Stained Glass Project

YEAH!!! I finally made the time to finish a project I've had on hold for about 2 years. So, this requires a brief background, because I am definitely not the type of person to NOT finish a project, so I feel I must explain:

About 7 years ago, my mom and I took lessons on how to make stained glass art pieces. (It was her Christmas gift from me...a way for us to bond and make something pretty together)....Amazingly, I founds something I was relatively good at!! (I had been longing to find some way to express my creativity...I had dabbled with painting, pottery classes (which was a disaster)...so when I learned stained glass...and they pieces actually came out looking nice (nice enough where I received compliments, and even sold some of the pieces)....I found a passion to express my creativity this way for several years. I even met my husband in the stained glass store where I was taking the lessons (so, stained glass holds a special place in both of our hearts).

Fast forward a few years...and my husband proposes and we learn we will be moving to DC. So for the past 2 years it was wedding planning and festivities, moving to DC...oh and let's not forget yoga teacher training.....somehow my passion fell by the wayside...and so did this project I had started 2 years ago.

BUT....I finished it today! :) SOOOO HAPPY!

Here are a few pictures of the process of making stained glass...and the final product. (I get to cross this off of one of my to-do's on my life list page! Yeah! Now that I've got the creative process flowing again...I'd love to make time to make some more pieces...but knowing Advanced Teacher Training starts next week (Yes...I am planning to take the 500 hour teacher training over the next year)...I'm not sure I want to commit myself to another project....but maybe something small. Keep an eye out in future posts.

1st step: Have an idea of what you want to make and draw it out as a template (see left of picture)
2nd step: Pick out the glass you'd like to use, the colors
3rd step: Cut the glass to fit the template drawing (see right of picture)
4th step: Grind the glasses edges so they are nice and smooth

5th step: Foiled the glass - you can see how each piece has a gold foil wrapped around it...this is actually what the solder sticks to connect the two pieces of glass together
6th step: As shown above, place all the pieces next to each other exactly as you'd like them to be

7th step: not shown, begin soldering the pieces together. This is what the piece will look like when all of the pieces are soldered together

After soldering...I like to hold up to the light to make sure it looks ok...sometimes I catch issues by taking a closer look at it in the light. (but...mostly, I just like to admire it once I get to this point..because it's the first time its all together and almost done)

These were the 3 pieces I finished in the last week...the 3 pieces that took me to 2 years to finish!!
BEAUTIFUL!

Final Product - The pieces are going into a Picture Room Divider....I decided to rescue this room divider from my mom's 2nd hand store a few years ago knowing I could do something with it. I decided to place pictures from some of our trips in black and white...and then add a dash of color with stained glass pieces.

Proudly displayed by our living room window...FINALLY~!