DIY Network

Stained Glass Curtain Dress your window in stained glass. From "B. Original" episode DBOR-120

This glittering glass curtain will beautify any window.

If you want the beauty of a stained glass window, but aren't ready to tackle creating a whole window yourself, there is another way: this fun stained glass window treatment from Michele Beschen.

The B. Original host shows how to solder together a curtain of stained glass that will have multi-colored lights dancing around your room. You can use this project to cover an entire window in stained glass, or do just a few lines of glass to create charming suncatchers. And, since the project isn't permanently installed on your window, you can move it to other rooms or even to a new home if you like.

Scroll down for Michele Beschen's easy glass how-to.

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	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C
	Figure D
	Figure E

Materials:

glass panels (available at glass stores)
solder
flux
burnishing tool
soldering iron
jump rings
dowel with cup hooks

• This project requires cutting several pieces of stained glass. To do this, use a simple glass cutter and a straight edge to score a line where you want your cut. Then, wearing gloves and eye protection, firmly grasp the glass on both sides of the score line and twist your wrists to snap the glass.

  Safety Alert: Always wear eye protection and sturdy gloves when cutting glass. Small shards of glass often go flying when the glass snaps, and the glass edges can be extremely sharp. Also, make sure you clean up any small pieces of glass from your workspace to keep them away from children or pets.

• While wearing eye protection, score and snap your glass into several rectangles (figure A). Cut enough glass pieces to fill the width and length of the window where they will hang. You may want to draw a life-size sketch of the window and lay out the glass pieces as you go.

  Note: Michele Beschen recommends cutting some longer pieces of glass in your design. It will make the project go much faster.

• Cover the edges of the glass with copper or silver foil tape (figure B). Since you will hang your glass pieces vertically, don't start or finish the tape at the top or bottom of the piece—it will make the tape more likely to pull off. Press the tape firmly in place all the way around each piece of glass, then burnish with a burnishing tool.

• Solder jump rings to each end of each glass piece
  (figure C). To do this, brush flux over the foil tape and over the jump ring, then apply a bead of solder to the tape. Lay down your roll of solder and pick up the jump ring with needle nose pliers; reheat the solder and apply the jump ring. You also can try Michele Beschen's technique, using small, freestanding clamps as extra hands. Also solder the split in the jump ring shut.

• Link the glass pieces together with additional jump rings (figure D), remembering to apply flux before each solder. You also can tape and solder in other glass pieces, such as glass gems. Solder all of the splits in the jump rings closed so they don't pull apart.

• Repeat the process until you reach the desired size for your panel.

• To hang, use a dowel with evenly spaced cup hooks
  (figure E).