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At Eola Glassworks we
fabricate glass panels using a variety of techniques and processes. The
project it’s self usually dictates the techniques and/or processes we use.
Building a panel using a metal came such as lead; brass, copper or zinc is the oldest technique for building stained glass panel. This method has been used for hundreds of years and is the process used to build the panels found in the cathedrals of Europe. If the designed panel has many straight lines or gentle curves or is very large, then the lead came technique is usually the method we employ to build your panel. To do this, the glass is cut according to a specially drawn pattern. Once each piece of glass is cut we then start to “build” the window. This is done by placing a metal edge material, called “U” channel or edge came into a right angle jig that has been nailed on top of our pattern and onto a hard surface. The “u” channel has a slot that the glass will fits into. The edge pieces of glass are fit into the “u” channel, using the pattern underneath as a guide. Once a piece of glass is fit into the “U” channel then another piece of lead called “H” came is cut and fit to the glass. This fitting glass and fitting lead came is continued until the entire window has been assembled. We then use tin/lead solder to solder each intersection or joint. This is done on both sides of the panel. At this point the panel is still vulnerable. To strengthen and weatherproof the panel we apply special stained glass putty. This putty is worked into any void between the glass and the lead came channel. This is done on both sides of the panel. The putty acts as both a weatherproofing agent and as a shock absorber between the unequal expansion and contraction of the glass and metal came. All professional came windows should be puttied to prolong the life of the window. The copper foil technique or method is not as old as the lead came method. Louis Comfort Tiffany is credited with developing the copper foil technique of assembly in order to make his elaborately detailed curved lampshades. We choose to use the copper foil technique to construct your panel whenever the panel has lots of detail and/or small pieces. In the copper foil technique, we again cut out each piece of glass according to a specific pattern. We draw the patterns differently for copper foil assembly than we do for lead came. When all the glass pieces are cut, we then fine-tune them to match our pattern. We do this with a special glass grinder. Once our glass pieces are ground we then wrap each piece of glass with a copper foil tape. The foil wrapped pieces are laid on top of our pattern and held in place with pins and a tin/lead alloy solder is used to solder the pieces together. The solder only sticks to the copper foil tape and not to the glass. When done correctly the solder bead should look very much as if the panel was assembled using lead came. To further add to the look of lead came a special chemical called patina is applied to the solder to give it a dark aged look. The panel is then washed and polished to complete the process.
To add to the uniqueness of the panels we build we often create our own glass. We do this by applying “accessory” glasses, crushed glass and glass powders, to a base piece of glass. We then place that into a digitally controlled kiln that heats and cools the glass to create a permanently bonded piece of glass. At times we might sandblast detail into glass. Sometimes that glass is used as it is sandblasted and other times we have filled the void created by the sandblasting with powdered glass and fired in our kiln to add color and texture.
Because we like for the panels we create to have unique and unexpected elements we have added rocks, bottles and other items to our panels. Each found object is securly mounted in a manner that will insure safety and panel integrity for the life of the panel. Eola Glassworks Salem Or (503) 581-2232 |
