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WOW WOW WOW here I am with the final blog post to top off my teaching of stained glass art via my Stained Glass Goddess blog. Going forward I plan to continue teaching but I will be doing it in other ways different than writing. More specifically through my Online Stained Glass Classes . As of the date of this post I have just released an awesome comprehensive online beginner stained glass class that pairs beautifully with my blog if you are looking to have more of a hands on experience (especially if you do better with learning through seeing/doing vs reading). Anyhow I have loved the ways writing this blog has grown both me and you but I want to be able to provide more video and real life teaching experiences + creating my own art so that sadly leaves me with less time for blog post writing. My content now mostly covers beginner basics for now but I plan to provide more advanced techniques in the very near future so stay tuned for that :)!
On to finishing your project!! I didn’t want to leave you hanging on how to finish your project so I wanted to give you a skinny blog post sharing how I clean up my own stained glass projects. In this post I’m going to chat about polishing and finishing your project with the standard silver lead finish. If you are hoping to find information on Patina (changing your lead color to copper or black) - I have a whole video of it as part of my online beginner glass class that can be found HERE that covers that! So let’s talk about how to achieve that perfect shine!!
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JUST WASHED MY PROJECT NOW WHAT?
So I left off where we have just cleaned our project with some Dawn Dish Soap and warm distilled water. Pat that project fully dry and now it’s time to seal with wax it so it doesn’t get that pesky white lead dust on it. You’ll notice if you don’t take the time to wax and buff/polish your project the lead will haze over quickly and start to look gunky very quickly. To avoid this I like to wax right after I have fully cleaned up my project. My polish of choice is Clarity Wax (find on Amazon) . If you’ve never waxed a project you’re going to want to find a stable surface and grab two different rags/polishing cloths to use. One rag will be your “wax on” and the other will be your “wax off”.
LEZ WAX
With your project, wax, and rags in hand you’re going to first shake that bottle of wax for a good 10 seconds then open it and drip a few drops of wax all over the front side of your project. Then with your “wax on rag” lightly wipe it across the front side of your project - the goal here is to have it look hazy and coated, you want it to dry and not look wet. Then do the same on the backside. You will have a hazy looking project like the below. *NOTE - my project here has copper patina on it, for examples sake it will work the same as silver :).
As soon as our wax is dry on both sides we then want to take our other clean rag the “wax off rag” and use it to buff the hazy wax and excess gunk off our project. I generally like to sandwich my project between the rag and give it a good rub. Really put your arm into it - doing this will make your project super shiny and clean. If you have made a project thats a bit structurally delicate, try setting your project on the soft surface of a floor (I use a rag under my wood floor) and buff in small sections as to not break off the delicate pieces in some of my projects.
Your project at this point may look pretty and done but it is SO important that you are detail oriented and look closely at your project in the light. Often wax clings close around those lead lines and I recommend doing a touch up of sorts to make sure if it gets held in the sun/under a light it’s going to look clean. I like to personally use q-tips and or wooden toothpicks with my “wax off” cloth and closely clean all around those joints until they are fully shiny and clean looking like the rest of my project.
HANG WITH ME
After triple checking your project is beautifully cleaned and has zero trace of wax residue it’s time to hang that pretty project of yours! For my smaller projects I like to hang my pieces with fake suede string (find on Amazon) . I also opt for twine at times (find on Amazon) . It really is a personal choice others like to use chain - again that is your call but now your project is fully finished and ready to be enjoyed in any window of you or your clients choosing :)!
Well I hope you enjoyed this skinny blog post - you know if you ever have questions feel free to reach out I’m always here to help. It has been a joy knowing how so many of you have learned how to make glass art and or even perfected your skills based off my writing. Writing has honestly always one of my biggest weaknesses when I was in school and putting this blog together not only allowed me to teach you but it also strengthened my own art AND writing skills. Thanks for coming along - this may be the end of my teaching in this capacity but it is the far from end of me teaching. Sign up for my email list to make sure to stay up to date with what’s coming. More classes with advanced topics both virtual and in person + more ways to get 1 on 1 help from me. I love you and thanks for being here and making glass art with me :)!!
<3 Meggy