Starry Night glass all cut

I finished cutting, grinding, and fitting the 200th or so piece of glass today!  At this stage of the 21" x 27" window, some minor adjustments are always necessary.  A few pieces were removed and trimmed to fit better.  They need to be snug against each other but not so tight that the pieces crack when soldered.

I replaced two light blue pieces in the lower middle with a streaky gray opal glass.  Before I begin the soldering, I may make a few more changes.  But overall, I'm happy with the interplay of the colors ... They will come to life when the window is completed and in the sunlight.

So far, I've spend just over 4 hours preparing the pattern and almost 33 hours cutting all the glass.  Next, I'll wrap the edge of each piece of glass with thin, adhesive 7/32" copper foil tape. Stay tuned ...

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Starry Night more progress

Here it is as of this afternoon ..

Piece by piece, I'm making my way to the top of the window!  I've added a variety of glass to this one, including rough rolled, wispy, Artique, waterglass, cathedral, some opals, and even a medium blue Flemington, which has little star-like designs embossed into it.  By including similarly colored glass in different textures, the window picks up dimension as well as visual interest. 

This window has lovely movement with lots of curves which are difficult to cut, but for the most part, the glass is cooperating!

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Starry Night progress

The glass jigsaw puzzle is coming along.  A few pieces broke the wrong way, and had to be re-cut, but that's to be expected.  More glass arrived on Friday from Florida, but a sheet was missing and another was duplicated ... So we made the trek to the Rockland County, NY glass supplier to fill in the missing piece and add another.  Now that the glass inventory is complete, the window will move forward more quickly.  I plan to tackle the greens next.

Click here for Boehm Stained Glass Studio website.

Starry Night glass cutting

Glass cutting is coming along well.  So far, each piece has been cut by hand.  I'll resort to my Gryphon Wire Saw if any complex cuts make it necessary, but I find it far more challenging, and rewarding, to cut all the glass for the window by hand.

I've ordered additional glass from a new-to-me supplier in Florida.  (My go-to supplier in Allentown, PA was out of two textures/colors I wanted).  Delivery is expected this Friday, and after that, its full steam ahead.

The two sheets of blue shown above are there just for "preview" purposes, to help determine which colors will look best next to what is already cut.

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Starry Night underway

Glass cutting has begun!  One by one, each pattern piece is outlined onto the glass with permanent marker (black or silver).  Then each piece of glass is carefully hand cut and the edges are ground down with an electric grinder.  After each piece is washed off, it is numbered to correspond to the pattern.  The pattern soon resembles a large glass jigsaw puzzle, as shown above.

In order to keep the window square and the glass pieces flush against the others, the pattern is surrounded by a metal jig, as shown.  There are around 180 pieces of glass still to be cut and of course, several more steps in the process. I'll be working on this window until it's complete, or I'll interrupt the process temporarily if a commissioned window is requested by a client.

The glass colors as shown on the pattern are seldom what they look like when the window is done.  The glass which appears black here will actually become a warm, variegated brown when the light shines through it ... and the blues and greens will correspond nicely to similar colors which will be used throughout the window.

Click here for Boehm Stained Glass Studio website.

Starry Night pattern ready for glass cutting

Numbered manila folder pattern on left,
and color-marked envelopes on right, filled with cut pieces

  
I cut out the manila folder pattern and organized the 200+ pieces into 20-or-so envelopes marked with multiple shades of blue, green, and yellow to correspond (loosely) to the many colors in my glass inventory.  A fun aspect of working with glass is being able to make decisions on the fly.  Undoubtedly, there will be some color changes to the pieces that are currently assigned.  As the window progresses, it becomes evident as to the best location for each of the colors and textures of glass.

Next up, cutting the glass and placing each piece back onto the original pattern.  Many hours of work ahead, but always enjoyable!

Click here for Boehm Stained Glass Studio website.