Make a stained-glass window

A lead channel or stained-glass window is used to hold the pieces of glass together as opposed to strips of copper foil "tape" in the Tiffany or Copper Foil Method. The lead-came or lead profile used is a soft, flexible material that bends easily to the shape of the glass. When seen in cross-section, flat came resembles the letter H laid on its side: It has a vertical crossbar down its middle, with 2 channels on either side. This crossbar, or heart, is approximately 1/16" thick and serves to separate the pieces of glass that are fitted into the channels on either side. The lead-came is cut where it meets another came at intersections in the design. These intersections, called joints, are then soldered, front and back of the stained-glass window. When viewed a leaded piece appears as shapes of colored mouth blown glass silhouetted and outlined by the dark came. The process of creating a stained glass window is sometimes referred to as glazing.

Lead-Came or lead profiles in stained-glass

Lead-came is a unique metal: It is very soft in its pure form, has little mechanical strength, almost no elasticity, and melts at relatively low temperatures. These properties were probably the reasons early stained glass craftsman selected this lead profiles for stained-glass. They could form it into usable strips for stained-glass, it was easily cut, and easy to shape and work with their hands.

Why is it called lead-came? The Romans were key in introducing the use of lead throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. They produced lead "came" by laying reeds side by side in a shallow pit. Molten lead was then poured into the pit covering the reeds. Once the lead cooled, it was sliced into strips and the burnt reeds removed leaving a concave channels for the glass. It was called Calamus Plumbum, or Reed Lead. As  Roman influence gave way to the Gaels in northern Britain, Calamus shortened to Caim. Later Caim was Anglicized to Came. This was how the channeled lead used in stained-glass fabrication became Came-Lead or lead-came.

Lead-came for stained-glass is hazardous!

Lead-came is a potentially hazardous material and certain precautions should be followed to ensure safe handling. Lead and lead oxides are not normal in stained-glass, absorbed into the body through unbroken skin. They can enter by ingestion or through an open cut. So safety first:

• Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after working with lead or a stained-glass.
• Never eat, drink, or smoke while working on your lead came projects. Keep all food and drink out of your work area.
• Always protect open cuts or sores with a bandage.
• Never allow children access to your tools, lead supplies or your glazing work area.
• Pregnant and nursing women must avoid contact with lead-came ( stained-glass ) products.

Stained-glass tools

There are a few tools you will need unique to stained-glass construction. These are in addition to your basic glass cutting tools for stained-glass.

• A work surface that you can nail into and attached two raised edges (glazing blocks) to.
• Glazing hammer: special hammer with both soft and hard heads.
• Lead knife and / or lead nippers: for cutting the lead cames to length for the stained-glass window.
• Horseshoe or glazing blocks: for holding glass and came in place during construction and soldering.
• Lead pattern shears: These remove the correct amount of space from pattern pieces to account for the thickness the heart takes up.
• Fid: tool used to help fit, position, and seat the glass and lead during construction of the stained-glass window.

Cutting your pieces for stained-glass:

Use your lead pattern shears to cut apart pattern piece copy. Use these to layout, score and break out all the glass pieces for your stained glass window. Check your piece size and shape by laying the cut pieces onto the assembly pattern. You should be able to see the drawing lines around stained-glass window. Grind or re-cut pieces as needed. stained-glass. Tip sheet for glass-cutting from HotPot.

Stretching the Lead-came to make stained-glass

Lead-came needs to be stretched just prior to use for a stained-glass window. This is done to remove the initial creep that lead will undergo in time and to also stiffens it.. There are several different ways to stretch lead for stained-glass: Two people can hold opposite ends in pliers and pull; you can secure on end in a vice and use pliers to pull the opposite or there are lead pullers. What you are looking for is to pull the lead straight back making sure no to twist or kink it. Initially you will feel some resistance, then the lead-came will give way and then you will feel resistance again.

Assembly the stained-glass window

Start by cutting two pieces of lead for the bottom and left side edges of the stained-glass window. Generally U lead is used around the perimeter if the piece is going into a framework of some type. If you plan to free hang the stained glass you may want to consider using zinc or another metal U lead-came for added strength. Place these on top of the working drawing, against the stops. Now place that piece of glass that goes into the corner, inserting it into the channels of both sides. You should see the drawing line exposed around the glass piece. If you don't remove the piece and either groze or grind it until it does.

Now take a piece of H came and measure and cut it to fit onto the exposed stained-glass edge and butt neatly against the leading already in place. The place where in the stained-glass two or more pieces of leading meet is the lead joint. Secure in place with a push pin or cushioned horseshoe nail. You will soon be able to gauge how much shorter to cut your lead piece to accommodate the channel overlap of the adjoining lead pieces. There may be places due to the design where the leads don't' meet at a nice right-angles and the leads need to be cut on an angle or miter to fit properly.

You continue building over and up in this manner, inserting the class pieces and fitting and cutting the lead-came that surrounds them. This is where a fid and glazing hammer may be useful when helping fit and coax pieces into place. As you move along in the construction, make sure that your pieces are fitting within the lines of the design and you're sufficiently securing the pieces as you work to prevent shifting.

When all the glass pieces and interior leading are completed, use more of the perimeter came to finish the remaining edges and secure the entire stained-glass panel in place.

Soldering stained-glass

Lead projects are soldered at the places where lead-came s meet, the joints. This is different from copper foil where all the seams are soldered together. The soldering tools needed for stained-glass are the same: a chisel tip soldering iron for stained-glass, a stained glass solder, flux, and a well ventilated area to solder in. You may find a iron and rheostat combination easier to work.  It allows you to control the tip temperature so that you melt the solder and not the lead came. It is a good idea to tip test your iron before soldering. Hold the iron tip against a scrap of lead. You should be hold the iron there for a few seconds without melting the lead came itself. This is where an iron and rheostat combination is handy in helping you dial in the exact right temperature.

Apply flux to all the lead joints and solder. The goal is to apply flux only to the you want the solder to stick to. A rule of thumb is that the solder extends out from the center of the joint an amount equal to the width of the lead-came face. Place the end of the solder on the joint and touch it with the flat side of the iron tip and allow the solder to melt down onto the joint. At that point move the tip in a small circular motion for just a second then pull (not lift!) the tip away. The solder should flow into a gently rounded bead, extending evenly onto all the cames from the joint center. If the solder is not smooth in the stained-glass, place your iron back on the soldered joint and move in a circular motion until it is molten then pull away. You may need to apply a bit of additional flux.

You will solder all the joints on the front of the panel then turn it over and repeat the process on the back. Inspect both sides to make sure you haven't missed any and you have nice, smoothly soldered joints. Clean and then you are ready for cementing, the final step for the stained-glass window.

Occasionally you may find a your leads don't exactly meet edge to edge and there is a gap. These gaps won't take solder and can prevent proper joining or result in a pinched solder joint. Beginners in stained-glass especially find this when the flip the panel over to solder the back. There is a way to bridge that gap called chinking. Chinking involves taking a small piece of came and cutting it half long-ways, down the center of the hear of the stained-glass objectt. You then cut small pieces from one of the halves that will fit into that gap snugly.

Cementing a stained-glass window

Stained-glass cement and how to use it is explained in the Pfann-GBB catalogue. There is a Waterbased stained-glass cement and an oil based stained glass cement, using the waterbased cement we advice to clean with the special stained-glass towels, for the oil based cement we advice to clean with wood dust.

(Tekst: Inland Craft Products)