Stained Glass Panel

My first attempt as proper leaded stained glass – I have done numerous amounts of copper foiled stained glass, and I have edged some of those pieces in lead to make them sturdier, but I have never made a fully leaded piece – until now.

First I drew a ‘cartoon’ (a design on paper) and cut 25 squares of glass exactly the right size as the cartoon.

It’s really important to get the squares exactly right so that the lead runs straight along the lines.

The next step was to cut the lead to match.  The vertical strips ran in one piece, while the horizontal strips were cut to be slightly smaller than the glass squares.

Once all the pieces of lead were cut, I then ‘blocked’ it by hammering some nails in behind piece of wood to keep everything in place.

The next step was to cement it.  I made a putty out of lead cement and whiting and pushed it inbetween the glass and the lead with my thumb.

I then coated the whole lot in a layer of whiting and brushed it all off.

The final job was to give it a polish with black polish, and it was done!