OK...I was bad, I couldn't help myself.  On Sunday I went to "Works of the Heart" Stained Glass in Kingston NH and purchased all my tools and glass too.  I spent far too much for my budget but I'm worth it and I did it.  I have everything I need now, the grinder (Inland), face shield, pliers (grozier and breaking), pistol grip cutter, silver backed copper foil, solder, soldering iron and stand.  I also purchased some zinc for framing my projects, chain for hanging and about $40 worth of glass.  I went to Home Depot and purchased a ceiling tile for layout and a bench brush and dust pan. 

I am truly all setup for now.  After spending some time organizing all my new things, I cut out a blue, white and clear pinwheel project last night.  I am trying to learn to cut a completely straight line by lining up my cutter with a ruler and sticking tight to the ruler without "wandering" off.  I am getting better at it and only had to re-cut 5 or 6 of the 24 pieces.  I'll post a picture of it later.

Oh by the way, I just want to say that my ghetto homemade light box is working fine but is not even close to being large enough.  I will post more info on this also on a later post.

Second Class

OK...second class went quite well last night.  Did the rest of my cutting and grinding to fit the pieces together and even started the foiling.  Brought home the piece to complete the foiling so I am ready for solder next week.

I have to say...THANK GOD FOR GRINDERS!  My pieces would never have fit if I hadn't used the grinder and used it often.  I will absolutely need to purchase one, it is manditory.  I took some pictures and uploaded them so everyone can see my first project.

Started first class!

I started my first class last night.  There was two other women in the class with me.  We started off the class by practicing cutting on scrap glass.  I am not sure which cutter I like the best yet, the pistol cutter or the one that looks like a pencil.  I think the rentals in the class were a bit dull because both of them sometimes "jumped" during scoring.  I think as far as "feel" in hand, the pistol grip one may be my favorite.

I picked out a lake landscape scene with I believe 12 pattern pieces.  Picked all the glass out...that was a process!  Very hard to make those color/texture decisions. I started cutting out my pieces and got 8 pieces cut out.  I wasn't very careful about trying to stay inside the line while cutting so now I have some grinding to do to get all the pieces to fit together like a puzzle.

I just love doing this and 9pm came way too quickly for me.  I could have stayed and worked for hours longer.  Anyway, next week I will finish my cutting and grinding for sure. 

I am certain I will be purchasing all the supplies to get started at home.  I just want to wait until the first class is over, my first project is done and I have had time to price shop.

Change of Class

Well, the class I was signed up for to start on Saturday only had one signup.  They called to see if I could do the Tuesday night classes starting tomorrow.  It falls at a perfect time, not on call for the next couple weeks so I start tomorrow.

Now I just have to remember to put closed toed shoes in my car before work tomorrow.

Reading everything I can on Stained Glass

I have been researching Stained Glass for the last several weeks,  I keep finding things that I would like to make.  I have read 3 Stained Glass books so far and just about every web site I can find.

I am so excited about this coming Saturday when my first class begins!

Found a great forum board

I have been searching the Internet for stained glass sites and found an excellent forum to join:

http://www.stainedglasstownsquare.com/

It is full of helpful people and information.

Waiting for class to begin

All of my life I have been fascinated by Stained Glass.  I can remember when I was very little creating drawing after drawing of black crayon swirling randomly around a page then filling in the swirls in colored crayon.  My 6 year old version of stained glass.

When I became an adult, it was always on my list of things I really wanted to do but of course I never did.  I used to be a prolific quilter and my quilts always reminded me of stained glass so I know I have always been "meant" to do this.

Anyway, here I am at age 52 finally getting the chance to take my first class!  Class starts Saturday August 21st and I can hardly wait. 

My intention with writing this blog is to share the experience of learning from the beginning.  The good, the bad...all of it.  I hope you will find this interesting.