Re: Beginner's Questions

Hi Adam

>
>I've always been interested in stained glass, but I'm finally getting to the
>point of having funds and time to actually act on the interest...where is a
>good place to start?  Can anyone suggest good classes in the Seattle area?
>And what tools do I need, and what should I look for in a good basic set,
>that will last for a while?

Can't help on the Seattle area - I'm in the UK - but a google search
might help.....?

I started Tiffany-style stained glass (the copper foil technique)
about 4 years ago - and went on an intensive 4-day course with one of
the glass shops.

Much depends on 'what you know already' I'd been interested in
electronics for many years - so soldering wasn't too much of a
challenge (although assembling stained glass is rather different from
assembling electronics equipment!)

Over here in the UK the glass suppliers will sell you a 'starter kit'
- typically containing

soldering iron
oil-filled glass cutter
grozing pliers
cutting square
solder
copper foil
flux
patina
tinning block
clear practice glass
burnishing tool 
and an instruction book

I'd add a silicon carbide grinding stick and a hand-foiling tool to
this list.

As I intended to do this semi=professionally, I also invested in a
Morton system - which is a cutting surface with a selection of jigs &
gauges that make it easy to cut a number of pieces of glass to excatly
the same width or angle. This isn't essential for starters.

The other 'easy' projects are flat suncatchers - especially geometric
shapes like stars - again - all straight lines.

Practice on cheap clear glass (beg, steal or borrow offcuts from your
friendly window-glass or picture-framing company). 'Proper' glass can
be more difficult to cut, and more annoying when the cut runs the
wrong way!

Probably the simplest starter projects are boxes or terrariums
(planters) - as they tend to consist of straight line cuts. It's a
good idea to practice

Hope this helps - enjoy!

Adrian
Suffolk UK