The Window Project...

...is underway.

I finally started cutting glass for Jane's window project.  I haven't worked with glass in a while so I'm a little rusty...but I'm getting into my groove.

I fiddled with the pattern for a while....I was inspired by the piece below but wanted it to be my own.  I needed pieces that were reasonable to cut and I wanted it to be balanced without being symmetrical.  Jane didn't want the bigger pieces of colored glass...but was OK with a few small pops of blue.



I picked out several pieces of textured clear glass, a piece for the leaves and a blue.

I use an oil fed glass cutter.  You don't actually cut the glass...you score it and then snap it. The blue tool helps snap off a straight piece....and the small tool with the ball is used to tap the scored lines of curved pieces.  

I cut the glass on this gridded surface. The small shards of glass go into the grooves so they are out of the way. It comes with removable a ruler so you can get nice straight lines.  

I use a sharpie to draw my pattern on the glass...it wipes off easily.  

And, of course, I use eye protection. 

The first thing I did was cut all the leaves...I wanted them all to be somewhat the same....and I could tweak the pattern as I placed them. I will cut the center line in the leaves later...those lines needs to flow with the line of the stem.  I use a grinder to smooth the edges. There is water under the surface that keeps a little sponge wet...which keeps the grinding wheel wet.  It's messy...but necessary....and really helpful.  It's hard to make a perfect cut and the grinder solves the problem.

Since I am using mostly clear glass I can trace it right on the pattern.  I cut a piece of clear glass as big as the area I want it to cover...then I slice the stem line and cut out the spaces for the leaves....then the pattern in the glass will connect and flow.  (I learned this the hard way)  the stem line will actually just be the soldered line of lead.

You can see below that I'm making progress.  The bottom two leaves have been cut down the center.   I working on a big white board...this helps me keep a nice 90 degree corner.  I'll try and do a little bit every day...I've been sick....so I have to pace myself.