Learning stained glass craft in easy steps – polishing your panel.
Mastering stained glass craft is really gratifying – not least because it’s a skill that has hardly changed over 900-odd years, but also because it’s something that can’t be automated or done by a computer. We’re a rare breed! If you’ve followed this step-by-step guide on how to make stained glass, you’ll know that you’ve nearly finished your first piece of stained glass craft . You’ve cemented your panel and left it to dry for at least three days. All you need to do now is a final clean and polish.
What you need: Black graphite polish (grate blackener), two shoe brushes, wooden kebab skewer (or similar), dust mask, latex gloves, newspaper, dustpan and brush.
Step one: Picking out
How far you go with this process is entirely up to you. Some students spend ages on it; some prefer the ‘softer’ look of a leaded panel that has rounded puttied corners. Your design may dictate how precise you need to be. Trace round the shapes with your wooden kebab stick, removing any excess hardened cement where it may have squeezed through during the cementing process. Brush off any dry bits of cement.
Step two: Blackening the leads
Squeeze a bit of the black graphite polish onto a piece of newspaper so that you can dab into it with one of your shoe brushes. This enables you to add the polish as needed – it’s easy to use too much otherwise. Brush the stained glass lead with the grate polish, taking care to cover the solder joints. Leave for half an hour to allow the graphite polish to take hold.
Step three: Polishing the leads
Take your other (clean) shoe brush and vigorously brush both the glass and leads until they shine like your grandfather’s shoes! Now the best moment of the ancient stained glass craft has finally arrived… lift your stain glass to the light and admire your entry into the 900-year history of stained glass!
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