ITV & BBC FREESAT INSTALLATION SPECIALISTS

Stained glass ornaments, such as a stained glass butterfly, add an exceptional and vibrant element to your home.

Making your own stained glass butterfly, is easier than you might think. Here are a few ideas to help you start with this invigorating hobby.

Focus on Design

First, think about your design- be bold with your use of color, but do not get too intricate with the pieces that will make up your butterfly.

Try to ensure a balance of color. If you are stuck for a design, there're lots of online resources with some inspirational patterns.

Be Smooth With Your Cuts

If this is your first piece, it's helpful to use smooth faced glass, instead of textured glass, as it is simpler to cut. A paper pattern will be useful for lying onto your glass, and tracing the lines to be cut.

Remember that you will need to leave room around your pieces for the lead came; pattern-cutting scissors can help ensure this when cutting your design elements out.

You initial score over your traced lines, using your pencil cutter. It is important that the glass is lubricated with cutter oil .

Running pliers are then used to apply pressure to the score line- at the glass piece should snap cleanly. When considering glass cutting, it is useful to heat the glass, as this aids the break.

Putting It All Together

You are now ready to assemble your pieces together using lead came. This must be 'stretched' first, by using lead pullers.

Then take a sharp edge glass piece, and press a zinc came to the outer edge (this strengthens the completed piece). You can now measure and cut the proper lengths of H section lead came to the internal joins- where one glass piece abuts another.

You may need to coax the pieces into place with a glazing hammer.

Last Steps

Lastly you solder the places where the lead came lines meet, and once cooled, cement the joints.

After some final cleaning, using whiting, you can leave to dry- this can take several days. Once dried, your beautiful stained glass butterfly will be ready for hanging.

The Varied Shapes And Forms Involving Bead Work Assignments
Beadwork, quite literally, is anything made with beads of any type. What first comes to mind is jewelry, and maybe second is adornments on clothing.

Bead Craft Ideas As A Pastime And For Income
It is fairly simple to turn your beading ideas into salable products on a small scale, as you will likely give some of your creations away, have others on display around your home, or (in the case of jewelry) be wearing some of your favorite pieces out and about.

Bead Craft - Tools Of The Trade: The Finest Tools That Are Necessary To Improve Your Experience
A topic not much discussed in articles concerning bead craft is what I like to all "optional equipment." Understandably, most bead craft articles focus on the beading projects, or the beads themselves and various discussions revolving around patterning, color selection and so forth

Beading Ideas! - 5 Techniques To Increase Your Creativity Effortlessly
Are you in a creative rut? Inspiration all dried up? Or maybe you're just looking for some new ideas to keep both inspiration and interest up! If any of those apply to you, then you've come to the right place!

Bead Craft - Convenient Methods To Obtain Outstanding Ideas
No matter which of the multitude of beading ideas I'm pursuing, I regard patterning as the single most important aspect of the hobby. A good pattern can cover a multitude of other bead craft design sins, and good crafters will spend a lot of time fiddling with their patterns to get them just right.

Beading Ideas - Start With Simple To Reach An Amazing Outcome
Bead Craft is a simple and fun hobby that anyone, of any age can enjoy. The beauty of bead craft is that it's so easy to learn the basics, and with only a minimal investment in materials and supplies

The Outstanding And Amazing World Of Bead Work
Beadwork at it's very simplest is taking something with a hole in it, and stringing it onto something long material. Having been one of mans first form of expression, with a shell strung on a vine, it thus has a long and rich history.

More Beadwork Good Ideas For Big Fun And Return
If you're interested in beadwork as more than just a hobby, but also as a potential means of putting money in your pocket, then picking the right projects to focus on can greatly influence your success or failure.

Searching Beading Projects On Line For You To Try
Beading can be a very rewarding experience. You can make something beautiful with little to no training in the field. And with the internet, you can easily get what training you feel you might lack.

Buying Beads On The Web - Measuring Does Is Significant
We here in the United States are still very fond of the foot and inch. We are pretty comfortable gauging something's size in those terms. But the rest of the world is using the metric system. And when you go shopping for beads online, you will find those companies do as well.

Buying Beads On The Internet Might Be A Difficult Thing
When buying beads online, you need to remember that, as with all advertisement, the company is presenting you with the best of the best.

Anybody Can Actually Bead
Anyone can learn how to bead. It is as simple as threading something long and thing through something with a hole in it. Very likely started hundreds of years ago by our very primitive ancestors.

Sticking To Bead Work From The Past Till Now
Beadwork stretches back to the beginnings of man, and is common from one culture to the next. As soon as someone took a vine, stripped the leaves off, found an old shell with a hole in it, and threaded it on, beading was born.