirsty’s comfortable home we were introduced to glass cutting tools and techniques. After looking through books for some ideas, we sketched them out, then drew them up full size, creating the ‘cartoons’ we would use as patterns for cutting glass pieces.

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Then we were allowed to dive (carefully) into treasure chests of glass.  It was so difficult to choose, Kirsty has such a wide variety of colours with swirls and sparkles. When eventually we had whittled down our colour choices the cutting (& swearing!) began!  After a final chat and cup of tea, we left our layouts and workstsations neat and tidy, ready to begin cutting lead the following day.​

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After the sunny day there was a fabulous sky on the drive home.

Using horseshoe nails

Sunday morning began with the ubiquitous cup of tea then Kirsty showed us how to stretch lead and cut it to size.  
​Shiny new horse shoe nails help to hold our pieces in place, there is something terribly satisfying about a shiny, new, elegantly tapered, nail! 

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Soldering

Eventually our panels were pieced together with lead, and now the real fun begins (actually it was all fun, but I do love a gadget!) – soldering all the joins, then cementing, cleaning off the excess cement, and polishing.  It’s dirty work but someone has to do it ….. if they want a colourful leaded panel at the end of the day!

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Making it weatherproof by cementing

Drying off the oil from the cement with chalk then scrubbing it off with a wire brush

Polishing and getting rid of all the smears using sawdust

Finished at last, I could hold it up to the light

Photographed on the light box so that all the swirls and shades in the glass come to life.

It was a great weekend of cake, chat, cutting glass & cups of tea!