Making stained glass

Among the many different ways of decorating the premises stained glass stand out with a special brightness and non-standard view. Playing sunlight or special illumination will give a special charm to the room where stained glass products are installed. By the way, if the classic stained glass is an ornament of colored glasses, through which natural light is passed, the modern concept of stained glass is much wider. Artistic stained glass can be placed in any room, even in one where natural light is completely absent.

Traditionally, stained-glass compositions were created from fragments of colored glass, fastened with lead pads (lead is quite soft). When creating stained glass from colorless glass, painting on it was carried out by paints on a silicate basis.

Faceted stained-glass window – is created according to the classical stained-glass window technique, with the only difference being that the edges of some (or all) stained-glass elements are faceted (the facet is removed). Thanks to this operation, a large play of sunlight in the created faces is achieved, which increases the beauty of the stained glass composition.

Fusing stained-glass window – created by fusing multi-colored glass in high-temperature furnaces. In this case, the colored elements of the stained-glass window are carefully cut out and polished, after which they are placed on a sheet of glass (substrate), forming a finished composition. Next – processing in a furnace, after which the substrate and color elements are soldered together. In this case, the colored elements of the stained-glass window are carefully cut out and polished, after which they are placed on a sheet of glass (substrate), forming a finished composition.

Fusing stained-glass window – created by fusing multi-colored glass in high-temperature furnaces. In this case, the colored elements of the stained-glass window are carefully cut out and polished, after which they are placed on a sheet of glass (substrate), forming a finished composition. Next – processing in a furnace, after which the substrate and color elements are soldered together. In this case, the colored elements of the stained-glass window are carefully cut out and polished, after which they are placed on a sheet of glass (substrate), forming a finished composition.

There is another technology for creating fusing stained-glass windows – sticking the elements of a stained-glass window pattern onto a tempered glass substrate using transparent adhesives, after having previously subjected colored glass to high-temperature processing. The fact is that it is impossible to use a tempered glass substrate, which is necessary when creating completely glass doors and glazing window openings of a large area, to create a fusing stained-glass window – it will become brittle during thermal processing. Gluing the elements will allow you to get a strong, highly artistic stained glass composition, and it can even be installed on the ceiling – if, for some reason, such a stained glass window breaks, then nobody will be cut, because there will be no fragments.

There is another technology for creating fusing stained-glass windows – sticking the elements of a stained-glass window pattern onto a tempered glass substrate using transparent adhesives, after having previously subjected colored glass to high-temperature processing. The fact is that it is impossible to use a tempered glass substrate, which is necessary when creating completely glass doors and glazing window openings of a large area, to create a fusing stained-glass window – it will become brittle during thermal processing. Gluing the elements will allow you to get a strong, highly artistic stained glass composition, and it can even be installed on the ceiling – if, for some reason, such a stained glass window breaks, then nobody will be cut, because there will be no fragments.

Painted stained-glass window – a drawing is applied to the glass with silicate paints, then the glass is subjected to heat treatment in an oven. Hand-drawn composition is done with a brush or airbrush.

Mirror stained glass – a stained glass composition is performed according to one of the above technologies, then titanium nitride is applied on its back side with a thin layer. In this case, the degree of reflection can be increased, decreased, or a one-way transparent mirror can be obtained.

Engraved stained-glass window – a picture is created only by hand, using engraving equipment or a hand tool. Stained glass – the basis for such stained-glass windows – is created by mixing glasses of different colors, which are heated to a liquid state, then several liquid glasses of different colors are poured onto the table and rolled out. The glass obtained in this way has a unique color and pattern – it is impossible to get two sheets of such stained glass with an identical pattern and color.

Matte stained glassis a technique that is especially popular today. To obtain a frosted stained-glass window, sandblasting technology is used: a jet of sand supplied under high pressure scratches the surface of transparent glass, knocking out microparticles and turning one side of the glass into frosted. To create a drawing using this technology, you need a stencil – it is fixed on the glass and placed in a sandblasting chamber. After processing, the places covered by the stencil remain transparent, everything else becomes dull.

Stained-glass imitation– looks like a classic, although it is created in a simpler way. Pattern elements for batch stained glass are cut out on a machine controlled by a computer program. Lead pads that hold together fragments of a classic stained-glass window are replaced here with modern materials that look similar to lead ones. After the finished stained glass composition is formed, it is glued with a special transparent glue to a sheet of glass – the finished stained glass window made using this technology is lighter and stronger than the classic one. Often such a stained-glass window is clamped between two sheets of transparent glass.