A New Angle on Stained Glass

I was thrilled to receive a gift voucher for a stained glass session with Claire Gaunt Art at Christmas.

Not least because I'd dropped heavy hints to my husband, and left Claire's business card casually lying around. I'd met Claire at a Christmas Fair at Haddo House last November and loved the pieces she had on display. Her garden studio in Aberdeen was adorned with many of the gorgeous stained glass items she sells.

I loved the coloured light filtering through these geometric hangings at each window in Claire's workspace.

Just the inspiration I needed - but was it too ambitious for a beginner's workshop?

I needn't have worried as Claire encouraged me to go for it!

First up I chose some coloured glass. Here's a wee selection of the array of options.

I settled for a palette inspired by my recent lounge makeover featuring a newly painted yellow green accent wall and reupholstered turquoise chair. Isn't the blue rippled glass gorgeous?

Claire drew a template for me to follow and I traced the shapes and cut the glass, numbering the pieces as I went.

The circle was most challenging. Thankfully the grinder helped smooth off those rough edges.

I'd never used these finger guards, or cots, before. They provide protection whilst grinding glass without diminishing dexterity, helping me keep my pre-holiday sparkly manicure intact!

Next it was time for some foiling. I found it very satisfying to apply the adhesive foil strip to each edge and see my artwork start to come together.

In readiness for soldering, Claire used horse-shoe nails to anchor the foiled glass pieces and keep them in place.

She then applied Flux followed by dabs of solder onto the back to stabilise the window hanging finally creating one piece.

After demonstrating how to solder in a straight line, Claire told me it was my turn! I was quite nervous but Claire made me feel completely at ease and I was soon soldering away to my heart's content. I can definitely tell which bits I did but I was pretty pleased with my results overall.

Claire then helped to solder all the way round the edges, as that required more precision than I currently possess, and the finishing touch was to attach a hanging ring and chain.

Here's our tah-dah moment together!