ART OF STAINED GLASS

Stained Glass is a pleasurable art and craft. It is a hobby for many, and an art for the few. Stained glass is often used in the making of windows and lampshades, but is also useful for boxes, clocks, cabinet doors, picture frames and other 3-dimensional projects.

How to Cut Glass “2”

Large sheets, straight score

This type of break looks impressive, even intimidating, but it is one of the easiest.

STEP 1: Score the glass with a cork-backed, steel ruler if necessary. Put enough pressure on the ruler along the length of the score to avoid slipping and shifting of the ruler.

Note: Wood square rulers are frequently used by shopkeepers that routinely make breaks perpendicular to the glass edges. Unlike shopkeepers, most hobbyists aren’t called upon to break down large sheets into more manageable portions at 90° angles, and a lot of art glass does not have straight edges anyway. A cork-backed steel ruler is more polyvalent.

STEP 2: Position the sheet of glass to line up the score against the table. The largest piece of glass after the cut should be on the table, and the smallest piece of glass after the cut should be off the table. Hold the piece of glass to break away on the right and the left.

STEP 3: Lift the glass – the score line should be 1-2 inches above the edge of the table. Firmly lower the glass with both hands. STEP 4: The glass will break off against the edge of the table. The larger piece remain on the table, and the smaller piece should be in your hands

Watch this video.

How to Cut Glass “1”

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HOW TO CUT GLASS

Cutting glass is easy
We tend to associate breaking glass with negative events. The baseball through a window, the precious champagne glass in smithereens on the floor, dangerous shards. While it is recommended, for safety’s sake, to always treat glass with respect, breaking glass in a controlled manner is a pleasurable experience. All you need is to dare to try. It may look intimidating at first, but it is in fact quite easy. There are many ways to cut glass. The techniques explained here are few and simple, yet, they are the very techniques that will later prove invaluable in cutting the most challenging glass with ease.

Types of glass breaks
We will show you how to perform several types of glass breaks, such as:

• Large sheets, straight score
• Medium sheets, straight score
• Breaking off thin pieces, straight score
• Curves, tapping method
• Inside curves

Scoring glass:
Most stained glass is quite a bit harder than plain flat clear glass. Do not attempt to cut with cheap steel glass cutters. A good quality oil carbide glass cutter is not very expensive, and and may last for years and years of intensive use without dulling. it is a necessary investment. The most popular for the hobby craft are the pencil-grip cutters, but some people like fist-grip cutters as well. People that use both will often prefer the pencil-grip for short scores, and the fist-grip for long straight scores. This is the proper way to hold a glass cutter:

Practicing on smooth-textured glass, you will know that you have applied enough pressure when you hear a nice clear “zzzzzip!” as you score. Too little pressure and the break will not follow the score line, and too much will cause unnecessary wear and tear on your cutter as well as your wrist and elbow.

A score will always run from one edge of the edge of the glass, to some other edge. In other words, score lines must run “edge to edge.”

Closeup view of score line: