The Art Of Stained Glass

As with all forms of art, its beauty is defined by the sensations it arouses. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect in the art of stained glass is in its' versatility. It's durable, yet fragile, challenging, but yielding to the experienced hands of the artist. I discovered this form of art some seven years ago when my girlfriend and I decided to take a series of evening classes at a local stained glass retail store. We took six classes and I have been hooked ever since.

If you are in need of a way to take away the stresses of everyday life I would recommend stained glass as great way to download and at the same time get into a new hobby. It is a form of self-meditation. The steps you'll follow in arriving at your finished work of art will teach you self-discipline, and provide a great sense of artistic achievement. And if you're like me, you will not be able to get enough of it. That's when you'll want to expand out and begin doing projects for others.One fleeting decision to paint and humanize a small room ballooned into a total home update, kind of like "Extreme Makeover Home Edition," only Sears wasn't paying for it. The one time we broke with our "good 'nuf" attitude of home improvement, the refrigerator and washing machine gasped their last breaths as soon as we hung the last picture on the freshly painted wall.But be careful, once word gets out that you're into stained glass, all of your relatives (you know the ones) will be the first to ask you to make them something. Actually, it's not so bad at first, because they make great test cases and you'll want to experiment.Display your masterpiece!> Power Supply Tester
> Network cable tester
> Motherboard tester (usually PCI, outputs BIOS codes)Sometimes, though, the desire for a fresh start in your house triumphs and you find yourself in a football field-sized home improvement center staring at 20-foot high metal shelves loaded with colors of paint you can't pronounce and fancy painting techniques that require using household objects like corn cobs, Lego blocks and a rubber jar opener.> Wireless router
> CD-RW Drive
> Standard ATX Power Supply 300-500W
> Internal hard drives (40GB, 80GB, 120GB)
> Surge protector
> SpeakersYour goal is to budget and save your hard-earned money for the big things one day, like your child's accordion lessons. You don't bother buying accent pieces or anything that you can't sit or eat on because, quite frankly, they collect dust and take up space that could be used for hanging and air-drying clothes when the dryer breaks.A word on foiling. Most of us are familiar with the traditional form of stained glass that we have encountered in churches which employ the use of a lead came between the glass pieces. Copper foiling is an alternative to the lead came and is no doubt the first place a new student to the art of stained glass will begin. Only after one has mastered the foil, should you proceed to the came. Besides, foiling is a much easier process, especially for the beginner. I still prefer this method over the came method.The feeling of major accomplishment was a wash out as our "let's just spruce things up a bit" project tripled in price per square foot in the time it took the water to spin out onto the basement floor and the refrigerator to peter out in a puff of smoke.You will soon come to discover your own favorite step in the art of stained glass. For some, it will be in the designing stages, that challenge of coming up with your own unique design. For myself, my love for the art lies in the cutting of the glass. There is a final moment of truth that comes after you have scored the glass with the glass cutter; this is the part where I hold my breath. As you force the glass to run (I'll explain that in another article), you'll begin to see the glass crack along the scored line as you hoped it would. With all things in the universe being wonderful, the glass breaks as you had intended. Occasionally it won't; that's the breaks! But don't worry, glass is relatively inexpensive and you'll get it the next time.Outside of the diagnostics, many technicians carry common spare parts such as:Why is it that once you embark on a remodeling project, high- ticket appliances will shoot craps as soon as the remodeling is completed but not quite paid for?And so it goes in the Estes household and homes like ours where you don't mess with anything unless it's broken and endangering lives, and even then there's a soldering iron or a roll of duct tape kept handy to keep things humming along for another six months.Get a good bagCarry common cordsSketch out your design or use a bought pattern available through your retailer,> USB cable - The most common peripheral interface
> Firewire cable
> Standard PC power cord
> Ethernet cable (might want to carry 2-3 of these)
> Wireless USB adapter - Helps avoid having to run 30 feet of ethernet cable just to get a machine online. Why use cabling if there's a wireless network in the area?

You will soon come to discover your own favorite step in the art of stained glass. For some, it will be in the designing stages, that challenge of coming up with your own unique design. For myself, my love for the art lies in the cutting of the glass. There is a final moment of truth that comes after you have scored the glass with the glass cutter; this is the part where I hold my breath. As you force the glass to run (I'll explain that in another article), you'll begin to see the glass crack along the scored line as you hoped it would. With all things in the universe being wonderful, the glass breaks as you had intended. Occasionally it won't; that's the breaks! But don't worry, glass is relatively inexpensive and you'll get it the next time.

Author: Keith Londrie