TIFFANY TECHNIQUE
I begin my work by creating the design and finalising a template, which I use to cut the glass pieces. I use pre-coloured sheets of glass and a carbide cutter to get the shapes then grind the edges on a water-fed machine, producing something like a jigsaw puzzle. I then wrap the edge of each piece of glass in copper-foil, ready for soldering. This is the Tiffany technique, or the copper foil and solder method, of stained glass construction. When Louis Comfort Tiffany began using the method, over a century ago, workers used scissors to cut thin sheet copper into strips. The strips were spread with molten beeswax on one side to make them sticky and then wrapped a round the glass before the wax hardened. Today, we have easy to use rolls of copper foil with the adhesive already applied. Tiffany experimented and produced many wonderful types of sheet glass, which made the work come to life, and which is replicated in today's modern art glass.