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Glass
Artists Newsletter - November 2006 |
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You
can read our current newsletter here
on-line each month, free of charge. We
hope you will take the opportunity to let
your stained glass artist friends know
about the newsletter and if you have
students, encourage them to read it.
If
you'd like a reminder when a new issue is
published simply send us your e-mail
address.
In
the meantime, we welcome your input and
support. Let us know if you have tips and
techniques or product information you'd
like to share. |
Last
month we had a desire to get all seven of
our "Women Of Faith" entered in
the Springville "Faith In Art"
exhibit. We just ran out of time. So we
entered The newest panel, The Gleaners,
Ruth and Naomi a story of friendship.
We have
been fortunate to meet many new people
through our website and the internet this
month. We've never been so busy and had so
much fun.
We were
contacted to be on Studio 5, a local
daytime talk show. It was fun to
demonstrate Stained Glass techniques.
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| I've
received e-mails from artists asking how
to clean a window which is really dirty
and has problems. Often they wonder if the
window is ruined. So this month we
want to show you the steps to take when a
window is really dirty. |
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How
To Clean A Really Dirty Window
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Once, I left a window
to be cleaned for over a month. It was
made with clear artique glass, so all
imperfections showed up and the flux that
had sat on the panel left the glass
looking cloudy after a normal cleaning. I
was really worried because I had done this
to several windows and faced having to
build them all again from scratch. Flux
should be cleaned off of a window as soon
as possible to avoid this problem.
I went to the
grocery store and bought all the different
types of cleaners, the orange stuff,
regular blue cleaner, anything that might
clean the fogginess away. I was desperate
and nothing worked. Finally, in despair
and not even thinking it would work, I
went back to the way I had seen a friend
clean a window years ago. It worked and
the windows were saved.
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1. This window was a
good candidate for this cleaning method.
It had flux on it, silver marker which is
hard to clean and mold and mildew that
grew when an artist friend had to leave it
to sit for a long
period in a damp environment due to health
problems.
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2.
Start with a liberal application of your
favorite cleanser. You'll need more than
you think to absorb all the mess and get
everything clean.
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3. Use
a hard bristle brush to scrub the window.
A wallpaper brush can be used but we find
a good cleaning brush is best.
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4. As
you scrub you'll find that the cleanser
breaks down into fine particles. Just
sweep them into a pile and scrub in the
area where the pile is. And move the pile
around the window in a methodical pattern.
Add more cleanser as you need it.
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5. In each section,
on each piece of glass you need to brush
in all directions. Back and forth,
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6. Up and down,
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7. And side to
side. It also helps to use circular
scrubbing motions. Before long, your arm
will be feeling like it wants to fall off.
Don't despair, just keep going over the
entire window, one piece of glass at a
time, getting it clean and moving on to
the next.
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8. As you clean,
you'll notice that the cleanser turns from
white to gray because its picking up
debris and a fine layer of lead. So it's a
good idea to wear a dust mask and do this
in a well ventilated area.
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9. The window
fairly glistens from the scrubbing, but
it's covered with cleanser dust.
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10. In the summer,
we just hose the panel off, in the winter
we wet it down with rags and buckets of
water. The secret is to wash it several
times or flood it with a lot of water.
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Here is the cleaned panel. We applied
patina after the cleaning process above
and then cleaned the window again using
the method we described in last months
newsletter, it takes a lot of effort and
elbow grease to clean using this method,
but the results are worth it.
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