Puttying and Patina
Now you are ready to putty up your project. It's important to work with fresh putty. Fresh putty is soft and pliable, stale putty is gummy, hard, and tar-like. Black putty can be purchased at your stained glass supplier, but check it for freshness before you buy. If you can't find fresh black putty, you may have better luck at the hardware store, but to blacken that putty, you might have to add some lamp black.
The putty will cushion will contribute to the structural soundness of your project, and cushion the glass against its own temperature-dependent expansion and contraction if exposed to weather fluctuations. The putty contains linseed oil, which hardens when in contact with the air. The putty may ooze for several days until the putty is hardened. If any oozes, simply scrape it off.
After the project is puttied, buff it with some whiting (calcium carbonate) and a soft metal brush. Whiting is magical with glass. It cleans everything off it. It's the best. Drawback: powder everywhere! Brush generously.
There is no need to patina the lead. The combined putty and whiting, as well as your elbow-grease buffing will give the lead a lovely antique slate color, and the metal brush will smoothen the soldered joints. If the soldered joints are still too shiny for you, you can but a bit of patina on a Q-tip and darken it in spots where you deem it necessary.
The putty will remain soft for about a month. The linseed oil it contains, spurred on by the application of whiting, will begin to oxidize and harden.
Wasn't that EASY? Now you are ready to try it, and then scale up with more complex projects.
Here is the finished project:
Now you are ready to putty up your project. It's important to work with fresh putty. Fresh putty is soft and pliable, stale putty is gummy, hard, and tar-like. Black putty can be purchased at your stained glass supplier, but check it for freshness before you buy. If you can't find fresh black putty, you may have better luck at the hardware store, but to blacken that putty, you might have to add some lamp black.
The putty will cushion will contribute to the structural soundness of your project, and cushion the glass against its own temperature-dependent expansion and contraction if exposed to weather fluctuations. The putty contains linseed oil, which hardens when in contact with the air. The putty may ooze for several days until the putty is hardened. If any oozes, simply scrape it off.
After the project is puttied, buff it with some whiting (calcium carbonate) and a soft metal brush. Whiting is magical with glass. It cleans everything off it. It's the best. Drawback: powder everywhere! Brush generously.
There is no need to patina the lead. The combined putty and whiting, as well as your elbow-grease buffing will give the lead a lovely antique slate color, and the metal brush will smoothen the soldered joints. If the soldered joints are still too shiny for you, you can but a bit of patina on a Q-tip and darken it in spots where you deem it necessary.
The putty will remain soft for about a month. The linseed oil it contains, spurred on by the application of whiting, will begin to oxidize and harden.
Wasn't that EASY? Now you are ready to try it, and then scale up with more complex projects.
Here is the finished project: