Whether it's a window, mirror, or smartphone screen, glass is a common material in our daily lives. However, when tinted and illuminated, it turns into a decorative object that radiates a variety of colors. These crafts give us a variety of artistic impressions depending on the design and color of the glass. This SMT reporter tried her hand at making a stained glass sun catcher to rediscover the charm of glass.
Transforming glass to luminous creation
Stained glass is a glass art technique in which multiple fragments of glass are attached together to create a piece. This technique is often used to decorate architecture, where it is placed in such a way that it shows brilliant colors when illuminated by sunlight. Stained glass originated in the Islamic world around the 7th century, where colored glass was used to decorate windows and ceilings. The practice spread to medieval Europe in the 12th century, where it underwent a quantum leap in terms of production techniques and applications, starting with church architecture.
At the time, churches were built in the Gothic style, an art form that flourished between the 12th and 15th centuries. Gothic architecture was designed to include huge glass windows, which meant that the windows themselves had to be decorated rather than having murals painted on them. Stained glass, where pieces of glass are pasted onto the windows to represent things such as biblical stories or the lives of the clergy, was used to achieve this. These stained-glass windows allow sunlight to pass through the glass, creating a multicolored glow that adds to the grandeur and splendor of the church. In the early days, the quality of the glass was uneven and it was difficult to create detailed artwork. However, from the 14th century onward, the techniques for working with glass improved, allowing for more colorful and intricate designs. With such a long history, only the details of the stained glass technique have changed since its inception, but the overall framework has remained the same and is still used in a variety of ways today.
A whale swimming in a sea of light
This SMT reporter experienced a class on making a sun catcher by using the stained glass technique. In the process of chatting online with the instructor to schedule the class, she also decided on a design for the suncatcher to make. From a selection of designs available in the shape of stars, rabbits, butterflies, and more, she chose a humpback whale shape as it was her favorite animal. On the actual day of class, the instructor first emphasized that since it is a class that uses glass, gloves and aprons should be worn to avoid getting hurt by glass shards, and the glass dust on the desk should be cleaned up after each step. After going over these points, she was given the task of choosing the color of glass for each piece of the humpback whale design she chose to create. Of all the different colors and patterns of glass in the workshop, she chose black for the whale's back and white for its belly, colors that wouldn't stand out that much. Conversely, the moon and circular ancillary shapes that would accompany the whale were chosen to be colorful pinks, yellows, and purples, respectively, to contrast with the simplicity of the whale. Then, a corresponding paper pattern was placed on each piece of glass and traced with a pen in preparation for cutting the glass to fit the pattern. Before cutting the glass, she practiced using a glass cutting knife. After being instructed that the knife does not cut the glass itself, but only makes a small scratch, and then applying force using another tool to press down on the glass makes it break into the shape of the scratch, she practiced for about 15 minutes. Since it was her first time cutting glass, she struggled and asked for help from the instructor several times. But over time, she got used to it and was able to do it more easily than the first time.
After the practice, she cut the real glass with her humpback whale design. The next step was to grind the roughly cut glass into the same shape as the design, using a glass surface grinder. Grinding the glass was a lot easier than cutting, which made it fun to do. Once they had been ground, the glass dust was wiped off the surface with a wet wipe and copper tape was wrapped around the edge of the pieces. The instructor explained that copper tape is for the later soldering process, and that the solder will only stick to the taped lines to hold the pieces together, which implied that the quality of the piece will depend on how neatly and evenly the tape is applied. After hearing this description, the SMT reporter tried to apply the copper tape with a certain thickness without deviating from the line. Once taping each of the pieces together, they were transferred to another workbench and lead melted with a heated iron was applied to the tapes. The lead hardened immediately after being applied to the copper tape, allowing the reporter to bring the fragmented glass together to form the humpback whale. In addition, a hook for hanging the piece was soldered to the glass pieces too. Finally, the suncatcher was cleaned thoroughly to remove any fingerprints and dust that may have gotten on it during the process. The finished humpback whale suncatcher subtly illuminated its colors in the sunlight, bringing out the beauty of stained glass, which made her smile.
A journey of discovering the charm of glass
Stained glass is a traditional technique that dates back many years and is still used today to decorate various architectural structures. In addition, as this SMT reporter experienced, there are various places where people can try their hand at the technique and experience the beauty of glass firsthand. Stained glass, in particular, is characterized by its versatility, depending on the design and color of the glass. How about using the stained glass technique to not only discover a new charm of glass, but also to create your own unique work of art?
