We are passionate about the fact that all our pieces are crafted using glass rather than acrylic and are soldered only using lead free solder. The lead free solder is more unusual in stained glass work as it has a much higher melting point making it much harder to work than the more frequently used leaded version, however we feel that removing the risk of lead contamination is worth the extra work and expense.
All our pieces are Hand-Made in our garage / workshop using the copper foil, or Tiffany, technique. The basic process is as follows:
- Cutting – different colours and textures of glass are cut to the desired shapes.
- Grinding – the sharp edges of the glass shapes are ground to a matt finish.
- Foiling – the shapes are cleaned before self-adhesive copper foil tape is applied to the edges.
- Soldering – the shapes are arranged to form the pattern required and solder is applied to the foiled edges fixing the pieces together.
- Cleaning and Polishing – the finished piece is then thoroughly cleaned and polished!
We also want to make our pieces as sturdy as possible so we bead the edges of our pieces rather than simply tinning them. Tinning is the process of applying a thin coat of solder to the copper foil on the edges of the piece to protect the copper and match the colour to the rest of the solder. While it can be appropriate for lighter pieces, the thin coat does not easily support the addition of jump rings to hang the pieces and the tinned edges are liable to tear in cleaning. Beading is the process whereby the edges of the piece are initially tinned and then additional solder added to the vertical edge. The additional solder is encouraged onto the foil on the glass faces via the initial tinning process, thickening the coating of solder over all of the foiled area and creating a solid ‘D’ shaped ‘bead’ of solder around the whole piece. Beading provides a thicker, more stable line of solder around the glass which greatly reduces risk of damage while handling or cleaning and provides a solid foundation to set a jump ring in for hanging.
That being said, please note that these pieces are made of glass and as such are not indestructible! They should not be used as toys and young children should be supervised if handling them.
Creative Colours…
We use a range of glass suppliers to access a wide range of colours, textures and finishes for our glass. The majority of the colour spectrum is represented and most colours come in a range of different shades as you would expect.
We generally use a block colour, translucent (‘see-through’) glass however a great effect can be made with ‘wispy’ effect glass – this is a glass (clear or coloured) which has been mixed with ‘wisps’ of another colour or colours to create an effect similar to our own logo background. This can be translucent or opaque.
Opaque glass is also used – this is not see-through but (depending on density and colour) can ‘glow’ when lights shines through it.
And Textures…
Our staple glass is sea glass, which we like due to the slight imperfections and occasional bubbles which make it more interesting to look at than a normal pane of window glass while not distracting from the overall design. It does not have a texture as such but is slightly more uneven than conventional window pane glass. That being said, more pronounced textures on glass can also be used to great effect. Similar to obscured glass in a bathroom window, we can use glass with textures such as:
- Hand-made, ‘rough-rolled’
- Ripples, wave effects
- Defined patterns, such as flowers
- Krinkle, cracked effect
- Bumpy or dented effect, when in a smaller scale, often called ‘sparkle’
- Ridged, lined
Just to note though that these textures come in a much more limited range of colours, some simply just clear, non-coloured glass.
Crafted Colours 