Off to a good start

Wednesday, 1:49 pm

By Kate

Oct

11

2006

So. Stained glass class last night. I took my camera and didn’t get it out once because, I have to tell you, once the measuring and cutting and fiddling around begin, time becomes a blur.

I managed to cut all my glass pieces last night and the photo below is what’s arranged on my dining room table at the moment. The #2 and #3 pieces of glass have been ground (filed down) so that they are a near perfect fit. The others still need to be ground and then they will also fit more snugly. (I hope.)

For purposes of getting the glass pieces lined up on the template properly, I put the paper template beneath a clear sheet of glass. As I cut the pieces I lay them out on the sheet of glass. I place the whole thing beside me as I grind the glass so that I can pop the pieces back over the template to see what needs to be evened out next. Since the glass pieces are still a bit oily and also wet from the grinder, it’s obviously better using the glass sheet rather than placing the glass pieces directly on the paper template, which would turn into a sodden mess in no time.

Last night I was pleased with the colors. Today I’m not. While I have this thing for red, I’m much less enthused with that little piece of red stuck in there today. That section of the piece is supposed to be a solid square, but I had to go and be different. That square was a problem for me. I just couldn’t come up with a color that seemed to fit with the dark green glass. But the consensus was that it’s a piece with strong colors and drama. Some of the other students’ pieces were very delicate in color and quite beautiful.

Below are the main tools that I used last night. That little glass cutter is amazing. The barrel of the thing holds oil which comes out of the tip as I’m cutting glass. Makes cutting more precise and helps it glide along the glass. Especially important when cutting textured glass. It’s kinda girly cute, too. I like pink. The pliers are necessary when snapping off narrow pieces of glass.

When I get around to grinding the rest of the glass, I’ll take a picture of that beast, too.

One thing I learned the hard way: When grinding glass, WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. I wound up with an itty bitty shard of glass in my eye last night. I felt it hit and forcing myself to keep my eye open when there was a foreign body in it was very, very hard. But what choice? I fished it out in the bathroom with no serious damage. Just a little scratch that stung like fury last night, but feels fine today. Lesson learned.