An Excellent Method on Reinforcing Stained Glass Windows!

There have been questions regarding reinforcing stained glass windows as artists have had trouble with certain types of pieces.

Some designs, whether you design them or find a pattern, do not have enough support across or up and down on the pattern.

Patterns that are very large such, as 36" x 48", are perfect examples.

There is a way to reinforce the piece so that it will have enough support when you're hanging stained glass in a window.

In the past large pieces of rebar were used for reinforcing stained glass windows, but that took away from the beauty of the finished glass piece.

Now there is a product that is a copper reinforcing stained glass window strip. It is a very thin piece of copper that fits between the copper seams. Then the seams are soldered into place.

Believe it or not this thin strip of copper will add a great deal of strength to your design. The copper reinforcing strip comes in a roll 5/32" x10 mil x 100' - this will cover a lot of glass.

One of the best parts about this copper strip is that it bends easily – so that you can follow your seams regardless of how they bend in your design.

Always remember as you do this reinforcing to run the copper strip from one end of the design to the other end. You want to do this so that you don’t weaken any area of the glass which could cause it to break or add stress to the glass.

You will run into areas on the design where the copper strips will intersect, the best way to handle this is to cut the copper strip but cut it a little larger and bend that in a perpendicular shape to place the copper strip into the cross section of the seam.

Then you can continue on the seam you were placing the copper strip. This will help the copper strip from sliding or slipping out of place also add weight to these sections until they are soldered in place.

When you get to the edge of the design with the copper reinforcing strip, cut the copper strip, by using tin snips, about 1/4" - 1/2" longer than the design edge. Leave this extra strip for later.

You can begin to solder in small sections to tack the glass together. Be sure to make sure your glass is properly positioned on your pattern. Once you have tacked down sections you can solder the rest of the seams and copper strips.

Now that the entire piece has been soldered you have to go back to the extra 1/4" - 1/2" of the copper strip that is hanging off the edge of the design.

By using the tip of your solder iron, you can bend the copper strip along the outer edge. Hold the strip in place with pliers and solder the copper reinforced strip against the outer edge. Run a small amount of solder around the entire outer edge of the design.

Now that you have reinforced your stained glass window, you can do your finishing by putting the design in a window, or a wood frame.

You may also be interested in this article on reinforcing...

How to reinforce a large stained glass piece!

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