Stain glass has been practiced since the 12 century or even before that. It was a tedious method to colour the glass and then mount it on the desired pedestal. But this did not hinder people from taking on the task.
The palaces and mansions of kings and princes were decorated with stained glass. The windows especially and the ceilings of churches were and till date surprise you with beautiful stain glasswork.
If the intricacies of stain glass interest you, then you should learn to stain glass. You never know when it will be transformed into a career. Stained glass classes in India vary from beginners course to the advanced course.
Children too can learn to make stain glass. Today it is as simple as painting, as you are first taught to paint glass. Glass paints are different from the regular paints as they have copper and lead in them so that they stick onto the glass.
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Begin by purchasing a thin glass 2mm is fine, the thicker the more difficult it is as a beginner for it will be heavy to work weigh weight. Go to these umpteen glass shops and pick a small glass of 10"x10". It could vary according to your design, but bring in something small and thin to try your hand on at first.
Trace out the design on the glass with white glue or fevicol. Put in the separations with the glue and then begin to fill it with the desired colours. Put a coloured paper that would go along with the design and frame it. Be proud of your first glass design.
The next step is to get deeper into stain glass making. For this you would need tools like glass cutter, glass pliers, soldering iron, glass grinder, work board, glass pattern shears, glass marking pens and drawing pens. The materials depend on what you are taking up.
Begin by drawing a design on the glass or on the work board. Now if you have bought coloured glass, you need to cut it with the glass-cutting tool, smoothen the edges and then paste it to the design on the work board. This process has to be followed with each of the glass pieces until the final design is complete.
On the other hand you could sketch out the design and then fill in the colours with glass paints that are available. With flesh colours that are now easily available your design could vary from a villagers, landscape to city scrapers or as far as you would want to go.
Now if you want to put your coloured glass as the window, then use iron rods, as they will be able to support the weight of the glass. Use copper wires to link the iron rods to the glass. If you have used pieces of glass to form the collage then you have to solder them to perfection else the window will jangle with the glass pieces every time there is a rush of wind. So take professional note of whatever you learn before you practice.
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