Stained Glass Vines

Design in the book.

Well I just finished my first semi-hand made pattern.  I had found some brown glass that I just fell in love with and could not wait to try out a pattern I found in Creative Stained Glass, by Christine Stevenson. My original design had called for a larger amount of leaves.  I just couldn't bring myself to cut up the lines to much in the glass.  So I dropped them out of the plan and just put leaves in the clear part.

My Pattern.

Solder Time.

I would like to point out that this project was super fun until I was talked into using ZINC came.  I have only been using lead until this point.  I had no clue how hard zinc was to patina.  Normally it is a nice solid black or at least close to a black with lead.  This on the other hand was simply a mess.  After realizing this was going to be a challenge, I did some research.  I tried several different methods, from cleaning it with steal wool, to brushing the patina on and leaving it.  After several tries and a large amount of the patina bottle, I gave up.  I have read that some people will tin the came first or just simply spray paint it. I doubt I will use zinc again for a while. If I do, I think I will either leave it a silver color or if I need to patina it, then tin it first.

This is another project I did the other day.  This will show the difference between the patina of zinc vs. lead came.

 I had been wondering why the instructor never said much about zinc came.  Now I understand.