Patterns: Printing Large Stained Glass Patterns
Small suncatchers and simple projects can printed out from your computers printer on a single sheet of paper. But what do you do when you want to print out a pattern that is larger than 8 1/2" x 11"?
StainedGlassNetwork.com offers all of our larger patterns ready to print out to multiple pages. We also have some advice on the website on how to do this with various software programs. This is called "tiling" a graphic, basically creating multiple "tiles" from at image that can all be printed separately.
Once you have broken up your pattern into "tiles" and printed them out, this video shows you how to put these tiles back together again into a single sheet stained glass pattern that you can then use to create your jig pattern and your individual pattern pieces.
There is a wealth of stained glass patterns available books on stained glass and stained glass pattern books that are nothing but stained glass patterns. Most of these books include give the owner of the book the right to reproduce the pattern for their own personal use but do not give the owner the right to reproduce for others use or for sale.
Dover has a number of good stained glass books, along with Aanraku. We have links to each of these in our Resources section.
You can also create your own stained glass pattern from an idea that you may have, a traditional pattern or a photograph.
Important issues to keep in mind when you are creating your own pattern in stained glass is: don't design pieces that are too small, such as 1/2 inch across or less. The foiling around the edge will effectively wipe out the light coming through the piece.
Try to never design double curves side by side and avoid more than one curve on a piece. Curves are one of the hardest things to get right in a piece. Putting multiple curves on a piece means that you not only have to get all the curves right or the piece is a waste, but you then have to get the curves rightfor the piece it butts against. If the design seems to have pieces with multiple curves, split the piece into more than one piece.
Try to not have a piece that has a narrow pint in the middle where the glass would be weak. Narrow spots should be bridged together by two pieces, making the framework of the design stronger and making it easier to cut and put together.