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There are few art forms in the world that have the mystique of stained glass. If you travel around the world, you will see breathtaking examples of stained glass throughout the world. It doesn't matter if you are in an old victorian home, a school, or a religious building, you can see wonderful examples of this spectacular art no matter where you go and where you are. We are lucky that we've had so many wonderful teachers that have been willing to carry on the teaching that has allowed this artwork to thrive. Most folks are very intimidated when getting started in stained glass. After all, there is sharp glass and cutting involved, but its really not that difficult, even for a beginner. If you're a beginners, there only a few items that you need to get ahold of to do a very basic project. I think you'll be suprised at how easy it actually is.
The first, and one of the most important things you will need in order to begin, is obviously the stained glass itself. Fortunately, there are many options available, I prefer to use a certain brand though. If you want the best and most popular, you will want to go with Spectrum Stained Glass. Spectrum has a well deserved reputation of being very simple to work with, quality products, and their glass is very easy to get your hands on. Spectrum Glass is very good about putting out quality products in a wide array of colors and textures. Not only that, they are continually adding new products and lines of products to their catalog. One of the neat advantages to working with Spectrum is that as your skills progress, you might start using your own stained glass designs. Most software programs come loaded with Spectrum glass built in so you can design your piece, see it on screen, and then go out and buy the glass if you like it. Its like seeing a preview.
One of the first tools you want to invest in is a good stained glass cutting tool. The name is somewhat misleading because the tool doesn't do the actual cutting, it only scores the glass which you will break eventually. The amount of money you can spend on stained glass cutters varies widely, you can spend a little for a basic one or a lot for a more specialized cutting tools. The traditional cutters will be ok for basically any job, but there are speciality ones for glass strips, to cut circles, or to trace stained glass designs.
A stained glass grinder is another lifesaver that most artists will invest in relatively quickly after they've started their first project and determined they are in it for the long haul. There are a number of glass grinders available for beginners that start at around fifty dollars or so. The grinder smooths out rough edges after you've made the cut and this allows you to shape the piece. A glass grinder is likely something that you will put some money into early on, by no mean is it necessary to getting started. It just happens to be the tool that will often greatly speed up your work, and you can get it at a reasonable price.
Once you get the basics down, you'll start slowly finding more tools that will help make your life a little easier. A good option might be to check out buying a newbie's stained glass starters kit and then you get the whole lot of tools for one low price, they will give you everything you need to begin. Once you are far enough along, you can also look into some handy tools like the ones that Morton Glass puts out. They have a number of tools that make the glass artists life a little easier. SO, there you have it.When you see those churches and impressive works, its easy to get intimidated, but remember that everyone has to start somewhere!
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