Stained glass windows are a beautiful decor element, an enlivent and adorable interior and a lifting mood. Also very effectively look at the furnishings of the room decorated with stained glass windows, such as flooring, chandeliers, etc. But what should I do, if one or more fragments by chance were broken? If you do not have free tools to hire specialists, or you just love to do everything with your own hands, it is quite possible to solve this problem yourself.

Varieties of stained glass

Glasses from which stained glass makes are divided into several types. Consider some of them:

• Plexiglas - Space material containing special additives, significantly increasing its strength indicators. Also, the composition of such glass includes pigments that paint it into a certain color.
• "Lacobe" - glass of extraordinary beauty. Dyes are applied in this case to the back of the material and thus the very juicy colors are obtained.
• Satin glass. Such material is produced on a very complex technology. Its surface is destroyed by aggressive chemistry, pre-processing some areas of waterproof paint. After the end of the chemical treatment, the paint is washed off and apply varnish. With this technology, a very expressive decorative effect is obtained.

• Toned glass is obtained after a film-forming salt is applied to the surface. The material is exposed to high temperatures, after which it is covered with the finest layer of metal oxide.
• Patterned glass has a very spectacular view and embossed surface. It may be different in thickness and transparency. In the process of its production in a liquid weight of glass, the painting composition is introduced and an oxycinometallic layer is applied. Such glass is usually used to decorate some stained glass sections.
• Colored glass. Such material has a monophonic and uniform color due to the dye administered to the glass mass on one of the production steps.
• Tempered glass is used mainly in cases where it is necessary to ensure the stainedure of high strength and incompetence of temperature. Even if such a glass breaks down, its fragments will be small and unsheat.

• Bent glass. This type of material opens the endless horizons of the designer's fantasy and makes it possible to create volumetric images. The glass is first made soft with high temperatures, then apply the shape and then cooled.
• Multilayer laminated glass - triplex. This is a particularly durable glass of several layers, fastened by layers from a special film, which can be both transparent and decorative. Such glass is very beautiful and firmly. Even if someone succeeds to damage it, it does not injure anyone, because The film will hold the fragments.
• Float glass has crystal transparency, is made in a thermal method and has an ideal-smooth surface. Thanks to these qualities, it is very popular among stained glass manufacturers.

Each type of glass has its advantages. Creating stained glass windows, you can use either some of them, or somewhat in combination with each other.

Acquisition of stained glass

First of all, it is necessary to purchase glass to replace broken fragments. This is especially true if their area is quite extensive. To make the right choice, it is necessary to study the options that exist on the market:

1. Among foreign manufacturers, the glass of American production should be highlighted. It is very high-quality, perfectly cuts out and has a huge color palette, which includes several hundred shades. It can also have different textures and be both transparent and translucent. True costs such glass is not cheap - this is his only drawback.

2. The lowest cost has a glass of domestic producer. It also differs in a variety of textures rich in the spectrum of shades and varying degrees of transparency, but at the same time possesses several serious shortcomings:

• the same sheet in different places can have serious differences in thickness. For this reason, some sections of the sheet may not be suitable for work and turn out to be unclaimed, which will undoubtedly increase your expenses;
• another glass in one batch may be different in the degree of tempered and rigidity. This means that if one sheet you are cut clearly and without problems, the second can begin to be covered by cracks in the most unexpected directions. Such a phenomenon also draws a significant overvaluation of the material.

3. In some cases, it is possible to apply the material intended for glazing furniture and interior doors. It has even lower cost, but at the same time it looks accordingly. If you need glass for stained glass in Tiffany, then this option is definitely not suitable - it will look kill.

4. If you need to replace stained-glass fragments on a flooring or chandelier, then most likely a 3-4 mm thick material is suitable. Although occasionally there is another thickness. Glass for stained glass can be used in specialized stores. Its thickness begins from 1 mm, but it is very fragile and used only for small elements of the overall composition.

The process of replacing the stained glass fragment and the tool required for this

For work, you will need:

• spatula or chisel;
• knife for cutting glass;
• silicone sealant and dispenser;
• stained glass windows required area.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

• take the knife for cutting and carefully pass them below the lead slabs that keep a damaged fragment;
• casting a spatula or a chisel to remove the hills and free the glass fragments. Next, you can either fold them, as they were damaged, redraw the shape and attribute patterns and glass by a specialist for making a new fragment, or cut it yourself, if you have skills and a special tool;
• when a new stained glass fragment is made, take the sealant and apply it to the inner edges of the hill, using the dispenser;
• now insert a new stained glass element and return the lead edges that hold it into the original position. If the sealant will appear from under them, remove it with a damp cloth.

Thus, we see that the process of replacing the damaged glass in the stained glass is quite simple and takes quite a bit of time.

Stained glass windows

All that was mentioned above refers to stained-glass windows consisting of separately carved multi-colored glass fragments, but there are still so-called stained-glass windows on the glass, the photo of which you can see below. They are also called painted, because In the manufacture of solid glass, special dyes apply a drawing and expose high temperatures in special furnaces.

Such stitches are also very beautiful, but in case of damage, it is subject to a complete replacement. Those. You will not be able to cope on your own at home, as in the first case. We'll have to completely remove damaged glass and order in a new workshop.

Decoration of glasses

Today, science stepped so far that the concept of "stained-shop" has become much wider than before. Now, under it implies not only a picture collected from separately carved elements, but also various imitation. There are also many ways to decorate glass. Consider some of them:

• Etching. Such decoration technique includes applying relief, artistic painting, firing in the furnace and subsequent etching with the help of aggressive chemistry. The glass after that becomes very beautiful, the colors smoothly switch to each other, but due to the use of chemicals suffers from the masters, so this technique is practically not used today.
• Sandblasting. The master puts on the surface of a glass of a matte ornament with a thickness of 5 mm. It looks very aesthetically and resembles a frost pattern.

• Fusing. On the surface of the transparent glass, the drawing is performed and the glasses of stained glass are applied to it in several layers. Next, all this is baked in the oven at high temperature.
• Casting. Liquid colored glass is poured into molds with a relief of a certain volume. After that, while the glass has not yet had time to frozen, the masters apply an additional relief on it manually.
• Imitation of stained glass. There are technologies that allow creating stained glass windows, or rather its similarity, by applying a picture to the surface of the glass with special paints. Such a work can be made independently either in the workshop, paying relatively cheap for it.

• Stained glassware. Multicolored glass is cut according to the sketch on the elements of various shapes that are connected with each other with special hills.
• Film stained glass window. The transparent glass sticks fragments of a color film, and the joints between them are sampled with a decorative ribbon. Such a work resembles stained glass glass with metal stretch. It serves long and looks far from exquisitely, but is relatively cheap and can be removed at any moment.
• Varked stained glass window. To get such a stained glass, you need to take a color epoxy resin and apply it to the surface of the glass contours of the pattern. The lines are obtained by volumetric, and between them cells are formed, which are filled with colored varnishes. Such a product is short-lived and afraid of direct sunlight.