Stained glass art is made in two ways but first each piece of glass is cut out by hand, into shapes that fit onto the pattern drawn out in the desired design like a jigsaw.

The glass shapes for large projects such as windows and mirrors are joined together with traditional lead which is 'H' shaped to allow the glass to slot into place.  The leaded glass design is then nailed to a work board with horseshoe nails to keep it tightly in place so that each joint can be soldered with a soldering iron specially designed for stained glass.  Each soldered joint is then rubbed with tallow, a type of candle wax, then the design is filled in with a special cement on both sides of the design (turning the design over is a carefully executed task) before being cleaned and polished.

The second method, commonly used for smaller decorative items, is copper foiling.  Each piece of glass is edged with copper foil which is then soldered all the way along the joins with the wrong side being soldered flat, and the right side soldered in a raised bead.  The finished item is then washed and polished.

Hand made stained glass items can be easily distinguished from mass produced items by looking at the solder which on the hand made items is slightly uneven.

The selection of photographs below is a broad ranging sample of  work that Gloria does, beginning with the method of making the items, and a window in various stages of production to the finished item in-situ.