Tiffany Peacock Stained Glass Panel Progress

I have one side soldered and now am using the whole bench to flip over the panel. It's nearly impossible to do otherwise and without reinforcement bars. Bars will be installed later once the back side is finished and I flip it back over.
Turning a large window this way is very easy to do and is quite safe. There is a lip at the bottom of the window held securely to the bench with 2 1/2" deck screws preventing the panel from sliding off. I also attached 2 support braces on either side of the bench to keep the whole process at a good angle to easily lift the glass off and turn it around.

I'll post more photos as I go along :)

Old & New Stained Glass Comes Together

I restored the old medallions for the church and await the committee approval on my proposed drafts. Using windows from the soon to be demolished old church by inserting them in a newly constructed stained glass window is both challenging and rewarding.

Restorations included removing bulging, repairing a few pieces of glass, cleaning and re-weatherproofing or cementing the window. The original perimeter lead was also replaced with new 3/8" flat lead that matches the rest of the window. This new lead will accept the new surrounding pieces of glass and be easier to solder to. The small trick in replacing the old perimeter lead is to carefully cut it mid way on the outside glass segments and gently heat up the old solder joints to release the old lead.
Cutting the lead allows you to rock free the old lead without twisting the attaching lead you are keeping. Once the old lead is removed you now have a tinned area to attach the new lead. Without this tinned area soldering becomes nearly impossible due to the oxidation of the old window. In this case the windows are over 100 years old.
The original lead held up remarkably well for it's age and doesn't need replacing.

I am bidding on an eyebrow transom "Good Shepherd", two sidelites and matching half round panels. This will complete the entry way of the church.




Sidelite panel with top 1/2 round


Eyebrow Transom

Free Halloween Stained Glass Patterns

It's that time again to gear up with spooky glass themes!

Here is a listing of free Halloween patterns I came across you may like. Be sure to check permissions from the artists as they differ in restrictions of use. Oh yeah... Don't forget to stock up on orange and black glass!
If you know of any other free Halloween patterns I missed, please comment below this post and I'll add it to the listing.
Thanks!

FREE Halloween e-Book!

(click to get yours instantly now!)

Jillian Sawyer's "Witchcraft" depicts a cauldron adorned by a black cat. Visit Jillians website.

Easy Witch Pattern- Offered by Warner.

Witch in Flight- Very well laid out and simple enough for any beginner. Pattern offered by Vit-Mar.

Scarecrow with Crow Nice detailed instructions on how to make this project. Offered by The Kaleidoscope Stained Glass

Collection of Halloween Patterns by Tiffany Glaskunst. Site in German by graphically navigable.

Spider Web With Face Interesting pattern of a spooky face imbedded into a spiders web by The Larkins.

Large Skull and Grim Reaper Ghost by Fantasy in Glass

Pumpkin Download and Halloween Lamp Pattern by Delphi Glass

Set of Easy Halloween Patterns "Pumpkin, Ghost and Bat" offered by Alpine Stained Glass. They also offer free pattern where you can create your own pumpkin face for fusing projects. While your there be sure to grab these cute bat patterns. Free of course :)


Free Fusible Halloween Projects by Glass Art Patterns include...
Hoot Owl", "Halloween Witchy Pumpkin", "Fused Glass Pumpkin Plate", "Halloween Fused Glass Panel", "Fused Glass Spooky Light", and "Fused Glass Halloween Plate".
That all should keep you hot glass folks busy!

Updated 9/13/09
Found a really neat free spider pattern from Vit-Mar. Went looking around some more and stumbled across this spider panel set also from Vit-Mar.

Skull Pirate with Crossed Swords is offered free from "FreeStainedGlassDesign. com". The pattern along with all of the others they have are available in "eye" (GlassEye), "pdf" (Adobe Acrobat) and good ole "JPEG" (Joint Photographic Experts Group) formats.






And of course... Our free Halloween stained glass patterns.

If you have a website offering free Halloween stained glass patterns or know of any I missed please comment below. Thanks :)

Celtic Knot Transom Panel

I recently finished this stained glass window using a simple but interesting Celtic knot design. These patterns are a bit tricky to layout initially but in time you get the overlapping right and it all looks good in the end.
Baroque clear glass was used for the main background. A medium green 50 mm faceted jewel for the center, a wispy green by Spectrum for the ribbon and a soft seeded amber by KOG for the inner background.
This panel is centered between two of the same size but contain a simple clear beveled star surrounded by again Baroque clear. The 3 panel set is very attractive overall.



Celtic Knot Stained Glass

Great Book of Floral Patterns, Second Edition Revised and Expanded

The Ultimate Design Source book for Artists and Crafters by Lora S. Irish.
Looks like a great resource book for any craft including stained glass. The newly expanded second edition promises hundreds of hand drawn floral design that are perfect for craft projects in many medias.
To read more on this new exciting book visit... Great Book of Floral Patterns.

Peace Dove Transom Window

Here is my latest stained glass pattern where I just finished numbering the drawing. There are a total of 395 pieces of glass to this 3 panel set. The ribbon area will have the saying "Be Strong in the Lord" and "Peace Be With you". The bottom corner areas will have accents of dogwood flowers.
The panel set will be installed in the transom of a local church with beveled glass sidelites beneath. Overall size is 8 feet wide by 4 feet tall.
I'll take photos when the installation is complete...





Here's a picture of the finished stained glass.

An Introduction to Stained Glass Video

Here's a nice short video in HD presented by Gomm Studios.

Free St. Patrick's Day Stained Glass Patterns

I had so much fun looking for Valentine's day patterns I couldn't help doing it again for St. Patty's Day. If you know of any I missed let me know in the comment area below. Thanks to all of the creative glass artists who offer these terrific stained glass patterns.






St. Patrick's Day Patterns courtesy of Down East Stained Glass.



Shamrock Celtic Knot "Celtic Luck"- Free St. Patricks Day stained glass pattern offered by CIL Glassworks!

St. Patrick's Holiday Clover- Free glass pattern offered by Alpine Stained Glass. Download the pdf pattern here: PDF Clover Pattern.

Irish Brew- Toast the holiday green with a lucky mug.

St. Patrick's Hat with Rainbow- Another free St. Patty's day pattern from Alpine Stained Glass.

St. Paddy Day Patterns- from Warner Stained Glass.

Fighting Leprechaun- "The Fighting Irish" Notre Dame logo ready for stained glass.

Leprechaun Running- "Running Irishman" by Fantasy in Glass.

Victorian Shamrock Panel- Free glass pattern available from "FREE stained glass patterns"

Lucky Shamrock in Circle Border- By Glass Crafters Stained Glass. PDF download.

Shamrock Cluster- From Pete's Place Studio. Visit Pete and say hi :)

Simple Shamrock- Easy to do stained glass pattern by the Glass Sorcery. Go to their site for more free patterns and glass tips.

Claddagh Stained Glass Pattern- Irish symbol for love.

Claddagh in Celtic Wreath- Stained glass pattern by Chantal Pare.

Celtic Fan Light- Free pattern for light base by the Glass Sorcery.

Stained Glass Pattern Contest Bevel Cluster

Going on now is the November pattern challenge over at StainedGlassville
We will pick the best design, make the panel and sell it online. Proceeds will be donated to a Santa's helper at the local mall.
Here's the bevel cluster we need a stained glass design made for...

The winning designer will get a free copy of "Be Bevelled" pattern CD from Paned Expressions Studios.

Prairie Southwest Stained Glass Entry Door

Here's the finished stained glass made from the stained glass pattern I previously posted. I like doing prairie style stained glass but don't have many requests. Possibly this will inspire more commissions :)
The finished installation:

Stained Glass Prairie Design for Door and Sidelites

Here's an interesting new design for a door with two small windows and 2 sidelites.
My client has an awesome collection of southwest room decorations and is looking to dress up the entry way of his home.
I came up with this prairie style stained glass design.
I'll post images of the finished widows once installed.

Self publishing stained glass pattern book.

With all of the marvels of the internet there are some things you can do that in the past was either financially impossible or tremendous work.
The one thing I am pointing out is how easy it is to self publish a book. In my case it was creating a hard copy of all of my stained glass patterns.
The printing company Lulu.com has made it possible for authors to create books of their work and offer them for sale without printing minimums. Beyond books they also have other templates for calendars, posters and many other format medias.
I strongly recommend anybody with an idea or artistic content to look into self publishing.
DESG

Autumn and Stained Glass

As summer winds down and the kids get back to their school schedules we start to look toward getting a few extra stained glass projects done. The cooler temperatures and coming holidays create an environment in most of our studios for a need to produce atmosphere :)
Many homeowners use this time on the calendar to spruce up their dwellings and often include stained glass in their plans. It seems like everyone who put off decorating during the summer months all join in and expect completion of their commission by the holidays. If you have a retail studio you know exactly what I mean!
This is not a bad thing but would be nice if it spread out a bit more to allow projects to be concluded. In a previous studio I worked at we jokingly used the term "midnight stained glass" more than once.

Many craft fairs are run throughout the fall months where stained glass crafts are often available. Seasonally themed items sell well mixed into a showcase of glass wares.
Holiday decor in glass is very popular and with the internet available along with the hundreds of stained glass books on the subject there is quite a bit to choose from for pattern ideas and inspiration.

I like to start with an image search. Here's a few helpful image search links:
Halloween Stained Glass Patterns
Holiday Stained Glass Patterns
Christmas Stained Glass Patterns
Try adding "art glass" and you get a different result :)

As always please respect any copyright statements when using images found online.

Stained Glass Patterns on ebay