Glass Grinding

Lead came and Copper foil glasswork are the arts and crafts of cutting colored glass and joining the pieces into picturesque designs. more...

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The traditional method uses lead came. This is the method used for centuries in Europe, mainly in Religious buildings such as cathedrals, churches and monasteries, and also in aristocratic houses.

An alternative method, replacing the lead came with copper foil, was invented in the 19th century, enabling creation of three-dimensional works, in addition to two-dimensional ones to which the lead came method is limited. The copper foil artwork is commonly called Tiffany stained glass, even though there is a debate about whether John La Farge or Louis Comfort Tiffany invented this alternative to lead came glasswork.

Overview

In both lead came and copper foil glasswork, cut pieces of stained glass are joined together in a framework of lead.

In the lead came method the pieces of glass are embedded into the channels of the came, and the joints between the came strips soldered together.

In the copper foil method, the edges of the glass pieces are wrapped with copper, and soldered together along the adjacent copper strips.

The process

Design

The first step for both techniques is to create a design on paper. This draft must consider constraints such as reduction of buckling risk, overall structural integrity, limiting the convergence of lead lines, and cuttability of each piece of glass within.

The next step is to make a template copy of the design for cutting the glass. The width of the lead came or the copper foil that separates the pieces of glass may be compensated for with double blade pattern shears that remove a thin strip of material on the template copy.

For large designs, a scale model may be made, which is digitally photographed and further modified with AutoCAD. After measurements and other notations are applied, the full pattern is printed on a large-format printer.

Transferring the design to glass

Three methods may be employed.

The cut paper may be glued to the glass before cutting it; The cut paper to may be pressed against the glass and its outline traced on the glass with a marker.; The pattern may be affixed to a light box or light source. Sheet glass is placed over the pattern, and traced with a marker.;

Cutting the glass

The glass is scored using a steel or carbide wheel glass cutter lubricated with cutting oil. Glass is broken at the score using breaker-grozier pliers, running pliers or built in groziers on a traditional glass cutter.

Read more at Wikipedia.org