It is better to redraw you designĪnd eliminate shapes that are beyond your skill, than to try cutting a piece several times without success. Combinations of thin and tight concave curves will only give you endless grief. Thin shapes can also be tricky, however knowing the correct techniques handles everything you'll need to cut. Things get a wee harder when cutting out concave curves. Easy shapes have straight lines, convex curves only need you to be able to follow a curved line with the cutter. The illustration below shows a general progression of skill in cutting. The concave curvature and the width of the shape. The difficulty of any shape is judged by two aspects. There are simple shapes, curved shapes, difficult shapes, and down right painful ones. If there is a colour grain in the glass, you can align the template to take best advantage of that grain. Numbering is also helpful for knowing which way is up. Notice that only the essence of the bird has been captured by defining just it's primary features.Īlso, you must number each piece so that it can be clearly identified once the templates are cut up. This drawing was then traced on a light box to white paper and finished off with a marker pen. The design illustration below was drawn originally over a photograph with tracing paper and pencil. Now, use your rubber to remove all existing pencil lines that remain. This will create clear lines with crisp edges, no more than 2mm wide. When you are totally happy with the position of every line in the project, go over the entire project with a fine tipped marker pen. If a line is straight, use a ruler, if a line is curved, make sure it is smooth and pleasing to the eye. Modify your lines as much as you wish to. Start with light scetching lines that can easily rubbed away. Your artistic eye will quickly spot errors in a design when lines are curved poorly so, take as much time as you need to get your lines in just the right place, just the right shape.ĭraw with pencil, ruler and rubber. Keep in mind that stained glass is made from only lines and block colour, there is no shading, blending of colour or minute detail. You need to look only for those edges that define the true essence of your subject. When drawing a new design, don't waste your time with small details, unnecessary or misplaced lines. One can draw literally anything by finding the shadow lines and primary edges. the glass and your level of skill at cutting it. I merely want to provide some relevant points particular to stained glass to assist you on your journey.ĭesigning for stained glass is relatively straight forward providing you keep in mind the limits of the material you are about cut, i.e. One could write an entire book on design, however that is not my intent here.