Classes & Resources

Classes

The Hour Glass classes are professionally taught in a casual, relaxed atmosphere. We take pride in our teaching and your learning and enjoyment is our top priority. Our class sizes are limited so you receive plenty of personal attention from our staff. You will learn to make your stained glass dreams come true and have fun doing it.

Flexible Classes

The Hour Glass will teach you right here in our studio. We will help you design a project of your choosing and you will learn while you fabricate. If you do not have any experience in the making of stained glass we will start you out with our introduction to Basic Stained Glass class where, through expert hands on instruction, you will quickly become proficient enough to move on to more advanced projects.

Course Content

Hour Glass uses a hands-on approach to teaching. We will demonstrate and work directly with you until you have learned the basics of:

When you are ready, we will set up a stained glass project together. We will discuss your plan with you, help you select material and a pattern appropriate to your skill level, get you started, and monitor your progress. However, we expect you to work on your project on your own at home and in the workshop. If you find it difficult to solder or cut, we will advise you to practice on clear glass until you can run a decent bead of solder and cut a good line of glass. After the first session, you will need to purchase your hand tool kit, and start taking your work home.

Next, The Hour Glass will introduce power tools to help you do more difficult work. After you are proficient at cutting with a glass cutter, we will teach you how to use a diamond disc grinder for outside curves. Then you will learn to make a stained glass pattern (called a cartoon), a full sized line drawing that shows the exact sizes and placement of all pieces in your project.

Finally, The Hour Glass and you will join the glass using either solid metal came or by foiling the edges in the Tiffany-LaFarge method. Then we solder, clean and polish to prepare for patina application.

After the final washing, your stained glass masterpiece is ready to be installed into the window or your home.

DO NOT BE AFRAID… SIGN UP AND LET US ALL HAVE SOME FUN!!

Requirements: Previous experience or our Introduction to Stained Glass Class.

Learn the full range of skills needed to make stained glass

Resources

Glass Properties

There is a mystery to glass. It is a form of matter with gas, liquid and solid state properties. Glass is most like a super-cooled liquid. It captures light and glows from within. It is a jewel-like substance made from the most ordinary materials: sand transformed by fire. Before recorded history, man learned to make glass and color it by adding metallic salts and oxides. These minerals within the glass capture specific portions from the spectrum of white light allowing the human eye to see various colors. Gold produces stunning cranberry, cobalt makes blues; silver creates yellows and golds, while copper makes greens and brick red.

Glass Manufacturers

Wissmach Glass Company
Armstrong Glass Company
Spectrum Glass

Suppliers

Rainbow Art Glass
Bendheim Stained Glass
The Glass Emporium
Warner Crivellaro Stained Glass

The Hour Glass, Inc.
6 St. Marys Ave Suite 100B
La Plata, MD 20646
Phone: (301) 392-1715
the.hourglass@verizon.net