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Application 1. Clean glass is a must! Use ammonia or alcohol if needed. Avoid touching glass surface with your hands. 2. Remove the wax paper barrier before soaking. 3. With a good pair of small scissors trim about 1/16 inch away from the decal card 4. Curved-tip tweezers are very handy. 5. Wet the surface of the glass when applying the decal, it allows the decal to easily move into position. 6. To apply the decal, slide it slightly off of the paper and hold the paper edge with the tweezers. Position decal and hold exposed edge with finger, or a second pair of tweezers, on the glass while pulling paper from underneath. When the decal is in place hold with finder and blot excess water. Continue to gently blot, using an inside out rolling motion, until all the water and bubbles are out from underneath the decal, a small squeegee (credit card) is useful. Continue until the entire decal, including the edges, are firmly affixed to the clean glass surface. 7. Allow to dry completely before firing. The smallest amount of moisture can stream apart the decal from the glass. Firing Conditions 1. Over-firing is disappointment. Decals are temperature sensitive, some colors more than others. The best results are achieved with the lower temperatures and slightly longer soak times. 2. Good ventilation in the kiln during the burn off phase, (500-900f), is important for all decals and critical for hi-ire and low-fire) accents) metallic decals. Leave the lid vented till the kiln reaches 1100f. Info from Profusion Studio.

 1908

I am a fan of the Morse Museum. The Morse is in the college town of Winter Park, Fl. They have an extensive collection of Tiffany artwork. This is part of the collection. The panel was originally the center piece of a 10-panel window designed for the landing of a massive marble staircase in the Pittsburg home Of Richard B. Mellon. The panel was divided up when the 60-room house was demolished in 1940.

The piece is done totally in opalescent glass. It must have been a remarkable sight at the top of the equally remarkable marble staircase.

The basic thing to remember here is that Lead Came stretches. That really is the base fact in deciding when to use what.

Use Foil:

1. Lamp Shades should always be done in foil. All those beautiful Tiffany Studio lamp shades were done with foil. He was the master so just do what he did! If you make a lamp with lead, over time it will collapse unless you reinforce the lead. That just adds to the work and to the weight.

2. Lead is heavy. If weight is an issue, use foil.

3. Items like jewelry boxes should be foiled. It is way easier to deal with the angles with foil.

4. When you have little pieces that will be lost in the lead, use foil. You can even mix. A lead came panel can have a section that is foiled. Most little projects are done with foil.

Use Lead:

1. When you are making a project that will be in the weather, use came. Came can be puttied/cemented to make it more weather tight.

2. Geometrical patterns lend themselves nicely to lead came.

3. Really large piece, like Church window are nice with lead came because of the size. The boldness of the came fits the size. To get the bold width with foil would be difficult and probably irregular. Came stays nice and uniform.

this picture from Alamy.com

4.  Little suncatchers are sometimes made with

hobby came, which is a tiny came.  Simple ones.  It is fast.  

4. Even though lead stretches, it takes time. Most Church windows do not need to be releaded for 100 years. When you see that a window is budging at the bottom, you can usually bet that it is old, and the lead has expanded and contracted over time and the weight of the glass has been pushing down during this unseen activity. If you used foil on a window that is exposed to weather and weight, you may see stress cracks in the glass.

Criteria	Copper Foil	Lead Came
Design Complexity	Intricate, detailed patterns	Simpler, larger geometric designs
Size of Project	Small to medium pieces	Larger panels or structural pieces
Structural Strength	Lightweight, non-load-bearing items	Heavier, load-bearing installations
Style Preference	Thin solder lines, modern styles	Bold lines, traditional styles

 

Though not really new, because it has been around since the 19th century, bead making is gaining momentum.  One way to get into it is to buy a Hot Head torch like you see in the pictures below.  This is easily something you can do at home.  That is just propone you see attached.  

Hot Head Torch – Stained Glass Express

 

If you really want to dive in, you can buy a bench burner which needs to be hooked up to gas and oxygen.  The one below is an Alpha.  You can use a 3-gallon propane to run this and a oxygen generator. 

Bethlehem Burner or Alpha Glass working Torch – Stained Glass Express

 

 

 

 

Luminescent glass is different than iridescent glass. It is low-fire—not high-fire like iridescent—and is intended for reverse fusing.

What is reverse fusing? Reverse fusing means placing your piece face down on the kiln shelf and building backwards, fire-coated side down. If you are firing on a textured mold, place a piece of Thin Fire between your boron-treated mold and the glass. If you fire your piece with the coated side up or cover it with another piece of glass or you will lose the coating. If you are slumping and do not go over 1,200 degrees, you can place the luminescent side up and not lose the coating. Luminescent glass is food-safe and has been tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, please note that once the piece has been fired in your kiln, it is no longer a Wissmach product; it is your product. If you have been firing glass that could leave lead or cadmium traces in your kiln, that could get on the product, which would render it unsafe for serving food or beverages. LEFT: Luminescent glass fired with Thin Fire in between, with the coating facedown. RIGHT: Luminescent glass fired facedown, directly on the mold.

Firing Schedules: Courtesy of Petra Kaiser and Wissmach Glass

Standard Fusing Schedule – 2 Layers Thick

Segment 1: 600°F/hr. up to 1,000°F, hold for 10 minutes

Segment 2: Full/9,999 up to 1,410°F, hold for 10 minutes

Segment 3: Full/9,999 down to 950°F, hold for 60 minutes

Segment 4: 100°F down to 700°F, hold for 1 minute

Tack Fuse, Polishing and/or Slumping into a Mold

Segment 1: 300°F/hr. up to 1,000°F, hold for 10 minutes

Segment 2: Full/9,999 up to 1,300°F or 1,350°F (depending on your desired results), hold for 10 minutes

Segment 3: Full/9,999 down to 950°F, hold for 60 minutes

Segment 4: 100°F down to 700°F, hold for 1 minute

Draping over a Mold and/or Polishing

Segment 1: 300°F/hr. up to 1,000°F, hold for 10 minutes Segment 2: Full/9,999 up to 1,200°F or 1,220°F (depending on your desired results), hold for 10 minutes Segment 3: Full/9,999 down to 950°F, hold for 60 minutes Segment 4: 100°F down to 700°F, hold for 1 minute

NOTE: Not all kilns are alike. Your kiln size, controller type and individual project may require some alteration to the schedule for best results.

Iridescent glass is made by Oceanside, Bullseye and Youghiogheny.  Also Wissmach non fusible. When firing it can be placed up or down. This info from Oceanside.

Iridescent glasses have a micro-thin layer of metallic crystal creating a reflective surface that shimmers in rainbow, silver, or gold tones. Because of its metallic nature, the coating has specific characteristics that are important to understand as you plan fused glass projects. 

The metallic coating doesn’t melt so it resists bonding:

If you were to try to fuse two iridized surfaces facing together, they will not bond well, if at all.

When stacking a design on top of an Iridized surface, you may get more of a tack-fused look than you intend. Use this to your advantage to create very dimensional work or adjust your schedule.

To fully clear cap an Iridescent glass, make sure your piece of clear is slightly larger (between 1/8" and 1/4" on all sides) so that it has enough area to bond with the edges of the glass below.

The metallic coating doesn’t stretch:

This is why a crackling effect can be seen when Iridescent glasses are allowed to spread — especially when the irid surface is on top, face-up. Enjoy the look—alternately, dam pieces or construct them using a circular design (where the glass tends to draw inward when full-fused) to minimize the effect. Clear capping produces more of a pinching or crinkling look as the clear presses into the coated surface below.

 

Picture from Angelas Art Glass on Etsy.

The same coating is more dramatic on darker glasses:

The rainbow iridescence on Clear or White is much more subtle and delicate than on darker colors or Black, which is the most dramatic. 

 

Firing for Different Effects:

Irid side down: in this example, the iridescent surface of the glass is placed face down on the kiln shelf paper, with a piece of clear on top. This look can make a lovely matte finish for either the top or bottom of a piece.

Irid side up: in this example, the iridescent surface of the glass is placed face up on top of a piece of clear. This gives the most opportunity for glass to spread and crackle.

Irid side up and capped with clear: in this example, the iridescent surface of the glass is placed face-up and capped with a slightly larger piece of clear glass on top. 

 

 

 

 Using Clear Textured Iridescent Glasses:

Place the texture side down onto a darker base glass. Although the texture will flatten using a full fuse, the irid design from the texture will still be visible with interesting distortions from the texture.  Do small test fires to know.  

In smaller pieces of Iridescent Clear or other light colors, it can be difficult to tell which side has the coating.  Simply scratch both sides with your fingernail--the irid surface will grip more than the smooth side.  

I just went to the retail display where we keep pliers.  There were 7 different ones.  So many pliers—so many uses!  Or just a little difference, like the width of the jaws that someone might prefer.  

Your first plier should be a breaker/grozer. Double duty! Their primary function is to grasp the glass securely on one side of a score when breaking it apart. Both jaws have serrated teeth to assist in their second duty, grozing.

Second pair you should buy is probably a running plier. This plier is designed to apply pressure under a score causing the break to follow (run) along the score line. Metal ones have the advantage of being adjustable for the thickness of the glass you are working with. Plastic also available.

Breakers. These have straight jaws and are designed to grasps the glass to assist in breaking long thin pieces of glass. The wide jaws meet only at the tip and not serrated.

Search: 30 results found for "pliers" – Stained Glass Express

I originally wrote this blog in 2013. I am not sure why we used this picture of unrelated glass, but I was way younger so I'm keeping it.   Lampworking is also called flame working or torch working or bead making. All those words make sense to the process except Lampworking which is the official name of the process. So, I looked it up. It is called lampworking because way back when this process started, they did it by oil-fueled lamps while blowing air into the flame through a pipe. So, there you go! This type of glasswork is where a torch is primarily used to melt the glass. Once it is molten, it is formed by shaping with tools and hand movements. Lampworking is different from glassblowing in that glassblowing uses a furnace called a glory hole as the primary heat source. The methods today use torches that burn propane or natural gas for the fuel. It is mixed with air or pure oxygen as the oxidizer. MAPP gas in portable canisters can be used.

Plugging a soldering iron into a rheostat (or temperature controller) does NOT reduce the temperature. It reduces the amount of electricity coming in but doesn't change the temperature the iron will heat up to. It will just take longer to heat up. It's the same as the tap on your sink. Turning the tap down will make the water come in slower, but the water will still fill up your sink. It'll just take longer to fill up.

1. Basic Concept of a Rheostat:

• A rheostat is a variable resistor. It adjusts the resistance in a circuit, which in turn controls the current flow.
• By increasing the resistance, the current flowing through the circuit decreases, which reduces the power delivered to the soldering iron.
• Conversely, reducing the resistance increases the current flow, increasing the power to the soldering iron and therefore the temperature.

2. Operation with a Soldering Iron:

• Input Voltage: When a soldering iron is plugged into the rheostat, the device controls how much of the mains voltage reaches the iron.
• Power Control: Turning the rheostat's dial changes its resistance, altering the amount of current flowing through to the soldering iron’s heating element.
  • Higher Resistance = Less Power = Lower Temperature.
  • Lower Resistance = More Power = Higher Temperature.

The most popular iron right now is Hakko Fx601.  It comes with an internal thermostat.  A thermostat automatically maintains a set temperature.  That makes it way easier to learn to solder with a nice line.  If you don't have to constantly adjust for your temperature you will have an easier time.  

Hakko Soldering Iron FX 601 – Stained Glass Express

Not that there are not reasons for an iron with a rheostat.  One is price.  Not everyone wants to pay over $100 for an iron when they are first learning.  This person can buy an inexpensive 100-watt iron and hook it up to a rheostat and find out if they like the hobby. 

100 Watt Pro Soldering Iron – Stained Glass Express

Stained Glass Express

The tough economy of 2011 and 2012 caused some glass manufacturing to cease. The GNA (German New Antique) factory has now been closed for some time. At first it was thought that it would be retooled and reopened. That has not happened. As distributors run out, they will be gone. Colored Glue Chip has also disappeared.  We can still get clear but that is all.  Oceanside does manufacture a line of Artique glass which is quite beautiful and are great substitute for GNA.

 

 The green is glue chip, the blue is GNA and the purple is Oceanside's grape artique. 

 Wasser has also disappeared. This was a less commonly used   glass, but some have made beautiful, fused jewelry and plates   with it. It was a thin 90 Coe glass.  We also had a customer who made doll house items with this glass.

 

Kokomo Opalescent Glass had a series of difficult situations during and after the pandemic.  They are manufacturing glass,` but it continues to be very scarce and many of the numbers have not been seen in a number of years.   

  

This is Camouflage, Hawaiian Sunset and Dragons' Breath which are hopefully going to be available soon.   

 

 

 

Jewels are made of stained glass pressed into many different shapes. They are convex and can be smooth, but most are multi-faceted. They have a lot of sparkle. They vary in price by color and shape. Sets are available for some of the lamps patterns that are built on molds. Normal sizes go from 18mm to 50mm. Prices range from a dollar something for a small clear to hundreds of dollars for a lamp set. Nuggets are blobs of glass that are also very decorative. They are not as regular shaped as a jewel. They are round but might not be perfectly round. Their size also varies. Generally they are available in three sizes, small, medium and large. However, the smalls might not all be the same size etc. The sizes for small go from 5/16” to 5/8”. Medium go up to 13/16” and large are approx. 1”. They are way more inexpensive than a jewel. Gems are mostly like the medium size nuggets. They have more interest. They might be iridized, frosted, cats eyed, or swirled. They are way less expensive.  Pebbles are mostly like small nuggets but are fusible.

All this info comes from the Epilepsy Foundation site and note that the pyramids rights are protected. I never had the privilege of knowing Kevin, but I know his mom, Patricia Barnes, and I have met his delightful brother, and I have even helped clean the pyramids! Trish made this incredible collection of pyramids (out of stained glass, of course) after the drowning death of Kevin when he was not quite 17. These pyramids have been donated to the Epilepsy foundation for fundraising for epilepsy research and hopefully new therapies and strategies to improve the life of people living with seizures. Money raised from the sale of the pyramids fund young researchers called “Kevin’s Fellows”. Trish made 20 Pyramids in all.  There is a book also available on Ebay.  There is a video on YouTube called Kevin's Pyramids.