Tips for Working with Textured Stained Glass

The grain direction of textured stained glass is crucial if you want to make eye-catching work. But how do you work it out?

I have a simple trick to help you:

One last thing before I move on from detecting grain direction. Sometimes glass has a textural grain going one way and a colour grain going another. Take a look at the image below. The texture goes up and down and the colour side to side.

Question: Which is the one that jumps out at you first?

Answer: The colour.

It’s good to remember that colour is always visually stronger than texture. So, for example, if your design flows from left to right, make sure that the colour patterning flows in that direction too. Leave the texture to go where it wants!

Texture will add depth to your stained glass but it won’t make your eye move around like colour will.

Understanding how to choose the right glass for your projects is by far the most important skill to have in stained glass. It lifts your work FAR more than smooth soldering ever will!

And yet it’s hardly ever taught.

My Stained Glass Plating Magic course gives equal time to ‘arty’ decisions around choosing glass as it does to practical details.

If you’d like to learn how to make these crucial glass choices for yourself you can read more about my online Plating Magic course here.

One of my online students was told that texture should always be on the back of the stained glass panel. Do you agree?

Personally I don’t think there’s a definitive ‘back’ or ‘front’ answer. It’s an artistic decision that depends entirely on where your work is going to end up living.

Imagine where your stained glass will eventually hang. Think about where the light source will come from. Is it bouncing off the front of the glass (reflected) or it it coming from behind and through the glass (transmitted)?

Reflected

If it’s from the front and you want the light to bounce off and ‘dance’ on the texture, then use that side as the front side, facing you.

Transmitted

If it’s from the back you might want to hold your glass up to the light and see how it behaves. Sometimes with deeply coloured transparent glass, the light ‘holds’ better if you’re looking through to the texture at the back and the colour looks deeper. If this is the case, have the texture on the back side.

The two glasses below are photographed in reflected light on the left and transmitted on the right:

Are you amazed at how different the same glass can look in changing light? I go into this in far more depth in my online Plating Magic course, including a Glass Index to enhance your glass choices.

A PROMISE: If you make it a habit to look at the glass in the type of light it’ll end up being displayed in, you’ll see instant improvements in your stained glass.

Other Considerations

If your textured stained glass is for an external window it’s best to have the texture inside on the front to avoid possible dirt collection. It will also catch the light on the front at night when it’s dark outside.

A REMINDER: Whichever side you want your texture on, you’ll want to cut on the smoothest side. So if you want the texture on the front, you have to turn the pattern over before cutting the glass, texture down, smooth side up.

So that’s my answer! There are many variables and most of them depend on what you, the artist, wants. It’s not set in stone and don’t let anyone tell you it is 🙂

There is a special grinder bit you can buy for textured glass that grinds 1/8″ of texture away. It’s called a ripple bit (sometimes called a bevel bit). It has two grooves to fit different thicknesses of glass.

Alternatively, you can simply hold the glass at a 45 degree angle to a regular grinder bit (see below) This will grind enough of the texture away to enable you to foil more easily.

No matter how heavy the texture you should cut it exactly as you do any other glass*. Hold your nerve!

The tendency is to overscore and increase the pressure. Neither will help you.

• Make sure your cutter is oiled and in good working order.
• Wear gloves and safety glasses – heavily textured glass chips has more thin shards.
• Make a practise score on a piece of glass that you know will run properly first.
• Put something soft under the glass to absorb the irregularities of the texture.
• Use some of the scrap textured glass and practise until you get used to making a good score on that particular glass.

* Drapery and similar glass is an exception. These are better cut with a saw.

Stained Glass Sheets – More about glass – this time the types of glass available and what method they’re best suited for.

Glass Saw – If you’re defeated by cutting textured stained glass you can look into saws. Don’t shell out for one without reading about the 5 things they’re really good for – and when NOT to get one!

Do have a look at my Plating Magic course if all this talk about textures, colours and different lights interests you.