The Dale C. Maley Family Web Site

I recently went to the Stained Glass House in Decatur, Illinois, for the first time.  While shopping there, I found several interesting glass bevel sets.  One of these is called Intrigue. I bought this set. You can also buy this set online using this link.

A pattern is included with the bevel set.  After I got back  home, I entered this design into Sketchup, my free drafting program.  Once I got it entered, I printed one full scale pattern to build the panel with, and one copy to make the glass parts.

This also let's me easily see what different color combinations would look like.

I have done several panels using just dark and light blue glass..........and the ladies really seem to like this  color combination.  So, I decided to make the first panel using these 2 blue colors. The glass is from Hobby Lobby.

I thought this one would look good in lead.  See the statistics image for the part numbers of the lead and the zinc frame.

I started building the panel in the lower LH corner, as I normally do.  In a couple of hours, I had the bottom half built, and quit for the evening. The next day, I started in the middle section, cutting the 4 pieces of light blue glass.   I struggled and struggled trying to get the lead to fit this glass..............finally it dawned on me the glass was too thick for the lead !!

I measured as best I could with a dial indicator, and the light blue glass was oversize.......it was 0.150 inch thick.........versus the desired 1/8" or 0.125 inches.  On the 1 foot square of light blue Hobby Lobby glass, one side was too thick for the lead, but the other side was ok.  I cut 4 new pieces from the thinner side of the sheet........and the lead fit fine.  Boy, it is irritating when this happens !!!!!!!!!!!               The copper foil method allows too thick of glass to be used, but it won't work with lead.

This was a relatively quick and fun project. I think I will order some more kits, and try some other color combinations. The only irritating thing was the too thick glass from Hobby Lobby. The next time this happens, hopefully I will figure it out quicker than I did this time!

I may apply black patina to this panel.............I have not decided whether to patina it or not.