Hand Blown Glass Art

One very unusual technique for making glass art revolves around stained glass.  At the turn of the century, L.C. Tiffany used the copper foil technique in stained glass art.  This method of stained glass is perfomed by wrapping pieces of glass with copper foil and then soldering them together along the length of the seams.

Here copper foil is used as an alternative to lead when soldering the pieces of glass together.  This method results in a stronger bond between peices of glass. It is much stronger than lead when soldered, it needs no putty, and is also waterproof. This technique enables the staiend glass maker to do very intricate detailed designs.  Because the seams are smaller, the thick leaded look of the standard stained glass artwork is removed.

The copper used for this technique is of a thin, foil-like gauge. It has an adhesive on one side and is backed by protective paper. The copper foil is sold in 36-yard rolls and is available in several widths and gauges.The wider the foil, the thicker the seams.

Copper Foil Stained Glass

Copper foiled stained glass is a very versatile form of construction for making stained glass. Panels can be made with very intricate designs and detail. The possibilities are almost endless.

Copper Foil in Stained Glass

One of the styles of manufacturing stained glass cabinet inserts, is the use of copper foil. Copper foil in stained glass inserts, allows a much broader aspect of design then the use of lead came.

Stained Glass

The copper foil method is most often used in lamps and other projects requiring intricate detail. Dalle de Verre – Also known as faceted glass, dalle de verre literally means “slabs of glass” and is a very thick glass first used as an art medium by the Byzantines.