Posted by Rob Klara on January 31, 2003 at 00:07:44:
Hello,
I've been at the copper-foil method for several months and am doing quite well at it. However, I keep having the same (albeit minor) problem and wonder if you could help. This takes a little while to describe...
Before I cut my glass pieces out, I trace my pattern (via carbon paper) onto brown, 50-weight craft paper. I then cut with foil scissors, and glue the cut-outs down on the glass, then score around the edges. Several people I've spoken with have dismissed this method as messy and dated, but I learned it in a great old glass shop in Brooklyn from a guy who's been doing it this way for decades, and it works for him.
Generally, it works for me, too. However, at times, after I've cut the glass, finished it in the grinder, remove the paper and put the glass pieces down on my template, I notice that some edges fall a bit too short of the lines--in other words, I appear to have taken too much glass off.
Now, the worst part of this is that some of my leaded seams are a bit too fat, though I'm the only one who seems to notice it. But this problem is bugging me and I wonder what I could be doing wrong. I'm using the correct shears, am exceedinly careful with the tracing, and am a good glass cutter. The only thing I can think of is perhaps I'm too aggressive with my grinder. Fearing that my pieces will be too large and push out the edges of the panel, maybe I err on the side of grinding too much. That's all I can guess. But just tonight I cut out a pattern with near-surgical precision (or so I thought) and there's too large a gap between two particular pieces--larger than what should be there normally, I mean.
Am I obsessing? Am I losing my mind? Should I quit this whole thing and take up latch-hook rugs?
rob