There are a few other ways you can design your pieces, such as grinding a hole in the glass and attaching decorations that help make you pieces more interesting.
Grinding a hole in glass
Let's get started with grinding a hole in a piece of glass, whether it be for design or function. I typically grind a hole when I want the piece to be more natural and I don't want to solder it. I use the hole to loop a jump ring through and attach it to a chain. It sure is nice to skip a step! However, it is a lot trickier to grind a hole.
Let me walk you through the steps.
First you need a small tub of water and a piece of wood along with your rotary tool fitted with a diamond bit that is cylinder looking. Also safely first with your protective eyewear and a heavy duty glove.
Next you take your glass and place it on top of your little piece of wood and submerge it in the water. You want the water to be high enough to completely cover the glass when you press down on the wood (in case it floats), but not too high that the rotary tool itself will be submerged. REMEMBER YOU ARE WORKING WITH AN ELECTRIC TOOL NEAR WATER! And you NEED the water to be covering the glass because or else the grinding action will cause the glass to get very hot, potentially spark, and break. I learned the hard way.
Holding the tool at a slight angle you want to nic the spot of glass where you plan to create the hole by running it at a low speed for just a second or two. This will help give the diamond bit something to hold onto as you begin. It is super easy to have the tool run away on you and you end up scratching up the front of the glass that you don't want messed up.
Now starting at a low speed, begin grinding on that spot with the tool straight up in the air. You want to keep the tool at a 90 degree angle to the glass as much as possible to get a straight hole. Pick up speed as you feel comfortable. Once you are in a good ways. Feel free to move the rotary tool in a small circle motion to et it to grind a little faster.
When you have broken through the other side you will know. You will feel it give way. Feel free to take a moment to check though to see if you are close. It takes longer than you would think.
Adding decorations to your stained glass designs
Unless you have an exceptionally beautiful piece of glass you are probably going to want to want to add a decoration. I like to make wire designs to add or use charms. I bought this lot of charms from Amazon once. I didn't know what I was getting, but that was part of the fun. I got 100 charms that I have enjoyed finding uses for like the little baby feet for new mom pendants.
It's really not hard to add these decorations to your pieces. After you have soldered all your edges (please see my previous post on soldering if you need), hold your wire or charm to the glass where you want it to go. It needs to be touching at the very least one spot on the outer edge so you can solder it to the solder that is already there.
Add a generous amount of flux to your charm or wire. Then with your soldering iron, pick up a nice glob of solder on the tip and carefully connect the charm or wire to the solder already there. The wire will be completely covered whereas the charm will need a decent amount of solder to connect it. It will take some work tp get it nice and smooth.
Connect all the possible spots with the solder. The more connecting points between the existing solder around the glass and the decoration the better because it makes it sturdier.
Connecting multiple pieces of glass
I love making pieces that have multiple pieces and actually is my preferred design, but it can be harder to do because you need to make sure the pieces fit together. More importantly you need to make sure that the pieces line up properly when you solder them together. It can be so easy to bump a piece why the solder is hot and have it harden in the wrong spot. Man, I have done this so many times and it can be SO frustrating to fix.
Start by lining up all your pieces in front of you the way you want them to be when you are done. Flux the top of all the copper foil careful not to move anything.
Work by taking small balls of solder onto your soldering iron and use them to connect the pieces together. If the ball adheres to both edges, it will hold it together. Do this to all pieces until you can move the whole thing around without any loose pieces.
Next take more solder and evenly spread out solder all over the front. Now your piece is sturdy and you can continue to cover the back and sides with solder.
Well that's a wrap! Thank you for joining me for the last 6 days. I hope I have helped you on your journey to beautiful jewelry making whether it be to sell or as a hobby to give to loved ones. Please like and subscribe to my website. Have a blessed day!
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