To make the pieces you can see (and buy!) on our website, we use what has come to be known as the Tiffany' method, after the man generally credited with the development of the technique - Louis Comfort Tiffany.

The two key benefits of the method are that the lines between adjacent pieces of glass can be much narrower (giving a more delicate appearance than traditional leading) and three-dimensional objects can be made - like those lampshades, boxes, 3d light sculptures and so on.

When creating a new design, a cartoon is made, often using a lightbox. This acts as the cutting guide and later the basis for laying out the pieces of glass ready for soldering.

Decisions about which types and colours of glass to use can be made now, but often the stained glass artist will have already made some initial choices. When designing a commission, we create a selection of colour-designs so you can picture roughly how the finished piece will look.

The cartoon is then used to mark up the glass, which is then scored with a glass cutter. The glass is then broken using a cut runner, or by hand or with a pair of grozing pliers.

The piece of glass is then offered up to the cartoon to check its fit.

Usually some finessing is required to get the glass pieces to fit together, although Jenny's cutting is now so accurate her pieces usually fit with little re-shaping! (She claims...) An electric grinder is used to remove sharp burrs and nicks from the edge of glass before...

Foiling. This is Tiffany's main contribution to stained glass. The self-adhesive copper foil is wrapped around the edge of each piece of glass and crimped on for a strong eventual join.

The foil allows adjacent pieces to be soldered together without the need for lead channels (called cames). We are increasingly experimenting with lead-free solder but as most stained glass artists will tell you, it ain't the same as proper old-fashioned solder...

After a thorough clean to get rid of the flux left behind after soldering, we polish your piece so the solder is bright and shiny. Where the piece is a large commission, we'll install it for you, with a smile and a good tidy up after.

Click here to return to our Glass and Techniques page.

If you want to know more, or you're interested in discussing a commission for you, email or call us and we'll talk you though how it works. You can also get more information on our commissions pages.

If you fancy trying your hand, why not join us at one of our one-day introduction to srtained glass classes? Everything needed to make a nice piece to take home at the end of the day is included!
Click here for info and prices...