stained glass windows

Factual Questions
1

My son wants to know how they make them exactly.
?

2

All the panes labeled 1 get colored red.
All the panes labeled 2 get colored blue.
all the panes labeled 3 . . . .

3

History of stained glass

4

yeeesh! Google is not cooperating, at all.

Basically, the colors arise from metals added to the glass while it is molten. The molten glass is removed from the kiln on a long rod in a glob. The artist then twirls the rod (rolling it between his hands, not twirling it over his head) to get the molten glass to fan out away from the end of the rod. When it is laid down, the rod is then broken out of the center of the glass and the flat glass that surrounds the center is scored, then broken into the shape of each window pane along the score lines.

In the old cathedrals, the stonework would be laid in according to the design, then the colored panes of glass would be fitted into the stone, with rods of soft lead being used to hold them together in place.

If you get a chance, there is (or was) a glass blower at Hale Farm and Village south of Peninsula, near the Blossom music location. (I don’t know that he is still there, but I would think they are keeping that going.)

5

OK. Here are some sites:

http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/timesmedieval/stainedglasswindow/index.html

http://www.transparent-art.co.nz/history.html

http://www.folklife.si.edu/buildingarts/stainglass.pdf (note Adobe Acrobat needed)

And, finally, and excellent site with detailed instructions (gathered from other web sites):

http://www.ariadne.org/studio/michelli/sgtechniques.html

6

Well!
Thank you.

7

Modern stained glass (for indoor display) is made by scoring/cutting the glass, grinding the edges smooth, covering the edges with an adhesive copper strip, putting the pieces together like a big jigsaw and then soldering them together. The solder (when fluxed properly), flows over the copper bonding the pieces together. The solder use to be a lead/tin alloy but now had been replaced by lead-free alloys in most cases.

For outdoor or larger pieces, you use lead came – essentially lead rods with grooves on one or both sides sized to hold the glass. You bend the came around the glass pieces and then solder them in place.