Aleš Lombergar

you need to find a supplier of the stained glass first, hobby lobby in indiana had some . then you need a glass cutter, the flat nosed pliers usually with a rubber insert to snap your glass, you really need a good book that tells you the basics, you need a good sturdy table with a wooden edge to keep your glass from going onto the floor, you can practice cuts with plain old window glass, you need copper foil, lead came, a sharp knife. solder, flux , solder iron. it will make a million tiny flecks of sharp glass everywhere around your work station so dont do it around kids or pets at all. you might want leather gloves to handle glass, eye protection, and a small bench grinder to help you get smooth rounded surfaces on your glass so that the pieces fit, remember that there is a great deal of waste in stained glass, as to make a curved cut, you have to cut many strips to cut away excess , you really cant make a smooth curved cut, you cut it in sections and then use the grinder to make anything curved smooth. its the hardest craft i ever tried, i had a 3 yr old so i quit after a few stabs at it.

This is the advice I gave someone else:

Find a local shop that deals with stained glass – you can find listings for them on the internet, and go in and talk to the owner or sales staff. My husband has been doing stained glass for 20 years (off and on) and we have never been in a stained glass shop where the staff wasn’t extremely knowledgable and friendly and very willing to give advice and assistance. Many shops either offer classes or advertise classes for local artisans, and getting into a beginner’s class is the way to go.

It can be an expensive hobby and not something you can really experiment with and figure out on your own without at least a basic education from someone who knows what they’re doing. It can be very confusing to figure out tools and technique on your own, and in most cases, you’ll want to try out different tools like saws and grinders before buying your own. A class will allow you to see if you really like doing it before you make a major investment.