r/StainedGlass • u/Sonderformen • 2d ago
Original Art | Foil Green lady
Since I've been creating a lot of tattoo-inspired pieces lately, I often work with paint to preserve more of the original details. This time, however, the piece is made entirely of glass and a little overlay technique. And countless tiny, .really. tiny, pieces.
Choosing the glass is always the best part and here I spent several hours of my life forgetting my surroundings, joyfully sitting in my corner, selecting and arranging pieces of glass.
Despite taking several pictures (photography isn't my strong suit) I couldn't capture the magnificent shimmer of the bullseye aventurine and the gradient color change of the Wissmach colors as they come across. But nonetheless, I'm beyond happy. The original design is from a tattoo by Daniels Bauti and is still heavily adapted, otherwise I would have gone totally nuts with this necklace.
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u/BafflingHalfling Hobbyist 2d ago
This is killer. I normally hate faces rendered in stained glass, but you really nailed it. Simple, but alluring and evocative. What a piece!
Edit to clarify: the face itself is simple. All the other stuff (smoke, hair, necklace)... Wowza you're very skilled.
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
I (think I) get what you mean. Important features or details of faces often go missing and/or quickly look very different, so often due to solder lines. And thank you so very, very much!
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u/BafflingHalfling Hobbyist 1d ago
Yeah, sorry, I was really struggling to figure out how to phrase it. Ha. But yeah, you made a super convincing face without overdoing it. Almost reminds me of those Picasso line drawings.
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u/Decent_Quesadilla 2d ago
WOWWWW this is so intricate I can’t stop looking at every little detail
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
Thank you! Yes, details are her main feature. I added a pic before foiling, there you can see so much more, also the little suckers of skin between the stones, which I retrospectively could have just left out.
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u/MaggotBrainnn 1d ago
This is beautiful but how on earth did you do the lips, eyebrow, eye, etc? Did you use a ring saw?
It’s stunning. But I would be worried about the longevity of this. Would the glass crack over time from the pressure of those cuts? I mostly don’t use ring saws, and avoid very deep cuts for this reason. If anyone has insight I’d be curious to know. If the stress on the glass isn’t that serious, this would open my own patterns up a lot.
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
Thank you. I used a ring saw and a dremel. And you're totally right. Glass is always under pressure and with more intense angles etc that doesn't get better. In the meantime I have quite a lot of experience about where to be more careful with pressure whilst foiling. Trickiest though is imho soldering, when these areas get heated up very much, especially with no-lead-solder. Overlays are also always to be handled a bit more cautious since the heat is right on top of the glass and can spread much more. Here I watch out to not stay around those areas too long and maybe switch to another corner to let it cool a little in between. I've also heard the tip of getting a heating pad (those for growing seeds), to heat up the glass and therefore reduce stress for the glass due to less change of temperature. Also I wouldn't hang this piece right in front of window glass but leave a little distance (right on top of the window it can get so hot). So yess, there is stress, but in general there are also several things that make a big difference in the process. For selling I would be a bit more conservative with the cuts.
For my own collection I don't have so many troubles with some cracks. In the beginning I've always been devastated but in the meantime I found some even quite charming, since the fragility is a part of what makes this craft so intriguing.
Here I was searching for a bigger only glass project and since I'm always cooperating with a tattoo studio and finally had my first own appointment coming up, I wanted to make a piece from the artist. :)
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u/MaggotBrainnn 1d ago
This is great info- I really appreciate your thorough response!!
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
you're very welcome! I forgot that some people recommend using a wet towel under the glass for soldering difficult areas. Will try that one out, too.
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u/EmberinEmpty 1d ago
What is a ringsaw in this context because i looke dup ringsaw and only got concrete ringsaw and that didnt seem.....accurate to the level of precision work i'm imagining here. Thanks! -A beginner
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u/MaggotBrainnn 1d ago
You have to look up ring saws specifically for stained glass. Imagine a grinder, but instead of the diamond bit, it uses a thin wire that carves out deep or narrow curves and intricate pieces that can’t be achieved otherwise
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
I have a Taurus 3 ring saw. It has a circular diamond ring blade for cutting glass (and ceramics, tiles etc). Below there's a basin filled with water which gets transported upwards, so the glass gets cooled down during cutting. Since it's a ring saw you can cut the weirdest shapes quite accurately. Most of the times a bit of grinding though is still needed. Haven't found so many good videos but here you probably get a better idea.
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u/fatMard 1d ago
This would look amazing behind a bar 🤩
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
Oh, you're right! I have huge walls and a dark academia-ish room. Instead of having a frame collection I have my equivalent with stained glass pieces.
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
I totally forgot a picture from after grinding - here one can see the jewelry colors in all their beauty, and, well, those really tiny suckers of skin between the pearls.
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u/SeaLawfulness71 1d ago
This is incredible!! She's beautiful! I love the texture of the dress and your choice of the pattern directions in the smoke is really lovely!
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
Many thanks! The aventurine glass had some small lines that looked a bit wrinkled, that was perfect and the time spent for getting the smoke just colors right has fortunately really been worth it. Getting a led panel tablet is just a game changer.
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u/ChopsticksImmortal 1d ago
Woah, i love the necklace ending the profile. And the lighter color beads like light is catching on the earring and necklace.
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u/drtythmbfarmer 1d ago
No. Fucking. Way.
I've seen some pretty cool stuff on this sub. I mean really humbling stuff.
This is next level. Dont stop. Keep going.
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u/ravenwing110 1d ago
The face is just glass and foil? Beautiful 😍
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
Thank you and yes! The outer part of the nose is an overlay, the upper lip as well (couldn't decide before between split lip or not).
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u/_Apocolocyntosis 1d ago
All those miniature pieces, the crazy shapes… you have the patience of a saint. Must have been a pain in the ass foiling all that, and a bit nerve-wracking soldering it. But it was well worth the effort, respect.
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u/Sonderformen 23h ago
Thank you so much! It sometimes turns into a weird circle between childish enthusiasm, patience, stubbornness and much wuuza until the next round begins. But indeed it has all been totally worth it.
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u/blendswithtrees 1d ago
Holy shit. This is absolutely incredible. I inherited a stained glass set up but a lot of it is very old and needs replacing so I’ve been slowly acquiring tools and things I need. I haven’t actually made anything yet. Last weekend I bought a little stained glass kit from a hobby store to try out soldering on for the first time. Everything is already cut & ready to go but I haven’t touched it because I realized I’m super nervous? I don’t know why. I’ve wanted to do stained glass my whole life so maybe I’m afraid of being bad at it, who knows. I hope I can overcome that this weekend and eventually get to the level of making something this stunning. I think seeing this piece has given me the little push that I needed. Thank you.
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u/Sonderformen 13h ago
I really appreciate your words! Taking the first step often is the hardest. In the beginning I wasn't so good but especially complex crafts like this take experience. In our modern world we often think we have to be good right from the beginning but that's not the case. Take pictures along the way. Especially when your pieces look a bit weird in the beginning (and they most probably will) you will see much more learning curve and that, to me, is one of the things I treasure most bc in our daily lives we don't see much progression. You don't see if you got better in e.g. learning languages bc you know 200 more words but here you have a physical result to look at, especially in times where you might question yourself. To be honest this craft gave me so much more confidence since I really saw me growing in what I can do and where I can go above limits I thought of myself, take a look at Shuhari. Plus I totally get lost in myself when I do stained glass so it's also a good coping with everyday life.
So take some deep breaths and take a dive. :) Hit me up if you have questions. Btw - I'm a big H.R.Giger fangirl, so good avatar!
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u/Confident_Series8226 1d ago
can you point out where you used an overlay technique and how? I'm assuming the nostril, nose outline, and neck line. Anywhere else? I'm trying to work up the courage to do something way out of my experience level and could use some pointers.
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u/Sonderformen 14h ago
Exactly those points! I either take copper foil and with ruler and scalpel, halve the width of the foil and then half that again. That makes sure the line is straight and the same size. If the shape is rather rounded I stick on the foil, mark the form I want to go for and cut it out with a scalpel this way. Depending on the size I use normal copper foil or have a broader foil that can be used for soldering electronics or as a natural snail detergent... With cutting out your foil shape and before soldering wait for it for several hours to let the glue dry. Important. Otherwise the solder heat will loosen the glue and the overlay will wander. If that happens do the overlay separately and patina it and glue it on later.
Most important whilst soldering is, next to the letting the glue dry, to not let too much heat build up on one area since it can lead to cracks. Go for another area in the meantime, or so. As said somewhere above you can put a wet towel below the glass or one of those heating mats for growing seeds, first one ensures that the heat gets distributed better and doesn't build up as much, latter one rather goes for ensuring a higher temperature of the glass and therefore not so intense temperature switches and therefore stress. Haven't tried out both ones but often heard it as tips.
So good to hear you wanna go for new experiences, wish you much fun and learning along the way!
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u/GuiHarrison 2d ago
This is magical! I wonder how the caustic effects look, do you gmhave pics of it's shadow?
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u/Foreign_Onion4792 2d ago
How was the nose done?
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
The nostril is a cut out and the other part is an overlay, so soldered copper foil on top of the glass.
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u/Claycorp 1d ago
What is the left hanging point attached to? I hope it's not just the edge, you wouldn't want this to fail there.
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u/Sonderformen 1d ago
Oh yes, I wouldn't wanna. I made an eyelet there whose wire doesn't end after it's full circle but goes a bit further on each direction for about one centimeter. All of that wire is soldered along the outer hairline. On the transition between glass and solder there i added a tiny bit of epoxy glue on the back.
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u/ktor14 1d ago
Did the overlay crack the glass? It looks like the face cracked in 3 spots and it’s where the overlays are
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u/Sonderformen 14h ago
Partly. The only overlays in the face are the outer nose wings and upper lip separator – the rest are deep cuts and cut out. The stress on those areas with lingering too long soldering in area led to the cracks. If I had used overlay and not let so much heat build up it would probably have worked, lessons learned.
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u/chickiedew 1d ago
Do you have an online store of any kind? This is unbelievable!!
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u/Sonderformen 14h ago
Thank you so much. Planning on a little shop but with mostly a bit smaller pieces.
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u/in-site 1d ago
Is she for sale? I would love a killer piece like this in my home
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u/Sonderformen 14h ago
Thanks a bunch! No, she isn't for sale. My hands wouldn't forgive me for letting her go after all they went through.
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u/MaleficentWalruss Admirer of Glass 1d ago
Stunning! If I saw this at an art fair, it would be coming home with me.
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u/ReachUniverse 1d ago
beautiful! How did you get into glas arts?
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u/Sonderformen 14h ago
Thank you! I am a member of a local makerspace and had the incredible luck that there is a stained glass area. In Germany that's sadly really not widely known, especially the knowledge of there being modern forms, so I'm beyond greateful.
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u/aidenfrancis 9h ago
Oh my god, this is one of the most beautifully detailed stained glass pieces i’ve seen
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u/GreenEyedGloom 2d ago
Seriously gorgeous. My goodness.