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Email:  david@gommstudios.com

Glass Artists Newsletter - October 2007

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.

 In September, we noticed a distinct difference in the temperature. Now, it's October and the leaves are turning. Jeanne and I went to the mountains to look at the leaves the other day (in between stained glass jobs)

We look forward to Halloween and the rest of the holiday season. We're thinking night lights might make a good stained glass gift this year!

 
Last month we showed how to  build a double foam crate to better protect the glass. This month we leave crating behind and explore a method of reinforcing a stained glass skylight.
 

How To Reinforce A Stained Glass Skylight

I have a tendency to "over build" projects, because it worries me that something might happen that wasn't planned. So I add extra wood to shelves so they won't sag and extra time for glass to cool in the kiln so it won't break. Sometimes these extra steps may be unnecessary but they give me peace of mind.

But when it comes time to reinforce a stained glass panel which is going to be over head, you just can't be too careful!

The reinforcing strip must be added before the pieces of glass in the window are tacked so the strips of copper can be placed in between the pieces of glass of the panel.

This strip is 1/2" wide copper that was cut at a local sheet metal shop.

Start the soldering process with the circle in the middle and tack the strip as you work it around the piece of glass.

Then use tin snips to cut the copper strip when you get done going around the circle. 

You can then solder the strip to the end of where you started.

You can see that the strip goes all around the circle and stands up 1/2" above the surface of the glass. That should provide a great deal of strength to the panel.

Then, begin to add strips which run from the center circle to the outside edge of the glass. Leave 1/8" space on the outside of the glass so that there will be room for the 1/4" outer bar that will go around the panel when it's done. 

Here is a shot of the rib soldered in place and the surrounding pieces of glass aren't even tacked in place yet!

Here, the panel is complete. I got all of the ribs in place, tacked and soldered the rest of the panel, added the outer bar around the perimeter of the panel and then I was able to turn it over to finish soldering. When I did that, I put down a thick layer of towels to support the glass (with the ribs poking down) as I soldered.

Here it is in place. Now that's a good looking skylight which will last for years.

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Email:  david@gommstudios.com

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