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You
can read our current newsletter here
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hope you will take the opportunity to let
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Last
month, I enjoyed taking a glass
fusing class from Andrew Kosorok. He knows
so much about fusing, it was great to
attend the too short class.
We were
happy to get a job doing some cabinet door
stained glass inserts. So, while we were
picking up the cabinet door frames, we
took the opportunity to wander and get inspired
in Park City. Cool , crisp air was such a
delight. It's fun to get out once in
awhile.
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Andrew Kosorok
has been promising a fusing class for some
time and it finally happened in October.
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While
in Park City, we took some time wandering
the shops and being inspired by the work
of other artists.
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had a time changing out the border of some
stained glass panels. The client didn't
really care for the windows at all, but
her husband loved them, so rather than
toss them, she had us change the border
green glass to give them a different look.
I thought they looked good both before and
after.
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Replacing
A Border In A Leaded Panel
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The first thing to do, whenever
rebuilding a window is to lay it out on white paper and trace the
outline. This will help you to keep it the same size as you work on it. Use
horseshoe nails to keep it in place.
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Here's a picture of a leaded window to be rebuilt
in a friends studio.
Andrew tells me that lead
came windows that range from 10 years to 100 years old were typically
built with "industrial age" lead came which didn't have the
same mixture of lead and other metals that older or newer came have.
That's why the old lead crumbles and needs to be replaced.
The
guilds that developed lead came prior to the 1900's lost much knowledge
when the industrial revolution caused them to go out of business. But
scientists at NASA have helped reconstruct what some of the old formulas
were.
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Here's a rubbing that they made of the entire panel
so they will know how it goes together if there is any problem in the
rebuild.
They take a rubbing of every panel to be rebuilt
just in case.
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Next use your zinc saw (or jigsaw) to cut in
between all the outside joints. Saw halfway between the lead came and
you may not dull the blade too badly.
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There should be a cut between each piece of glass
in the window. MAKE SURE to wear a dust mask or respirator when
cutting lead. This will prevent you from breathing lead dust, something
you want to avoid!
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The blade throws grit around, so I wear a ball cap
(backwards so debris doesn't bounce off the brim of the cap).
If this were a long process, I would wear a
respirator, but I chose to wear a dust mask for this quick step. A
respirator is the best choice because it protects you from breathing
lead dust.
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Take the border metal off using both a solder iron
and pliers. Melt the solder and move the zinc up and down as it cools
which will allow the solder to break loose.
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I prefer to remove the metal from one side of the
panel, do the
replacement of the glass on that side and then turn the panel around to
do the other side. This lets the window stay fairly sturdy as the
process continues and keeps things less messy.
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Once the metal edging is removed, I can take out
the border glass. I grip it with pliers and gently wiggle up and down.
This takes a long time, because I have to shake the cement that's
holding the glass and lead loose without breaking the glass.
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When the glass starts to pull loose, I can get it
out, but I have to be careful not to pull the inner lead away from the
surrounding glass.
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I use the pliers to twist the next lead away from
the next piece I'm going to remove so I'll have less holding the glass
as I remove it.
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When we started, we thought we might be able to put
the replacement glass in between the old lead.
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I tapped the glass gently into the lead channel.
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But the lead was too deformed in the removal
process.
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So I took some nippers to remove the old lead and
clipped them off flush with the flat inner came.
I made an effort not to crush the old came
because I was going to want to get the new glass in-between that lead.
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Our installation of the replacement parts was
now much easier. |
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When I needed a pattern piece for irregular shapes,
I simply slipped poster board under the area for the replacement glass
and traced.
One thing I had to keep in mind was that the
glass needed to also extend into the old lead, so I added a bit to the
width when I cut out the pieces.
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To make it easier, I began to add the extra to the
pattern piece and then slipped it into the lead channel to insure a good
fit.
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Then I cut and ground the glass. Test fitting
it was essential. Too tight and you break it, too loose and you see
space between the lead and the glass.
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Each time I got a few pieces fit into place, I
would place extra glass under them to hold them level.
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Then , I fluxed the pieces,
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And soldered the joints that were meeting together,
staying away from the outer edge.
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When, I got an edge complete, I set the outer bar
in place and soldered it.
Soldering the replacement pieces in a bit at a
time helped me to keep things tight and neat.
It took over three hours to get set up and
replace the glass on one edge. And I had to do that to three windows!
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The finished windows really did
look good and they should make both our client and her husband happy.
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