Stained Glass Stuff

Glass Tips

Finishing Tips

Polishing Tips
Cleaning Tips
Patina Tips
Framing Tips
Finishing Tips

Polishing Tips

When polishing, shake the bottle well, then apply liberally to a well-used old face cloth, or good quality paper towel, rubbing all over the glass. If you have a glass with a deep texture to it, try to go lightly over this glass, as it can be hard sometimes to remove all of it afterwards, and it is also noticeable when it dries. Right after applying the polish, take a fresh, clean, dry old towel or new paper towel, and begin to gently rub the glass and solder seams. If you are using paper towels, you will be needing a lot of them, as they tear up quickly. When both sides have been polished, hold the piece up to some light, and check for any missed spots of polish, and along the edges of your solder seams. There will likely still be some polish in tight corners. Try using an old toothbrush to remove it. (Don't put that toothbrush back in your mouth!)

Cleaning Tips

After soldering, cleaning and drying your piece, use fine(000) or extra fine (0000) steel wool and a wire brush to go over your entire piece. Use the brush first if you want, and then the steel wool. This will help remove any leftover flux that is still on any solder lines. Missing this step increases your chances of your piece developing those little whitish blotches later on the solder lines. After using the steel wool, spray the whole piece with a couple of sprays of Kwik-Clean cleaner.

Patina Tips

When using a patina, wash it off with cool water and a soft sponge, rubbing over the piece. Dry the piece with a soft old towel. If it is a panel with a zinc frame, let it dry overnight as there usually is a little bit of water in the inside of the zinc came which is hard to remove (you could try a hair dryer?), and will muck your polishing efforts if done right away after patinaing.

Apply your patina with a small piece of a rag, like an old sports sock or Tshirt. Pour a small amount into a small container so as not to contaminate the rest of your patina. If your piece is bigger than, say a suncatcher, try using a new piece of rag for applying the patina on each side.

Framing Tips

If you are finishing a piece with zinc came and are going to place it into a window to fit tightly, and you have made it a little too big, there is a way to save the panel.

Remove one piece of zinc on the side that is too long, by fluxing, and melting off the excess solder, wiping the iron tip on your damp iron stand sponge. Grab the length of zinc with a pair of pliers, and starting at one corner, start to slowly pull the zinc came away from the panel. It will take a while to get the first corner apart. Try inserting a piece of paper between the zinc came to separate the zinc and solder from each other on the two sides. You can also try the paper trick along the length of the zinc came at all side joints that were soldered to the zinc came.

Once the zinc came length is off, cut a new length if the original length has been mangled, or use the original if possible, and hold firmly on your work surface the length of zinc came with the open channel facing upwards. Take a solid wood fid and, starting at one end, push it into the zinc came where the glass usually sits, and flatten down the two sides of inner channel. This will also take a little while to do.

If you can't get it going, use your groizer pliers to flatten one side at a time. This way will leave little marks on the outside of the zinc came. Eventually, your piece of zinc came will have a �U' profile, instead of its typical upside-down �A' profile. The zinc now can slide farther onto your piece, making it smaller. You will likely need to file or trim off a little bit of the zinc came on the two side pieces and the altered piece, in order to make it fit perfectly, and be small enough.

Finishing Tips

Put little felt pads on the bottom of your finished pieces, like candleholders, boxes, or lamp bases if there are none. This will protect the bottom of your piece and the surface it is sitting on.

If you have used your gold paint pen on a heavily textured glass, or on some Yogi glass, and can't get it off, try using your grinder sponge with lots of glass grit on it to rub off the paint. A customer suggested this one to us, in that the best way to get something off a surface is to use the same material as the surface as an abrasive, if that makes any sense?