I am a jeweler but have been experimenting with glass and stained glass recently as a new tool for my toolbox. Does anyone have suggestions on attaching metal to glass? I am most interested in attaching small thin tubes for hinges onto glass but any info with experiences would be appreciated!
I so love colored glass. It can truly can go through one’s eyes and straight back into the head and light light my brian.
I put myself through 2 years of art school at the U of O working as a a stained glass artist roughly 50 years ago.In my semi retir ement from the jewelry trade I have taken up vitreous glass enameling. It’s much easier on my old hands than cutting glass. In those days there were only a very small handful of skilled stained glass artisans and access to colored glass was very limited. I was trained by Roger Darricarrere in LA. Cast Glass Sculpture - Roger Daricarrere — David Ruth Glass Our only sources for glass were from Germany and Kokomo in Indiana. When needed to we would make our own glass. Once I moved back to Oregon I was the King in the one eyed land of the blind. I made pretty good money for a college student.
Glass should be treated as a fragile gemstone. It should be set like one too. It can be pretty tricky to set. This is why most stained glass windows are set in very soft lead cames. As the cut edges of glass are straight up and down it’s tough to either prong or bezel set without making a messy bezel edge or to get a prong bent over at a 90 degree angle without chipping the glass. If you are using silver or gold it’s best to have the top edge of the frame already finished and then set the glass from the back with ,999 silver or 18-22kt gold. Using just glue is not an option if you plan on selling your pieces. In the end glue eventually fails. In my semi retiirment from the jewelry trade I have taken up vitreous glass enameling. It’s much easier on my old hands than cutting glass.
Have fun with colors and post photos of your work. I’d love tose what you come up with.
Jo
1 Like
Thank you for your reply Jo. That glass casting looks amazing! I agree that glass can be so beautiful and that glue wont work. Pearls might be the main exception to that rule. I have done a little glass enameling so far and its really neat. I am in Ohio and have a friend here that enamels every Sunday and loves company. She used to teach enameling classes at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. I met her there when I was first starting out in jewelry. Its also where I got into stained glass. I will take all your tips into consideration. Thanks again!!