Stained glass: Finishing

The finished panel

As you can see from the image above the stained glass panel I have been working on for over a year has finally been finished. It's approximately A1 size and it was designed as a response to the fact that when I started the project I had plantar fasciitis, which meant I couldn't put my foot down without extreme heel pain. As I had been making votives, I decided to use the idea of Sooty as a type of voodoo fetish, interceding to bless the pain and therefore release it. It did eventually go away but not I suspect due to the intersession of Sooty. Even so it was an interesting experience and I have learnt a lot technically and have set up my workshop to be able to undertake quite a few of the glass skills used during the past year. The painting I started out with is this one below, and as always its fascinating to look at how a change in technique totally changes the meaning of what can be almost exactly the same image. 

The original painting 

My last post was about the soldering process, which left me with lots of cleaning to do, most of it due to the deposits of tallow still left on the lead. Once the tallow had been cleaned off the next step was to stabilise the panel with black putty, which  ensures that every section is held securely in place. If the panel was to be used as a window, it would also need to be made weather proof and this stage would ensure rain water would not be able to penetrate it. 

Black putty being applied to all the gaps between the lead and the glass

I had bought myself a tub of stained glass putty a while ago, so had it ready. It's much more expensive than the putty you use to secure the glass in a window and I suspect you could mix your own by staining ordinary putty black but I was in a rush to get everything finished, so had bought a ready mixed tub. There is nearly always a reason for the materials being what they are and when I have tried to go my own way, such as using ordinary soldering flux, things haven't worked. 

Stained Glass Lead Cement Putty Black 1/2 PINT (Approx: £26)

I used an old toothbrush to push the putty into the gaps between the leading and the glass. I was amazed at how much putty would be needed to go into these gaps, and it takes quite a while to work it into each section. A circular movement of the toothbrush seemed best, and as the putty began to settle into the spaces, it lifted off the glass surface. (I was initially worried that it might stick to the glass and be hard to clean off). 

The toothbrush: The black putty is very sticky, like thick runny hunny.

As the gaps become filled, the putty pulls away from the glass surface. 

I then, once all the gaps were filled on one side, with help, I turned the panel over and repeated the process. I had some whiting power left over from when I was printmaking and once the putty was in place on both sides, dusted one side with it. This is to help dry the putty and clean off the panel. Using an old scrubbing brush, I then worked my way across the panel, again using a circular motion and this removed bits of excess putty and at the same time cleaned the glass. This was then repeated on the other side.

Using an old scrubbing brush to remove whiting powder and excess putty.

The window was at last beginning to look how I wanted it to. The too shiny look of the solder had gone, the black of the putty now filling every crevice of the surface, which makes the whole panel look as if it is an old thing; something made back when stained glass was a process embedded into a deeply spiritual way of understanding the world. I was beginning to think that all the effort was at last going to pay off. 

The final part was to get the 'look' of the leading right and to do this I used black stove and grate polish. (£7)

'Stove black'

I used to help my nan polish her black iron stove and this was very like the Zebo polish that we used then. When buffed up with a soft duster or rag, you get a rich dull black, which is what I wanted. These final touches were vital as they gave the panel a very personal feel. The surface looks very hand done, the final finish looking like something that has resulted from several hours of intense one to one application. The Sooty window was meant to be a type of fetish or votive and by virtue of the many hours of work invested into its making, it has human spirit built into it.  

Developing the final patina by polishing

This final part of the process felt intuitively right, perhaps because of the link back to the time helping my nan polish that old black iron stove. 

In order to have a good flat light source behind the panel, I ordered an A1 size, LED lightbox from Amazon, and it fits very neatly, I used it to light the window in order to take the photograph at the top of this post. 

It has been a long and expensive process, I have learnt a huge amount and made a piece of work I am very satisfied with, as it extends the conceptual as well as the emotional and spiritual range that I am trying to communicate with. I have also set up my old studio in such a way that I can now cut glass and grind it into shape, I can cut lead and fit panels together, but what I cant do is paint the glass without access to a specialist kiln. My objective was to see if I could become self sustaining in relation to a craft that I really feel does enhance spiritual 'feeling'. But the reality is that it will have to be a 'supportive' skill, one I use occasionally to enhance my work, rather than as a main focus. 

See also:

Stained glass session one

Stained glass session two

Stained glass session three

Stained glass session four

Stained glass session five

Stained glass session six

Stained glass session seven

Stained glass session eight

Stained glass session nine

Stained glass session ten

Stained glass the leading sessions

Stained glass: soldering

Drawing on transparent drafting film

New wine in old bottles

Glass painting

Stained glass: soldering

Solder now applied

I had to shelve the work on the stained glass for a while. However eventually I managed to return to what was now a very long drawn out project. Soldering was the next skill to master and I was not very confident about how to do it, especially as everything now had to be done in my own studio, as I had used up my entitlement in relation to money paid in for taught sessions. 

I very quickly ran into a problem. The flux I was using and the soldering iron just didn't seem to work. The solder was running off the lead onto the glass and not adhering to the zinc came. So before I began damaging the leading I decided to seek more help. Eventually after another break, (this time due to not being able to do anything physical like manipulate a heavy leaded glass window, as I was recovering from a hernia operation), I was able to get the help I needed. When my soldering iron was tested it was found to be too hot and it had no heat adjustment controls. The flux I was using was also wrong and Jo-Ann of Hannah Stained Glass told me I needed to use tallow. So two tallow candles were ordered and I borrowed a soldering iron from her. 

Tallow candle £5.45 each

Tallow being applied to the joints

The tallow comes in candle form, exactly like a candle, but with no wick. You rub it backwards and forwards across all the joints, making sure the metal surfaces are covered that you want the solder to stick to. 

The soldering iron came with a sponge tray that you use to keep cleaning the soldering iron head between each solder. The purpose of a sponge is to keep the soldering iron tip clean and to wipe off the oxide that can form on it. It's damp partly to keep the sponge from burning, but also to keep the iron from getting too hot; but too much water just sucks the heat out of your tip, which is exactly what you don't want happening when you're about to solder.

This time I was successful in soldering all my leading together, but because this was a new skill, my joints were not very smooth. I shall look to see if I can revisit them and smooth them out, but initially at least the window is held together. 

Solder held in one hand, the soldering iron in the other

Success in joining but too blobby

The small test window has much neater joints

I had done a small test window before and my soldering was much better, or was this just an illusion, as I had applied a black patina to the leading and solder and this does seem to hide imperfections. 

One side soldered

The next step was to turn the window over to solder the other side, which had to be done carefully, so that it didn't fall apart as I lifted it. This was a two person job, so I enlisted Sue's help. 

We put the board down to the floor with the wooden lip at the bottom.

Moving the support board from one side to the other

I held the satined glass frame in place and once the board was vertical was able to lift the window, keeping it vertical, whilst Sue moved the support board around to the other side. I then lowered the window back down and together we lifted the board back onto the trestle ready for the next round of soldering. By keeping the window vertical no undue strains were exerted on it, and we managed to make the move without any mishaps. 

Once cool, I then needed to remove the tallow. 

Removing tallow with a softish ball of wire wool

I didn't want to scratch the surfaces, so I used a ball of wire wool from the kitchen to get the tallow off. The more industrial level wire wool and/or wire brushes are a bit too hard and they would scratch into the soft leading. 

Cleaning with a soft cloth and kitchen surface cleaner

Once the tallow was scratched off, I cleaned the whole surface with a soft cloth and kitchen surface cleaner, which also removed bits of grime that had built up over the time when the window had been in storage. I had to get help to turn the window over again, but soon had all the metalwork clean. There were also some remnants of sharpie markings left on a few sections and I took time to remove these too, using some rubbing alcohol and a cloth. I was now ready for the putty and whiting stage. 

See also:

Stained glass session one

Stained glass session two

Stained glass session three

Stained glass session four

Stained glass session five

Stained glass session six

Stained glass session seven

Stained glass session eight

Stained glass session nine

Stained glass session ten

Stained glass the leading sessions

Stained glass finishing

Drawing on transparent drafting film

New wine in old bottles

Stained glass: The leading sessions

The workshop sessions involving leading were done as a block because I was going to take up quite a lot of room and the sessions needed to be fitted in around other classes. I was meant to do this the first week of January, but I was still in recovery mode after being knocked down by a car. When a time slot was next available I had the beginnings of a chest infection; however because slots are hard to come by, I decided to carry on anyway as the cold out of which the infection grew was hopefully well past its contagious phase. This was probably not a good idea, as I found it hard to concentrate and decisions about exactitude were hard to make as my eyesight felt slightly distorted by the infection. I managed three days and learnt a lot about leading, but then had to pack up and take the work away until another free slot could be found. 

Base board

Plywood base board: Detail of surrounding edge

I had to prepare for the sessions by making a board on which to work. I used a thick ply and screwed and glued two strips of wood onto two adjoining sides, in order to make a right-angled 'L' shaped corner, against which I would build the window. It is approximately 3 cms wider and longer than the size of the finished window. I also had to cut the zinc edging frame pieces to size with a hacksaw. (Zinc 'u' section came, 12x5mm)

The first decision is where to start and I had already made my first mistake. Usually the more complex area is where you need to start, but I had fixed the borders of my frame on the opposite side to the one needed if I was to do that. It was a 50/50 decision and at the time of making I wasn't aware it could make a difference but this meant that the complexity surrounding the heel would not be where we could start. 

The next thing was to trim off two edges of my cartoon. Cutting exactly on the line that indicated the zinc came edging, this was going to be my template to work to for the entire window, so needed to be accurate. Once cut it was placed snugly into the right-angled corner of the baseboard. 

Two sides are left uncut, so that they will not be hidden underneath the final construction. This can facilitate the cartoon removal at a later stage.

We needed to start with a border, so we first set out two lengths of the zinc came and then the thicker leading to make the border, as this would strengthen the whole window. 

The previously cut sections of glass that make up the border were checked for accuracy and a couple were rejected, so I had to cut more from existing scrap glass, this was because it's very hard to grind off a thin strip of glass and keep it straight and much easier to recut. Another lesson about accuracy. 

The inside border using the thicker leading is to be staggered rather than simply butted together.

The leading for the inside border is set out as above

The lead is cut with a lead knife. Another tool that I had not used before and which takes a bit of getting used to. 

Lead knife

Horseshoe nails are used to mark the lead for cutting, and for holding the buffers in place

A plastic and rubber headed glazing hammer

Used for nailing and tapping in hard to fit pieces of glass

The lead knife is rocked through the lead came. It is held vertically, (something I again found hard to get right), you apply downward pressure as you rock, being careful not to distort the shape of the soft lead came. Each section is held in tightly by lead came buffers that are nailed into place each time. The buffers also help you measure the length of the lead strips, as they let you know how far the glass will sit into the 'H' section of any chosen lead came. This becomes very important if you are like myself in this case, using several different thicknesses of leading. 

Because of the process of keeping everything nailed tight as you progress, you work out from a corner. 

Lead came cut to size, resting against the zinc came edge

Buffer in place

The first few pieces in place, working away from the corner.

You are constantly grinding down to make sure the glass will fit and although I thought I had by now a good grasp of glass cutting, I was quickly made to realise I was not accurate enough. The trick is to mark the glass to show what you cant see. 

How to mark the glass before grinding

Push the glass into the came 'H' section and make sure it is in as far as it can go along the whole length of the piece. Then using a white or black Sharpie (you need tonal contrast), draw along the line made by the leading. When you take the glass out again, you will see where there are inaccuracies. Look for the thinnest bit and use that as your measure and then mark the glass edge and grind. A small inaccuracy can lead to a large difference later on, so its best to correct each piece as it is put in. This is what was taking the time when I was working on it. It took three days to complete just over half the window. 

The lead came has to be cut accurately and must be butted up exactly to each adjoining piece. If not, when you come to solder it all together the window will have serious structural faults. You must also keep pushing the pieces tightly together and refitting the buffers. A tight fit is going to be essential, so you must keep checking this. 

Three different lead came sizes are being used. The thickest for the edges, then a medium thickness for everything else except for the complex shapes that form Sooty's body and ears. The need for tight curves in order to form the body and ears of Sooty, required the use of the thinnest lead came available. N. b. Each time you use a buffer you must remember which size came to use and it is very easy to just pick up the wrong sized off-cut by mistake. 

Some sections required a different technique. For instance the frit made heel was circular. (See sessions 2 and 3) First of all I had to re-grind this section to make it smoother by removing any bumps from around the edge. Then using the middle grade came leading, a length was cut just a bit longer than needed. This was pushed into the glass all the way round and a plastic fid tool was used to push it in firmly.

Plastic fid

The fid tool is extremely useful, as you use it to keep pushing the lead back into the glass, as well as using it to ensure the 'H' section is kept open enough to ensure the glass sits into it correctly. It has a variegated width, so that sometimes you use the thin point to push in hard and at others the thicker waist section in order to gradually open out 'H' sections. 

Because I was taking so long and was still suffering from the after effects of a chest infection, it was decided to take my work away from the workshop to allow classes that needed the room to be held. This means that I'm not sure when I shall be able to finish this work. Hopefully in the near future I will be able to find a gap that will allow me to finish the work. In the meantime I will invest £75.99 in a water cooled stained glass grinding machine that I found on E-Bay, so that I can finish the work in my studio. 

The process is of course already costing money for materials. For the leading and soldering the materials ordered before the session are set out in the screenshot below. 

All materials above were sourced from Kansacraft, a Barnsley based company. 

See also:

Stained glass session one

Stained glass session two

Stained glass session three

Stained glass session four

Stained glass session five

Stained glass session six

Stained glass session seven

Stained glass session eight

Stained glass session nine

Stained glass session ten

Stained glass soldering

Stained glass finishing

Drawing on transparent drafting film

New wine in old bottles

Stained glass: Session 10

Silver stained glass

This was a short session held just before the Christmas break, whereby I mixed and laid down a silver stain that I had decided to use to bring two areas of Sooty's body into a yellow harmony with the rest of the figure. I had used the technique before and wanted to include the process in this much larger, complex piece as a reminder of its specific qualities. Silver stain is a chemical process whereby an oxide of silver is applied to glass, which when kiln fired, its ions migrate into the glass. A process that permanently stains the glass a transparent yellow. This means that you can get two distinct (clear & yellow) areas in a single piece of glass without having cut the areas out of separate pieces and joining them. The technique was so widely used that the whole medium of “stained glass” obtained its name from the use of silver stains.

The Sooty element of the work sat on a lightbox, showing the two plain glass sections

Painted glass panel with silver stain

Silver stain comes in a variety of yellows, the one I used in the image above being a very orange one. It is always applied to the back of the glass.

The two pieces of plain glass, now with applied silver stain on the back

Silver stain is very expensive. For instance Reusche Amber Silver Stain, if purchased from the Creative Glass Guild, is £50 for a 1oz tub and a pale yellow £24 for the same amount. It is therefore to be used very selectively. The two sections above were both made of plain clear glass that I decided needed to be a warm orange yellow, so I have used Reusche Orange Silver Stain. 

A small glass palette used to prepare the stain

You can mix the stain with water or oil. I used lavender oil, using a small flexible palette knife to mix the amount needed until it was brushable. Before applying the stain, the glass was oiled by putting a few drops of lavender oil on the surface and then rubbing it in and wiping it off with a paper towel. 

Brushes and applicators kept for silver staining purposes only

I used the square ended brush to the right of the collection of applicators above and the fan brush to smooth and slightly graduate the stain. Lavender oil on paper towels was used to clean the brushes afterwards, not soapy water. 

The two sections had to be turned over to have the silver stain applied.  

Hopefully once fired the two sections will sit much more closely into the warm yellow/orange colour range I wanted. 

Session 10 was the last session I attended in 2023. However on the 23rd of December I was knocked over by a car and had to recover my physical fitness before re-starting. I am just about there in terms of regaining the flexibility to work on a heavy large piece such as this, so hopefully will be returning to the stained glass workshop to complete the final stages of leading it all together very soon. 

See also:

Stained glass session one

Stained glass session two

Stained glass session three

Stained glass session four

Stained glass session five

Stained glass session six

Stained glass session seven

Stained glass session eight

Stained glass session nine

Stained glass the leading sessions

Drawing on transparent drafting film

New wine in old bottles

Stained Glass: Session nine

Fired sections of the leg, edges darkened with oil based paint

My previous painting session had now been fired and I needed to finish the last bits of Sooty's face; two spots for eyes and a roughly triangular mouth. However before I could do that I needed to check how the parts would fit together, so that I could allow for how the leading would work in relation to the position of eyes and the nose. This took most of the session, because I had to grind down the edges of each piece to ensure that I knew where these final painted elements would be. I have to do this with everything once construction begins in earnest, so it was useful to tackle one area to see how much work it would be.

In order to make sure the grinding was accurate, I went back to the cartoon and placed each piece on top, this time marking in white Sharpie any bits of glass that protruded beyond the black central line that represented the thickness of the centre of the leading's 'H' section.

Laying the glass back on the cartoon

Finally after fitting Sooty together again, I was able to simply paint the final areas in, using a lavender oil black paint mix and flooding technique. I had to work fast, because you don’t want the paint to dry on you and if your paint doesn’t flow, it’ll very likely blister when you fire it in the kiln. Each small area was flooded using re-mixed paint. Again this is important, in the time between one flooding and another the paint will dry and change consistency, so you have to mix every time, even though it feels as if you could get away with not doing this. 

Flooding applied to nose and eyes

Once the flooding had been done, I needed to fit everything back together again, (being careful not to disturb the eye and nose paint). I would then be able to assess whether or not the arm sections needed any more work; look at how the drawing of the leg was sitting within the new darker boarder and check whether or not I wanted to rework the area around the fused frit work that now constituted the heel. One possibility was to use silver stain to establish a glow around the frit edges, but I decided against this, hoping that the leading will visually cohere the various elements together.

The final part of the session was therefore spent putting the whole window together on the light-box, so that any final decisions could be made before the silver staining session. It was then agreed that I would undertake a short session to get that done before the Xmas break. Hopefully the two sections that make up Sooty's head will be fired by next week. 

 

The window is put together for on the light-box checking

Frit 'heel pain' section and leg which now has its edge darkened

Nb: I write these sessions up after reflecting on the event, using written notes and photographs taken on the day. The actual session was attended in mid December. 

See also:

Stained glass session one

Stained glass session two

Stained glass session three

Stained glass session four

Stained glass session five

Stained glass session six

Stained glass session seven

Stained glass session eight

Stained glass session ten

Drawing on transparent drafting film

Stained glass: Session eight

Study for Sooty as an animist fetish/transitional object 

Session eight was focused on painting. This time the body of the Sooty puppet and the arm it is attached to were the subjects. This is a particularly important aspect of the idea. I want to suggest that in all animist conversations, (i.e. between humans and non human entities) there is an element of the spiritual. In this case because of the specific history of stained glass I was interested in channelling depictions of the Lamb of God. 

Stained glass depictions of the Lamb of God

After looking at how the fleece was depicted, I made a new study to replace my original one of a Sooty fetish. (See image at the top of this post)

A previous study for a Sooty fetish

The new study as well as exploring textural differences also changed the relationship between the fetish and the audience, this time the Sooty figure stares straight back at the viewer. The different types of glass used were also thought about and my increasing knowledge of working with water based paints as a first layer, has enabled me to have a much clearer idea of what I'm working towards. 

Using water based stained glass paint I laid a graded matte to each section of the bear's body and then worked into these sections with a dry brush technique that was designed to echo how at times hair texture had been rendered historically. 

Sections of the Sooty body with graded matte and hair texture applied

The pads representing the paws of the bear were done slightly differently, using a flooding technique. In order to avoid blistering when fired, when using flooding, you need to mix your paint each time you load your brush. The term 'flooding' is a good description for what happens when you touch a loaded wet brush onto the glass, the paint spreads out from the brush tip. However in my case I wasn't looking for a flat black, so varied the mixes and as the glass for one of the arm/paws was a textured one, this allowed the glass texture to come through. One other thing I was having to bear in mind was how much of the glass the leading would cover, which is why the dark pad is the size that it is. 

A paw with a water based matte and dark 'flooded' pad

I had used an old piece of glass with lines fired into it for the other paw. When I was looking at old stained glass windows, I realised that there were often re-purposed glass components from earlier times. Glass is very expensive and in future I will try and recycle more, this tiny element was a reminder of this. 

Finally some of these sections will have silver stain added to the back, which should harmonise all the colours and give a yellow intensity to the Sooty image, but that will have to be done on the back, so all these sections will need to be fixed by firing before then. 

The next area to look at was the arm and I wanted more texture but of a very different type. Jo-Ann suggested that I explore a particular spray technique and so I did.

A texture test made by spraying water droplets over a matted surface

Using a spare piece of glass a graded matte was made using water based paint applied with a large hake brush, which was then smoothed and graded using a badger brush, as described in session six. This was dried using a hair drier and after testing that the spray was sufficiently fine, a spray diffuser was used to spray a fine mist of water over the glass. Just one short burst of spray was used, a long one would mean the water would begin to run off the surface. Again the glass was gently dried off using a hair drier. Once dry the badger brush was very lightly fanned over the surface with the faintest of contacts and as this was done gradually the texture of water droplets was revealed. Once I had grasped the technique I applied it to the two sections of pink glass that made up the arm. 

The final task of the session was to return to the leg which has now been fully fired and to stop out by flooding the area between the leading and the trace line.

 

Paint being mixed ready to go over the trace line

A fine line drawn over the existing trace line

The first thing to do was to draw a fine line over the existing trace line. This forms a barrier to protect the rest of the glass from the flooding.

Flooding is applied between the trace line and the area that will be bounded by leading.

Then flooding was applied as it was for the pads that sit within the paws. This means that when light illuminates the leg there will be no confusion between the line of the leading and the painted line of the edge of the leg. 

See also:

Session one

Session two

Session three

Session four

Session five

Session six

Session seven

Session nine

Bill Viola and Michelangelo: The technologies of spiritual art