Once you have purchased the tools you need to start working on stained glass and have set aside an area to put together your projects, the next thing you will need to do is put together a storage area for the glass you will work with.

Here is our video on what you will need and how to put together a stained glass rack on the cheap:

Glass needs to be stored on end. Storing glass flat can cause small glass flakes to grind against one another, marring the glass and put uneven pressure on the glass, weakening it. Plus it is hard to see what color the glass is when you are trying to select glass.

The first thing is that glass racks MUST be sturdy. Glass weighs a lot and is obviously delicate.

Commercial stained glass storage systems are sometimes custom built. Some glass shops use the crates that the glass is shipped to them in by connecting them together.

Another good option is building a work countertop then just locate the glass separators along its length.

How we solved it. Once we determined that our growing glass selection deserved to have it's own rack, we kept our eyes open for a piece of furniture that would be easy to convert into a glass rack. We also needed something strong enough to support the glass AND support our toolbox, which had lost its place in our       studio due to purchasing a light table.

The answer for us came at a garage sale. We found a relatively ugly 1960's end table that was VERY heavy duty for about $7. When we got home we confirmed that our toolchest fit perfectly on top. We added       separators, loaded it with glass and it has worked great for us since. Oversize pieces slide between the end table and the counter top.

There are plenty of possibilities. Consider the size of the glass you usually work with and the amount of glass you have now and expect to have in the future. Create a minimum and maximum dimension based on where the rack will go and what it needs to hold.