Do you have the experience of walking past a church and catching sight of its huge windows? Unlike the common type which is made of transparent glass, these windows are created with stained glass, coming in different colors and designs.
Depicting an air of elegance and class, these stained glass windows can also be spotted at concert halls and memorial theaters.
Some facts about stained glass
What exactly is stained glass? In general, it is simply a piece of art which involves using colored glass fragments to assemble into a picture. After placing these mini pieces into a mosaic, they will be firmed gripped in their positions by employing the use of metallic strips. The strength and stability of the entire structure is ensured with solder being applied to the strips.
The colors appearing on stained glass is created by applying a layer of paint to the surface intended. The glass is then heated to a very high temperature, allowing the paint to bond into the interior of the glass, hence the term ‘stained’. Another way of adding colors to stained glass is to add the appropriate salts to it during manufacture. The radiant color and jeweled appearance can be achieved by intentionally creating an uneven surface on the stained glass, which causes the light shining on it to be reflected and diffused in a non-uniform manner due to optic physics.
Glass produced for manufacturing stained glass
Glass is produced in different ways, either with the hand-blown method or rolling sheet technique. Muff and cylinder glass are created with a blow-pipe, in which an air bubble will be blown into a glob of molten glass. It is then manipulated into the shape of a long rod, and can easily be reheated for further manipulation. This glass type is usually the one used for creating stained glass spotting ancient designs.
For rolled glass, instead of using a blow-pipe as the main instrument, the molten glass is simply poured on top of a graphite table and rolled into thin sheets using a hard metal rod. Alternatively, the double roll method can be undertaken with the use of a machine containing dual cylinders to flatten the glass sheet to a desired thickness. Upon completion, rolled glass is commonly used to build cathedral glass, a type of stained glass without pictorial designs.
Creating stained glass is by no means an easy feat, as it requires artistic skill to develop a beautiful design, along with engineering expertise to put the pieces together. If you wish to create your own stained glass, you will need to possess a stained glass cutter tool. This is essential to creating a clean score when you are cutting the stained glass, which can be done easily by utilizing carbide steel heads. Avoid buying cheap and inferior cutter so that you are able to create any type of cutting you want. When you are done, you can even share your knowledge and the creation process online, along with a photo of your completed stained glass. |
