Bird's Eye View

just discovered this. I consider myself a pretty detailed person, in regards to my glass work. but this piece!! it is exquisite! absolutely gorgeous. the pattern is fairly simple, but you chose your glass so well it adds so much to the overall piece. it is so graceful... really, cannot say enough great things about this piece. you do truly deserve to have won this event. do you have more stuff??

On this piece, I did it myself which is tricky. Unless you have the stained glass piece professionally "thermal paned" (which I now do for nearly all of my pieces regardless of size), you have to be sure that air can circulate behind the glass to reduce the possibility of condensation. I would always recommend having the job done professionally because then the stained glass panel is sealed; condensation will happen only if the seal is somehow broken. Thanks for your appreciation of my work.

Did you just place your work between the 2 pieces of thermal pane glass or did you have to do some special procedure for that? Also, I am very impressed with all the intricacies of the piece. Very nice.

Are you a Michigan Artist?

I'm far from an expert but I've been told for reinforcing, it's necessary to do this for anything that is over 2'x3'.  For projects that are close to this size I always use the copper reinforcement between the lead/copper foil lines and it seems to add quite a bit of strength to it.

This is absolutely gorgeous!  Your choice of glass and design is exquisite.  You have something that is a showpiece.  Just love it!

Thank you very much!

I don't have a straight forward answer for you about reinforcing.  I can tell you that there must be some formula for it but I don't have it.  I mostly use my intuition and common sense.  Also, since I have been "thermal paning" my pieces between tempered glass, it hasn't been a big issue for me.  I did see that the Stained Glass Association of America has published a chapter book which deals exclusively with the issues of structural reinforcement.  Check them out for more accurate information than I can give you.  Good luck!

 simply wonderful! amazing! As a new glass artist, I am in awe 

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.  Is there a general rule of thumb on when you should have to add the additional support to a piece?  say, over so many square feet? or a certain length etc?  Sorry for my ignorance :)