How do I transfer my stained glass patterns to the glass?

There are many ways to transfer stained glass pattern to your glass, pattern shears, tracing paper etc. I don’t cut out my stained glass patterns at all.

A lightbox is, in my opinion, the most efficient method for stained glass cutting. You can trace your pattern pieces directly on the glass. This will save you loads of time by not cutting out and numbering your pattern pieces. Plus you can get a look at the direction and variations of the glass before you cut it. The only time you will have to cutout a pattern piece will be for extremely dense glass like black (or you can use tracing paper). This is how I use a lightbox:

• Put your pattern on the top of the lit lightbox.
• Put your glass on top of the pattern and position the glass with the variations (streaks, texture, color density…) where you like it to be.
• Trace the pattern on the glass that you want to cut out. (if you are having a hard time seeing the pattern, lift up the glass and trace the pattern line with a sharpie to make it darker)
• Score the glass (inside the line) and break out your piece. At this point you can position the glass however you need to get a good score line because the pattern line is on the glass.
• Place your cut piece on a second full sized pattern on your worktable.
• Repeat

When you really start to feel confident in this process, you won’t even have to trace the pattern on the glass you can cut directly on the glass with the pattern underneath to guide you.

Next week I’ll talk about what kind of lightbox you need. You might be surprised how simple they are?