Stained Glass Techniques: Layout, Glass Cutting, Lead Up & Soldering

[Music] [Music] it's a unique medium really a way of communicating quite unlike any other for a thousand years it's visual power has been a source of delight and wonder stained glass a way of painting with light you look at it through it at an image that is never still it changes constantly as you move around it as the Sun moves across the sky as things move behind the window [Music] it is an ancient art and a contemporary one at the craft it has a rich heritage of techniques which are still preserved and honored by daily use a large and growing body of artists and craftsmen keep stained glass a living art every image begins as a vision in the mind of an artist the artist must formalize and translate his mental picture into glass if others are to share his vision and as in many art forms the process begins with lines on paper Robert Hill is one of the foremost designers of stained glass windows in the country what does the designer think about while he's working if I'm approaching a traditional design and thinking about symmetry and balance and thinking about lead lines as much as I am color schemes not always primary color schemes but colors that will work in relation to each other dark against light textured against non texture some colors that are moral peak and some that are more intense warm with cool all of these things go into making what I think could be very nice windows if I'm thinking about a creative design I'm working on that I'm trying not to intellectualize I'm trying to feel what I'm doing and I'm depending on my background my experience and knowledge of what the limitations of glass are to carry me through but I'm not intellectualizing about it I'm putting down a feeling onto paper to begin and I'm thinking in terms of glass so that what I'm putting down on paper I know is never going to be the finished piece of artwork but it's a step toward the finished product do you think the designers cut line drawing a craftsman will cut the hundreds of pieces of glass which will be assembled into the finished window there is an ancient ritual to the craftsmen's approach to the cutting of each piece of glass a sheet of the appropriate color is selected and carefully placed on the cut line drawing the cutting tool glides across the glass scoring the surface the scrap is broken away and the piece checked against the cut line [Music] then on to the next piece over and over apprentice centered Barnett has cut thousands of pieces in the three years you've been working in the craft [Music] well the idea in scoring glass is to scratch a line on the surface which becomes a weak point that the glass will fracture alone and because glass likes to break in a straight line you'll have to start at one edge of the piece and continue it all the way across on your cut else the glass with this break could break across the piece you're trying to cut so you'll always continue your cut along the score is made just within the mark on the cut line this allows room for the lead which will be added later each piece must be cut with great precision if the pieces are even slightly oversized the window will be too large it is a patient careful craft [Music] the best the cleanest break you'll get by snapping the glass by grasping it between your thumbs along the score line and snapping down and that will give you a nice perpendicular break although if you're trying to break a long curve you may have to tap the glass in order to to get it to break along that curved line [Music] looks like anything else it seems very difficult at first but once you get the hang of it it's quite simple [Music] you [Music] on many pieces the designer adds detail and shading by a process called painting this is the application of a black oxide which will be fired into the glass to become part of the glass itself [Music] when all the pieces are cut and the painting completed the assembly process begins [Music] this is master craftsman cessful Brucie who came to this country from Ireland 20 years ago he perceived in his work almost exactly as a worker of the Middle Ages did the techniques have gone fundamentally unchanged in 700 years [Music] the cutting up lad must be done with a very very sharp knife there's a precise way of holding this knife so that you'd bear down without damaging the face of the lead you must wiggle your knife a little so that you go through the face and then you can bear down on the lad and go straight through it is a bit like tailor fitting a suit each piece assembled individually by hand and I know machines are used it is not physically difficult work but patience and attention to detail are essential [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] each join must be put together precisely when each piece of glass is fitted into the into the lead the next piece must be fitted in exactly and then when you're putting your lead to join these leads together they must fit together very accurately if they do not do that when you start soldering your panel you will not be able to float your solder on properly [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] when all the pieces of glass are fitted amoled cut preparation for the soldering begins each joint is fluxed with acid to make the fodder flow cleanly the solder unified the panel into a single structure giving it strength Oh [Music] soldering is a very very another very precise step in all the steps towards the finished project the soldering iron must be at the right temperature you must hold the soldering are in the right way and you must roll on the solder onto the lead float it on move it round not rapidly we're just very surely we're a very gentle touch as a matter of fact you really want to caress the lead when you use the soldering iron and it that way you get a very very fine delicate finish no raised portions Oh not a frustrating type of trout at all it's a very exhilarating trout when you know that the sign is good when you know it's being colored well you have a great sense of anticipation when you let that window open just roll it down off the bench the first time round and hold it up to the light that is beautiful you get a great sense of satisfaction [Music] ah not all glass is flat dorothy clothes is one designer who works in three dimensions her lampshades are illuminated sculptures exercises in the use of subtle color and texture her work is among the best being done today [Music] [Applause] the process is somewhat similar to window construction the pieces of glass are cut to a pattern then they are foiled with copper and fitted onto a form then they are soldered [Music] I probably do things wrong from a traditional standpoint I like to turn the glass so that I can see or touch the textural surface so long as this does not interfere with too much transmission of light sometimes if I wanted to twinkle or chosen changes in the light itself that I put it with one surface darling if I just want to see texture I turn the glass in the opposite direction [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] you [Music] it's easier to do a good job of soldering from the very beginning to spot tacit to hold the shape of the mold and then to run over it to cover the overall line it's far easier to do a good job inch by inch than it is to come back and retrace your steps [Music] I like it because I think of it as a contained bit of light I think in a few years time it may be a whole range of illuminated sculptures rather than lights girl with table [Music] [Music] stained glass is a unique way of seeing a feast of color and contrast of texture and form there is no other art form quite like it stained glass has been called a dead art a lost craft but it is alive and prospering in the work of a growing body of artists and craftsmen a thousand years of heritage is maintained and honored by those who continue to paint with light [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] you