Glass Eclectic Home Style

December 4th

Stained glass rainbows

Four years ago I took a two-hour glass fusing course at someone's home.  I was nervous as to what to expect, going alone and not knowing anyone yet excited as always to learn something new.  And what a memorable night it has become.  Not only have I found a new love, a new hobby but I forged new friendships that night that are still strong to this day.  People come and go in your life and have certain roles to play in the journey of your life and these two women, one young enough to be my daughter, the other old enough to be my mother, we three generations forged forward and became friends through our love of crafting.  My sister has a friend in America, who says she is a collector of hobbies, I've pinched this line and claim it now my own, it is so true of me.


Last year as a gift to me, Judith gave me her time and taught me the principles of stained glass.  I was hooked, loving being able to hold tools and use the horseshoe nails that is a craft from years of old.  Very little in this craft has changed over the generations and there is something so wholesome about this. Last year I made a tree that has now stood outside in all weather for 365 days.  At Christmas, the tree is adorned with a glass star but for the remainder of the year it is a proud large green glass tree. (To see the tree, click Stained Glass Tree )

Judith and I decided to create some more stained glass again this year and now that it was gifted yesterday to my sister for her birthday, I can show you what was made.  Be warned this post is photo-heavy!

Buying the glass and choosing is all part of the fun

Measuring accurately is important as we do not glass grind

Using a piece of wood to hold our 'piece' together, to give
us something to butt against and the all-important straight line

Horseshoe nails are still used in creating stained glass today

Stained glass in the making 

All ready for 'knocking up' and soldering

Stained glass has now been cemented and needs to dry for a couple of days

In the crafting workshop, the middle rainbow catcher
is not stained glass, it is another technique called foiling

Some people call these Rainbow Panels others call it a Rainbow Ladder

Do you know the caption for remembering the order of the colours of the
rainbow, Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain?

I loved the rainbow stained glass but it was not quite Christmassy enough and when Judith suggested we tried our hand at foiling again, we both knew that it could not be rainbow-themed, she suggested a Tree and I was again enticed and hooked to create...

With foiling, no lead is used, just a thin copper paper and soldering to hold it all together.  Cutting the glass requires a much sharper cleaner line, many people grind their edges to get them exact, but not having that equipment means we have to be as precise by hand as possible and not worry too much if all is not exact as we would like, after all, it is hand made and not mass-produced.

Adding the foil edging, making sure it is on both
sides of the glass and is as tight a fit as possible.

Holding the individual pieces tight with
 horseshoe nails so we can join it with solder.

Once one side is soldered we need to do
the same on the reverse and on all sides.

And eventually, you have a piece to
take home and let the light shine through

And finally, I placed a couple of used gin bottles in the kiln on a slightly lower temperature than normal and created a lemon cutting board out of the smaller bottle and then 'slumped' the larger bottle into a very shallow mould to create a nibble plate to go along with my G & T. 

Won't you join me in a tipple?

That's Christmas sorted then!

Can you tell what the gin was from the bottles?

Cheers!

I hope these photographs have given you a taste of joyful colour, 

they certainly did for me in the creating of these pieces. 

♥  Are you making any presents this year?  ♥