The Art of Stained Glass

Written by Nick Volpe


As with all forms of art, its beauty is defined byrepparttar sensations it arouses. Perhapsrepparttar 116237 most intriguing aspect inrepparttar 116238 art of stained glass is in its' versatility. It's durable, yet fragile, challenging, but yielding torepparttar 116239 experienced hands ofrepparttar 116240 artist. I discovered this form of art some seven years ago when my girlfriend and I decided to take a series of evening classes at a local stained glass retail store. We took six classes and I have been hooked ever since.

If you are in need of a way to take awayrepparttar 116241 stresses of everyday life I would recommend stained glass as great way to "download" and atrepparttar 116242 same time get into a new hobby. It is a form of self-meditation. The steps you'll follow in arriving at your finished work of art will teach you self-discipline, and provide a great sense of artistic achievement. And if you're like me, you will not be able to get enough of it. That's when you'll want to expand out and begin doing projects for others.

But be careful, once word gets out that you're into stained glass, all of your relatives (you knowrepparttar 116243 ones) will berepparttar 116244 first to ask you to make them something. Actually, it's not so bad at first, because they make great test cases and you'll want to experiment.

Where to begin? I suggest a visit to your local stained glass retailer. While not all towns have one (here is a great business opportunity for you) a look into your telephone book should yield a location or two or you can perform an Internet search for local retailers. Start by inquiring into whether or not they run classes. Most retailers usually do because it's a source of increased revenues to them (they know that you'll probably be buying your supplies from them). Cost of classes will be relatively moderate forrepparttar 116245 same reasons. Check out your local County Colleges as well. My instructor also taught night classes there.

TIP: Bring a friend with you; it will add torepparttar 116246 fun and you'll be able to compare notes.

The place you'll be takingrepparttar 116247 classes from will no doubt also provide you withrepparttar 116248 basic beginners kit, which will containrepparttar 116249 tools needed to get you started. Expect to find a glass cutter; there a variety of types and you should chooserepparttar 116250 one that your most comfortable with. I have tried a variety myself but inrepparttar 116251 end settled forrepparttar 116252 basic non-oil filled type. A breaker, similar to pliers, is used to snap off repparttar 116253 glass after being scored. A specially designed scissor is used to cut out your pattern, and of course a soldering iron is used to joinrepparttar 116254 cut pieces of glass together. Expect to pay somewhere inrepparttar 116255 neighborhood of $100.

There are other items that you'll need alongrepparttar 116256 way, but they will be available to you during your classes, such asrepparttar 116257 grinder, which is used to grind down excess glass, not removed byrepparttar 116258 cutting process and to polish offrepparttar 116259 edges ofrepparttar 116260 cut glass. This last part is important because ofrepparttar 116261 foiling process that takes afterrepparttar 116262 glass is ground down. Foiling is a process wherebyrepparttar 116263 copper foil is placed aroundrepparttar 116264 edges ofrepparttar 116265 ground glass. The foil is sticky on one side allowing it to adhere to repparttar 116266 glass. The purpose ofrepparttar 116267 copper foil is to provide a surface forrepparttar 116268 solder to stick too.

Mounting and Framing Your Needlework

Written by Katrina Renouf


To start with, I want to state that I am not a professional framer, and many ofrepparttar tips I am about to give are things I have learned from other people, and I have not necessarily had a chance to try them all myself.

Frames are extremely easy to find, and they can be very cheap as well. In my opinion,repparttar 116236 best places to find them are at yard sales. People are always trying to sell old pictures that they no longer like, and you don’t need to like them either, as long asrepparttar 116237 frame is nice. Often you can get them for under a dollar! Thrift stores are another good place to look; I love going to dollar stores just to see what I can find. If you’re in a rush, you can always go to Wal-Mart of K-Mart and pick up something for a couple dollars too. It isn’t necessary to have glass inrepparttar 116238 frame, but if you’re not going to use glass, make sure to Scotchguard your work to prevent staining.

The first step in framing is to decide whether you want to use either a padded or non-padded mounting board (I have heard that if you’re not using glass, a padded mounting board looks great). Then cutrepparttar 116239 mounting board about 1.8 in. smaller thanrepparttar 116240 back inside measurements ofrepparttar 116241 frame. This gives you room to fold overrepparttar 116242 fabric. Next you need to center your needlework. There are a few different ways to do this. One is to eyerepparttar 116243 center and pinrepparttar 116244 fabric torepparttar 116245 board, then countrepparttar 116246 fabric threads betweenrepparttar 116247 edge ofrepparttar 116248 design andrepparttar 116249 pin you placed. This will make it very accurate, but some people would find it too time consuming. Another way to do it is to measurerepparttar 116250 mounting board and stick a pin intorepparttar 116251 very center; then putrepparttar 116252 center ofrepparttar 116253 needlework onrepparttar 116254 pin too.

There are two main ways to mount your needlework. The first one isrepparttar 116255 easiest, but also has more of a chance of damaging your work over time. The other option takes more time, but is relatively risk free. To start with, I will explainrepparttar 116256 easy way. It involves using a sticky mounting board. There is also a great trick to save you some money. You can userepparttar 116257 cardboard backing that came with your frame and just put some spray adhesive on it. There are two kinds of spray adhesive, repositionable and permanent, so be careful if you userepparttar 116258 permanent, because you can’t move it once it’s in place (hencerepparttar 116259 name). Once it’s in place, removerepparttar 116260 excess fabric so it is only 1.5 in. overrepparttar 116261 edges ofrepparttar 116262 board, and use masking tape to fold it over torepparttar 116263 back. This keepsrepparttar 116264 fabric from fraying.

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