| OVERLAYS Overlays are lines or shapes that are added to the front side of an artwork to achieve some additional design element or to add more detail to a glass shape. I usually cut overlays from lead or zinc, but I have seen great overlays cut from a sheet of copper, too. I like using zinc overlays whenever possible because it is usually thicker than sheets of copper foil and less bendable than lead, which makes for stronger overlays (copper or lead can be strengthened with a covering of solder, making them viable choices for some situations). The choice of what material to use should depend on whether the overlays will stand up to whatever handling or abuse they might encounter over the years. I rarely do overlays on both sides. I did use overlays on both sides on the faces of the Beatles (see it here) because the glass was solid white and I could do the same on both sides (that is, NOT mirror images). When the glass is see-through, I usually don't overlay both sides because when you look at the artwork from an angle, you can see the edges of both and it looks weird. Again, this is a subjective call, and you are free to do overlays on both sides if you think it looks better or have some other reason for doing so. Because I don't usually do overlays on two sides, I try to use overlays in a design only when the panel will be seen primarily on one side, such as bathroom windows that are totally or mostly private or windows that are mounted above the first story of a dwelling. I try to avoid designs with overlays for settings where the stained glass will be seen equally on both sides, such as room dividers and ground level windows. If the overlay is supposed to look like a continuation of a leadline, then I usually cut the top and bottom off of a strip of lead came and use that to make the overlays. While overlays made from lead came have the advantage of looking just like the leadlines they will appear to extend, they also have the disadvantage of being made from a soft metal. This means that too much bending could cause them to break. So when I use lead overlays, I generally caution the owner of the artwork to be extra careful to not bend these while cleaning or otherwise maintaining the artwork. I demonstrate how I remove the top and bottom from lead came in the DVDs, although I cannot say exactly where. If a leadline-extension is fairly short, I usually cover the top of an overlay (and sometimes the bottom, too) with a coating of solder to make it stronger. If a leadline-extension is fairly long, long enough that the overlay might become flimsy or weak over time, I usually solder a solder-covered brass wire to the underside of the overlay. Brass wire behind the overlay can be seen in this artwork that has long line-extension overlays. Leadline extension overlays can be seen here. When I make zinc overlays, I start by flattening a length of 3/4" U-zinc. I like doing it to this wide zinc came because I get the most useable surface after flattening it out. First, I pull apart the channel with my hands as far as I can. Then I flatten the right-angle bends in the middle by softly hammering it against my cement shop floor with a hammer. It would be nearly impossible to flatten out the tiny folds in the zinc that make up the channel, so I cut them off with my tin-snips. This makes a somewhat jagged edge on my flattened strip of zinc so I am careful to handle it with care so as not to cut myself. Once I have cut off the edges of this strip, I flatten the strip as much as I can with the hammer. To make zinc overlays, I blow up the overlays on my computer drawing to full size and print them out. Then, I either [1] use the drawing to check the overlay's shape and size as I cut it out with tin-snips or [2] cut out the paper and spray-glue it to the zinc and then cut out the shape. I have a set of small files (one round, one triangular, and one with a curved surface on one side and a flat surface on the other side) that I use to perfect the shape of the overlays, smooth all the edges, and get rid of any jags that might cut someone who touched the artwork. If I glued down a piece of paper, I remove all traces of the paper and glue with a glue-dissolving product before applying solder. Sometimes overlays are large enough that they must be cut out in two or more pieces. When this is necessary, they must be soldered together, which usually means that the whole overlay will have a coat of solder on it. When overlay pieces are soldered together, additional filing may be necessary to get a smooth edge where they are joined. If I'm going to cover the overlays with solder, I do that after they are cut out because cutting through the solder-covered zinc would be much harder and less precise. Although the zinc should patina well, the patina is much more uniform and longlasting on top of solder, so covering the zinc with solder has that advantage, too. Click on this link to see an example of zinc overlays in one of my artworks. The overlays for the letter W and all of the E's had to be done in two pieces. USING LEAD AND FOIL IN THE SAME ARTWORK Whenever I use both foil and lead in the same project, the complexity of getting leadlines to come out as they should and where they should increases quite a bit. This is because the width of the heart of lead came is much bigger than the width of two layers of copper foil. Since I normally use foil pattern shears for cutting paper patterns for lead (lead pattern shears cut out way too much paper for an accurate fit) and tiny regular scissors for cutting paper patterns for copper foil (double cutting every line of the drawing and trying to remove as thin a strip of paper as i can), I have attempted to do this with projects requiring both with fairly good success. However, the greater complexity of using both lead and foil has resulted in and overall accuracy that is somewhat less than I can achieve with either lead came alone or copper foil alone. Because I strive for as much precision as I can, I have come up with the following solution, one that gives me an overall precision that is equal to my usual achievement with just one construction method. Make the copper foiled part first. Draw, cut paper, cut glass, grind, foil, and completely solder together the foiled section of the artwork. Then, treat the finished foiled section as just another single piece of glass in a leaded project. Since you're not cutting it out as you make the leaded project, that is, since its already made before you begin the drawing of the leaded project, treat it like a beveled piece of glass that you bought and need to work into your leaded project. Trace around it on your full sized drawing just like you would trace around a beveled piece of glass. allow for the heart of the lead that will surround the foiled "piece", and proceed with cutting the rest of the glass and leading it all together just as you would normally do for an all-leaded artwork. Because the foiled "piece" will already be stiff, the lead came will often hold it off the work surface without any additional support from underneath. However, if you think support from below will help during the leading phase, you can use a piece of thin foam or the right amount of torn cardboard or paper. Just make sure the support material doesn't stick out beyond the foiled piece or it will get in the way of precise lead came work. A fairly intricate example of this can be seen on my web site at page43.htm. The Buddha and the brown piece of glass he's sitting on were copper foiled into a single piece. Then i drew the mandala background (all 360-degrees of it), placed the completed Buddha on top of the mandala, and traced around the copper foiled section. Without this technique, creating this intricate artwork and achieving a precise outcome would have been a nightmare (I had worked out this method years earlier on far less intricate artworks). FOILING WITHOUT RUINING YOUR THUMBNAIL Pressing the copper foil to the glass tightly is important as it determines the rigidity of the stained glass panel. I have always liked tightening or pressing down the copper foil to the glass with my thumbnail. I think this works better than any tool I have tried. The only drawback is that it causes my thumbnail to be damaged by being slowly worn away. I put up with this for many years but decided to invent a solution during one particularly large copper foiled project. Here's what I came up with... ONE - With a scissors, cut off about 3/4 of an inch of the spoon part (the tip) of a cheap plastic spoon. This will become the stand-in thumbnail. TWO - Using medical tape, create a ring that is stuck to the bottom 1/4 of the piece of spoon, that is, 3/4 of the piece of spoon including the the tip of the spoon will stick out from the ring of tape. Wrap the tape around and around your thumb so that the ring is a snug fit to the size of your thumb (but not so tight that it will cut off the blood to the tip of your thumb). THREE - Remove the tape ring from your thumb. FOUR - On the inside of the ring, add one more layer of tape facing the other way, that is, with the sticky side facing outwards. This will result in the piece of spoon being held on both sides by the tape AND a ring of tape that is no longer sticky on the inside (it will no longer stick to your thumb). FIVE - When foiling, place the ring over the thumb so that the piece of spoon is off-center by about 30 degrees, farther to the right if using the right thumb and farther to the left if using the left thumb. This will result in a plastic thumbnail that should be useable for a number of projects, but the plastic will be slowly worn away. SIX - When the plastic thumbnail is worn down enough to stop working well, make a new one from scratch. |