When I foil stained glass what color backing do I choose?

There are three choices in foil backing, the original backing color of foil is copper. But there’s also black back and silver back foil. How do you know when to use which one?

When planning your project you choose your stained glass, do you also choose your patina color? Try to think of your finished product. Do you want your finished piece to have the lines disappear (black patina) or stand out (silver or copper)? If you know in advance what patina you will be using choose the same color foil backing.

Opaque glass won’t show the color of the backing so your choice won’t matter. Cathedral glass reflects the color on its edges. So if you want to see the reflections in cathedral then use copper or silver backing. If you want a shadow or no reflection then use the black backing. The silver back foil can be used with mirror to help with the reflection. If you use black back with mirror you will see an extra wide line as the black reflects in the mirror.

When I make a panel I tend to use a combination of cathedral and opaque glass. I also like the glass to stand out not my lines (not to mention I don’t want my messy line widths to show). I tend to use black back foil most of the time on standard panels so I don’t have to worry about reflections in the cathedral glass.

Now that you’ve chosen your foil backing what brand of foil do you choose?

I use Edco foil exclusively. Why? Many reasons. (I’m not getting paid to say this :))

1. It’s very sticky. They are the best at making a secure bond to the glass. If you are having trouble with you foil not sticking very well to the glass your foil brand is likely to be the problem.
2. The copper part of the foil is strong but not stiff so it’s able to be burnished tightly to the glass. This is particularly great for doing inside curves.
3. Their packaging is great for buying in bulk. Have you ever bought foil and it went bad (corroded, not sticky, etc.) before you had a chance to use it. They have a great sealed package and I have personally used unopened foil that’s over 10 years old. And when opened, it works as good as the first day I bought it.
4. Edco will put your store name on the packaging (when you purchase 144 or more) so that when you sell it your customers they will know where it came from. This also makes it a little harder to find the Edco brand sometimes since they don’t always sell under their name. Just look for the gold circle with blue lettering. Ask your local stained glass store if they carry it or if they can, you won’t be sorry.

Making stained glass windows is hard work and can sometimes can be very frustrating, every time you find something that works to make your life easier, use it. Feel free to share any tips you have on copper foil.

How do I price my stained glass windows?

When pricing your stained glass windows remember you want to keep making panels in the future so price accordingly. Supplies are a part of pricing your pieces but your time is also important factor. I suggest $80-$250 per square foot (depending on complexity).

If you make a 5 pieces angel ornament that’s ¼ square foot it’s practical to charge $80/sq. ft. for a total of $20 for the angel because it took very little time and maybe some scrap glass. If you are making a Tiffany style window that’s 6 sq. ft. for a bathroom with over 600 pieces you will definitely want to charge the $250/sq. ft. for a total of $1500 (installation not included). When I price pieces for a show I’m usually around $125/sq. ft. because I am making pieces that I hope will be appealing to a majority of the crowd. If I add a wood frame I add the cost on top of that price.

Pricing can be a daunting thing. You may not feel you are experienced enough to price high enough. Or you may not realize just how much goes into a panel. Just because you are a beginner doesn’t make the cost of buying supplies and time it takes to make the windows go away. In fact, you will probably use more resources than you will when you get more experienced. Beginners tend to use more solder because they tend to have gaps between the pieces of glass, as you get better at cutting and grinding you will have less spaces therefore less material cost. Beginners also tend to have more breakage when cutting glass. So don’t make your stained glass cheaper just because you’re a beginner.

Also, as a beginner you don’t want to devalue other designers work by pricing your pieces less than the cost of supplies and labor. People outside stained glass usually don’t know that you are a beginner or see a difference. They simply love the art you created.

Don’t worry, your buyer will love you and your work so price things so that other may also make their passion for glass come true as well. 

Don't forget to add in a little extra for custom pattern design. I can always help with that piece if you need it. We can work together as a great team. 

The cost of stained glass supplies.

Last week I talked about the cost of stained glass sheets but that’s just one factor that goes into making a stained glass panel.

Since it’s not just the sheets of stained glass that’s expensive, what makes creating stained glass panels so expensive? Metals again are the major contributor to cost.

The second set of metals that add to the cost (other than stained glass sheets) are copper foil, lead, solder and zinc. The chart below will give you some idea of the cost of the raw metals that go into our supplies.

Copper is going for about $2.89/ lb in its raw form. Then it has to be processed into copper foil.

Lead is going for $.97/ lb in its raw form. Then needs to be turned into came and solder.

Tin is going for $7.35/ lb in its raw form.  Then needs to be mixed into solder with lead.

Zinc is going for $1.07/ lb in its raw form.  Then needs to be made into u-channel framing.

I want to educate others to not only see the reason for the expense but also see its worth. These metals are also the reason that the windows you create will last a lifetime.

Next I’ll talk about pricing your stained glass pieces.

Why is stained glass so expensive?

In a word, metals. It takes metals to create the colors in stained glass.

Metals are responsible for all those wonderful colors. Below is a simple list of what metals make which colors and their relative prices to determine the cost of glass. The going rate of metals change constantly but you can get the idea of why certain colors are more expensive than others.

Cadmium Sulfide – ($1.00/lb) – makes yellow glass

Gold Chloride – ($1,193/ oz) – makes cranberry glass

Cobalt Oxide – ($13.74/ lb) – makes blue glass

Manganese Dioxide – ($1.03/ lb) – makes purple glass

Nickel Oxide – ($6.24/ lb) – makes violet glass

Sulfur – ($1.50/ lb) – makes amber glass

Chromic Oxide – ($1.22/ lb) – makes emerald green glass

Uranium Oxide – ($38.25/ lb) – makes red glass

Iron Oxide – ($.04/ lb) – makes green and brown glass

Selenium Oxide – ($3.82/ lb) – makes red glass

Antimony Oxide – ($4.30/ lb) – makes white glass

The metals below are also added to make other variations of colors:

Copper – ($2.89/ lb) – blue, green and red glass

Tin – ($7.35/ lb) – white

Lead – ($.97/ lb) – yellow

Borders can affect the way you view the image. To determine if you need a border you need to ask yourself where you want the viewer's eye to go.

My personal favorite style of pattern making is to give your pattern a photographic look. Your subject matter can act as a border. Use objects like trees, peepholes or columns to make a natural border. Another way is to make the subject itself become the focal point by zooming in on it until it’s the only thing you see. This technique will draw your eye naturally to your focal point making a glass border unnecessary.

 

A reason to add a stained glass border is to create a matting effect. It therefore gives your eye an edge to pull it back to the center focal point. This technique is especially helpful when you have a subject that may need to have too many background break lines (like feathers from a bird or petals of a flower). In this case you can cut the background down to practically nothing and add a border so it doesn’t feel so messy. Thus bringing your focus back to your subject and not all the messy cut lines.

To sum up, adding a border or not is more of an emotional choice. What kind of feeling do you want to convey?

Don’t sell yourself short. Try a new type of stained glass pattern.

Don’t be intimidated by the number of pieces in a stained glass pattern. Instead look how complicated the pieces are.

You can have a pattern that has less than 15 pieces and is very complicated, as in this abstract pattern.

Or you can have a pattern that has over 100 pieces but is much easier to build.

Always keep growing and challenging yourself.  How do you know you can’t do something without trying?

If you have only cut straight line patterns try waves. If you have done waves try curves.

There’s nothing like the feeling of accomplishing something you have never tried before.

No solder blobs in stained glass patterns!

When designing stained glass patterns, where lines intersect is a very important issue.  When more than two lines intersect solder can start to feel pretty heavy with every line added. Some subjects still require you make a pattern that brings everything to one point and it is hard not to have a huge blob of solder in the center of the piece. There are multiple ways to combat this.

I offset some of my break lines just slightly. This will make all of the lines look like they come together, but they actually do not.  By the time you foil it the slight offset will not show. This allows your solder have a little more space between the lines and not appear to be such a large blob. 

Another option is to shave your foil (on the face of the glass) after you wrap and burnish your pieces.  Use an Exacto knife to take a bit off of the foil and show the glass a little more. This will give the effect of a finer center point.  Shape the foil so that it has a finer point in the center of the intersection which will cause less solder to accumulate in the intersection. An additional perk to this technique is that you will use less solder!