How Prepare a Stained Glass Pattern
The all important pattern preparation paves the way for the evolution of your glass project.
Your finished piece can only be as good as the pattern you start with in terms of the actual design elements.
You will need to print out 2 sets of your pattern. Often the patterns are ‘tiled’ so you will need to scotch tape each copy together.
One copy you will put onto your working board and the second copy will be the one that you cut your pattern pieces from.
Pattern Shears make for an easier cutting out of the pattern.
Pattern Shears have a triple blade design which removes the right amount of space between you pattern pieces so the project won’t ‘grow’ as it is constructed.
I will list a couple of types of shears you can purchase.
The Inland Came (Lead) & Mosaic Pattern Shear:
These shears are made of ground stainless steel to hold an edge longer, this lightweight shear is comfortable and made with well designed handles and you use these for Lead & Mosaic patterns.
The Inland Foil Pattern Shear:
This shear is made of ground stainless steel to hold the edge longer, is lightweight and comfortable with special designed handles, and is used with Copper foil patterns.
There is also the Mika “Two in One” Shear:
This tool is an innovative patented design with two interchangeable blades for lead and foil. A unique precision-fit fulcrum screw for quick blade exchange allows precision cutting, even on thick paper.
Check with your local stained glass art store for these supplies, or if you cannot find them at a local glass art supply distributor, you can always look on the internet and find sources to purchase them from.
(look up some shear pricing and links to inland and mika)
