You might have seen the work I’ve done making our new front door. I might have mentioned that the next step was to make the two leaded glass panels. Well it’s been a while but we’ve made some progress.

I say “we” because it a project / hobby that the wife has fancied taking on. So this is a job I can hand over, although that’s a difficult thing for me to do when it actually comes down to it. I’ve got to learn to keep my nose out.  Only assist when asked. (Slap on wrist duly given, lesson painfully learn’t, read what Wendy has to say)

The first “assistance” has been interpreting the design. Other Half  ( referred to as OH) has been seeking out the kind of designs she likes, in books , on line and in real life (For some reason pub doors often got a mention).  Taking the ideas and bring the elements of various designs together has been the only Ask so far. So after a few quick sketches and scribbles, I got to work on the computer.

Line Drawing for Leaded Glass Windows

Fortunately I’m OK working with program called “Adobe Illustrator” . This allows me to draw lines with vectors, defining the end points and how the line curves.  The Line can be edited just by moving the end points and how they curve so its good for playing around with designs.

The other good point with this software is the line doesn’t have to be a single solid line. So I can define a line to represent the lead came, the centre of the lead and outer edges. After a few hours playing about this is a part of what we ended up with:

Detail of the window bottom Lead Work

When this is printed full scale it will be the template to cut the glass and the lead pieces.

Having the design in this format means it’s easy for me to colour it in and get a good idea of what it will look like.  Seeing it like this led to a few more tweaks until we where happy with the design. This what we have decided to go for. I know it’s not easy for first piece but it’s a good challenge.

Final design for the glazed door panels

 All that needs doing is getting hold of the leaded glass materials and tools and learning the  craft skills to make them.   No Problem..

Next the leaded glass materials and tools we found and bought.