FISH #2

The body of the fish is largely composed of chips of glass resulting from the faceting process which have concentric curved lines somewhat reminiscent of fish scales.

25″ X 10 1/2″ ( click on image to enlarge )  See close up image

 

MORNING GLORY #1

19 3/4″ X 25″ ( click on image to enlarge )   See close up image

2.1-Cartoon

I think that the most effective way to illustrate how I combine faceted and foiled glass is to go through the process of constructing a panel. I am assuming throughout this site that the audience has some and possibly extensive experience in working with foiled glass so I will focus primarily on the management of faceted glass. For anyone unfamiliar with the processes involved in the construction of a foiled panel there are extensive educational materials available on the web but I suggest that Art of Stained Glass and Plenty of Patterns would be two worthwhile sites to begin your exploration.

The first step, as in almost all stained glass projects, is to settle on a design from which a cartoon is made. The cartoon will then serve as the template for the remainder of the process. At the same time the design is being finalized it is necessary to select the glass to be included in the project, some issues to be considered are discussed in the post on Color and Choice of dalle.

I have several suggestions regarding your initial project:

1. Start with a fairly small panel ( +/- 18″ X 15″ or less ) since it will require less work, it is easier to manipulate the smaller pieces and it will take less time until you see the results of your effort.

2. I would use the faceted glass quite sparingly since I have found that it, in the finished work, often appears to be more massive and prominent than you might expect from simply looking at the cartoon. I therefore suggest that you have the faceted glass occupy not more than 10 to 12% of the surface area of the panel. Once you become more comfortable with it, you can certainly increase the percent used in your work.

3. I would start with a fairly simple design using not more that 4 or 5 pieces of faceted glass mostly for the reasons noted in suggestion #1.

 

This is the cartoon for the panel of an amaryllis flower ( 11″ X 13 5/8″ ) that I will construct which is composed of 6 pieces of faceted glass so numbered in the cartoon. The orange at the base of three of the petals relates to a color change in the glass that I will use to help create a three dimensional effect, discussed in the post on the 3 D effect.

If you plan to incorporate faceted glass into large panels it is important to consider the need for reinforcement. If reinforcement, discussed in the post on Final assembly, is deemed appropriate its placement should be considered when planning the lead lines.

I try to employ as few lead lines as possible. When feasible, I use a traditional glass cutter for most of my work, the use of which I will not explore in detail in this this section since there is extensive educational material available on the web, two useful sites are noted earlier in this post. I would like to mention that it is important to always check the freshly cut edge of the glass for small ledges which can be very sharp. They more commonly occur when working with some of the harder more difficult to cut art sheet glass. An example of such a ledge is shown in the following photograph.

These ledges are easily removed by running a Scythe stone along the edge. It is an inexpensive sharpening stone 10″ X 1 1/4″ X 1″ available in many hardware and glass supply stores.

One technique that I have found to be quite helpful in reducing the number of lead lines is to use a ring saw ( Gemini Taurus 3 ) to cut some sections of the sheet glass ( the area around petals #2 and #4 in the cartoon). If the apex of the petal is shaped as a curve in the background glass, ( as shown ) rather than the acute angle of the petal tip, the glass is less likely to crack and it is also easier to apply the copper foil. A curve rather than a acute angle will cause the lead line in this area to be a bit wider but it is barely noticeable against the faceted glass and a small price to pay to eliminate a distracting lead line. Some more skilled that I with a traditional glass cutter may may be able to accomplish this but I find a ring saw and a grinder to be indispensable. The image below shows a cut made by the ring saw in the background glass to allow for the placement of petal #4.

This process is also illustrated in the following video:

2.2-Color

The decisions concerning the choice of the colors to be used in a panel are quite complex and also very personal in nature. I am not qualified to discuss the complex issues involved in color choice with any authority but I will note some of what I have observed over the years. The questions concerning the selection of colors for any stained glass work, especially if it is displayed in a window, are somewhat different than those pertaining to, for example, a painting. A painting is seen in reflected light which tends to be fairly constant over time but a window displayed stained glass work is seen primarily in transmitted light where the angle, intensity and color temperature of the light is continuously changing. This tends to be even more significant when using faceted glass. One of the most fascinating but rather difficult aspects of working with stained glass for me is anticipating how the colors will change in relationship to each other in response to the continuous change in the nature of the transmitted light. The faceted glass due to its multiple reflecting and refracting surfaces may behave quite differently than sheet glass which often makes the faceted glass stand out against the background both in direct sunlight and also sometimes, depending on the colors of the glass, at dawn or dusk.  Since I have always had difficulty visualizing how the finished panel will respond to the changing conditions I have recently begun, when I am initially choosing the glass, to attach representative samples, of both background and faceted glass to a piece of clear plexiglass which I then hang in a window. This allows me to watch the different pieces of glass over several days giving me a better sense of how the different colors will interact in the finished work.

I have tried many of the available dalle colors and, as you will notice from the gallery, I am drawn to the red – orange – yellow end of the spectrum. I have found them to be quite brilliant in direct sunlight and they also tend to hold the light, almost glow, in the low light levels present at dawn and dusk. This effect is partly due to the shift of the sunlight towards the red end of the spectrum as a result of the diffraction of the light when the sun is near the horizon.

The choices available for the background glass are virtually endless. I generally like fairly dense colors in the green – blue – violet spectrum which are the complementary to the red, orange and yellow that I tend to favor in my faceted glass. Another option is to use one of the many kinds of clear textured glass for the background such as those used in Bird of Paradise #1 and Humming bird #2.

2.3 Background

As mentioned in the About section, I have almost always used a single sheet of glass for my backgrounds since it generally allows for fewer lead lines and provides greater continuity within the panel while reducing abrupt changes in color and texture. I should note that there are several problems inherent in the use of a single sheet of glass:                                                                                                                      1. Depending on the size of the panel it may be necessary to cut large and sometimes full sheets of glass which can be somewhat more difficult than working with smaller pieces of glass.                                                                                                                                       2. Since you are utilizing a single sheet of glass an errant crack at any point during the construction of a panel will probably ruin the work, which can be very frustrating. Occasionally a crack can be incorporated as a lead line but the glass is rarely that accommodating.                                                                                                                      It is certainly not necessary to employ only one sheet of glass in the background of a window or a panel, it is simply one of my idiosyncrasies. The array of sheet glass available on the market is almost overwhelming ( I do make some personal observation on the subject in the color post )  but the choice is up to you.

2.4-Choice of dalle

Since I am assuming prior experience in the use of foiled glass, I will not explore the kinds, characteristics or availability of sheet glass.

My father started using dalles obtained from Blenko Glass and I have continued his practice. They are available in a wide variety of colors and are usually 12″ X 8″ X 1″ slabs of glass that are rough ( or textured ) on the bottom surface and smooth on the top and also along the edges.  Blenko will send you a sample set of the glass that they have on hand for a modest price. They ask that you call them directly for information concerning  availability, price and shipping costs since the dalles are not listed on their web site. The dalle in the following image is an example of my favorite group which runs from light orange to deep red in the central portion turning to various shades of yellow along the edges.

It is very important to be aware that the color of most of the dalles will lighten as the glass becomes thinner as the result of the faceting. It is, therefore, vital to explore how the color of the glass that you expect to use changes in response the amount of faceting you intend to employ.

This photograph above gives an idea how the color of two different dalles change as they become thinner, in general darker glass tends to maintains it color better than lighter colors.

All 6 petals of this flower were made from the same dalle with the color differences resulting solely from changes in the thickness of the glass

It is also important to be aware that the pigment in some dalles is not evenly distributed  throughout the glass and may even be concentrated along one edge as illustrated in the following two cross sectional photographs. You have to be careful not to facet away the color that you are expecting in your panel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One possible way to expand the color palate of the available dalles ( most are monochromatic ), that I would like to explore, is to use glass paint, frit or fusing colored glass on clear glass dalles ( I was told by Blenko that the C.O.E of the clear dalles is 90 ). This would allow one to obtain specific colors, color gradations, transitions or the addition of painted figures without the interpositions of lead lines. The only dalle, of which I am aware, that contains a transition of color ( orange/red to yellow ) within the dalle is pictured above. To accomplish this would require learning the intricacies of kiln work including the use of paint, frit, proper temperatures, soak time, annealing, faceting the glass before or after firing etc. If the details of this can be mastered it would allow for far more complex and detailed works to be executed using faceted glass. In 2014 I obtained a kiln inorder to explore the use of fused glass  see  the FUSED FACETED section of this site.