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use safety when working with stained glass

Almost everyone understands that broken glass edges are sharp and dangerous, but they’re impossible to avoid when you choose to create beauty with stained glass. Yes, stained glass artists do get minor cuts, but there are ways to minimize those cuts, as well as the possibility of cutting others who happen to be near your work area.

First, make your work area inaccessible to small children. It must be a “no entry” zone for those with curious fingers and wobbly legs. Between glass slivers and shards, hot solder, caustic chemicals, grinders, shavers and more, your stained glass work area is no child’s playground. Take care of anyone who enters your work area, adults included, and be sure all visitors abide by your safety rules.

Organize your work area so that you have a logical place for all of your tools and materials. Use shelves, racks, containers and bins to keep everything orderly and don’t leave things just lying around. Just as you learned as a child, put things back where they came from: Cap chemicals as soon as you’re finished using them, always use your soldering iron holder, then turn off and unplug the appliance after use.

Always wear gloves when you handle glass. Before you move a sheet of glass, always check it for cracks, visually and by sound. If you don’t see any cracks, lift the sheet slightly and tap on it gently with your finger. If you hear a dull sound, as opposed to a crisp “ring,” it has a crack. Don’t move cracked glass.

Glass should always be carried in a vertical position – never flat. The correct way to pick up and carry a sheet of glass is to grasp it with both hands by the top edge. Pick up larger or heavier sheets with one hand on the top edge and the other hand supporting the weight on the bottom edge. If you have to reposition glass as you carry it, release your grip and move your hand to a new position; never run your hand along the edge.

When you’re ready to place a sheet of glass onto your work bench, place the center of the sheet against the edge of the bench. Then gently hinge it onto the bench, sliding it on securely.

Becoming a great artist includes becoming a great advocate for safety in your craft. Imagine the void in the art world if Louis Tiffany had mortally injured himself as he designed his first lamp!