The Periphery of the Mind

Worked some more on the glass work. Got a lot farther actually. To the point that I'm staining wood for the next couple of days and putting the frame on Wednesday I hope. That said, it went a lot quicker once I realized that I had a third less glass to solder on due to imperfections in the project. I'll cut myself slack though since I didn't really know what I was doing.

The main things I learned from this project....

Patterns: I don't think I did much wrong here at all. Mainly in scanning the pattern in and trying to clean it up. I think removing the grid lines was a mistake, and I'll just use a good scanned image as is next time.

Cutting: Getting your cuts right is crucial, and you're only going to do that with the right tools. If I decide to work with cutting glass again, I intend to purchase something like this to make sure my lines stay straight. I also realize how important it is to get a good (but not too good) adhesive for gluing your pattern pieces on; the stuff I got was easy to clean up but poor for sticking.

Grinding: I'm sure it has a place, but it seems to be a fairly minimal one for this project. A few quick passes usually did as much damage as good from what I could tell.

Wrapping: Not too bad really, just wrap in foil and try to make sure the wrapped areas overlap on the glass so you can't see any foil backing from the other side.

Soldering: I'll get some more experience here, but I did find it amusing that the solder contains chemicals that are "known by the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects". I really admire how the legal system of our nation can recognize carcinogens in one state, and completely ignore them in another. I figure we should have lawyers elsewhere be forced to eat the stuff; since they don't recognize any harm, it should be safe right?

Framing: I can cut wood well, if I do say so. No problems here.

Staining: I know from past experience I can stain well, as long as I don't rely on spray cans. This is the next step.

Assembling: I think I can do this part. Just need to figure out how to staple and hook it without damaging the glass.

Labels: Craft