You have your pretty new stained glass. You have your pattern. But how do you transfer your pattern to stained glass?
In stained glass, some things ya just have to do things a certain way or you’re going to end up with a hot mess, but patterns…
You can get your pattern onto your glass in a whole bunch of different ways!
Table of Contents
What should you make your stained glass pattern out of?
Let’s discuss using paper, cardstock, vinyl, laminate, what markers to use, and which ones are easiest to transfer your pattern to stained glass.
Paper & Cardstock
Plain ‘ol printer paper works in a pinch.
But if you’re going with the paper method, I prefer cardstock. It’s a stiffer material so it doesn’t flip up as easily when you’re tracing it. And you’ll be able to reuse them more times.
If ya have some old manila folders laying around, those work well too.
Quick Tip: If your paper pattern is sliding around on the glass when you’re trying to trace it, use a regular ‘ol glue stick to stick it down. Don’t worry, the glue easily washes off of your glass.
Orrrr….
Laminate
Laminate your pieces! This is my favorite method to transfer your pattern onto your stained glass because you can reuse your pattern pieces a zillion times (even if ya use the glue stick to hold them in place).
Laminating machines are pretty cheap, but if you don’t have one, you can make your own out of packing tape.
Scotch Thermal Laminator
The one I use isn’t available anymore, but this one gets great reviews.
*I may receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through these links. My integrity cannot be bought, so I will never link to anything I don’t love &/or know to be quality.
Vinyl
Some people like cutting their patterns out of vinyl sticker paper & then running their glass cutter around it.
The plus side of vinyl is you get to skip the tracing step.
The downsides are that your pattern pieces aren’t easily reusable.
And you’ll likely end up grinding a bit more because it’s hard to keep your wheel right against the edge of the vinyl without running over it.
Note: If you run over the vinyl with your cutter, you’ll have to move the pattern piece & start your glass cut over in a different spot if you cut too far in or you’ll have a big gap between your pieces when you go to solder.
Oracal Removable Vinyl Sheets
What Kind of Marker is best to Transfer Patterns to Stained Glass?
When you’re tracing your pattern onto your stained glass, the size of the marker tip can make a big difference in the fit of your glass pieces.
Use an Ultra Fine Tip Sharpie. The super little tip is much closer to the size of your glass cutter wheel so you’ll end up with much more accurate cuts than if you use a regular sharpie.
I prefer to use the blue color. If you adjust your light to the right angle, you’ll be able to see it on dark colored glass too.
I’ve yet to find an Ultra Fine white marker for dark glass that actually works, but when I do, you’ll be the first to know!
How to Keep Your Pattern Lines From Rubbing Off of Your Stained Glass When Grinding
When you have enough water going to your grinder bit, you’re inevitably going to be losing some of your lines on your glass.
Ya usually end up rubbing some of them off with your fingers while you’re holding the glass at the bit as well.
Fret not, we have options!
- Lip Balm – rub some over your lines & they stay while ya grind. (Make sure ya mark it for glass only!)
- Mark Stay – this product is designed for just this purpose. I’ve not used it before, but it has a good reputation.
You can often find Mark Stay at your local glass supply shop. There’s a listing of many at the bottom of My Favorite Tools & Supplies page.
The better you get at cutting, the less grinding you’ll have to do, and the less you’ll have difficulty with your lines coming off of your glass.
Like anything in stained glass, ya just keep getting better with time!
Peace, Love, & Stained Glass,
-Shannie 😃
Learn to make beautiful Stained Glass Art with me!
Whether you’ve never touched a piece of glass before, or you’re ready to brush up your stained glass skills, I’m here for ya!
I am just getting back into stained glass after being out of it for about 12 years. I hear people talk about using vinyl to make their pattern pieces. In this blog of yours you say using vinyl allows you to skip tracing. I’m not sure what you meant by that. I make my patterns on tracing paper. Then I outline everything in Black marker. I’ve always just taped that pattern on a window and taped my adhesive pattern paper to trace the pattern pieces. Then cut them out and place them on the glass. The problem I have is sometimes the pattern pieces are hard to get off. When I heard about vinyl I thought that might work a little easier but I’m not comprehending how it’s used. Maybe I’m overthinking it and it’s used the same way I used adhesive paper. Can you help me out? Thank you.
Hi Susan! Happy to help. I usually cut out my patterns on cardstock, place the pieces on top of the glass, & trace around them with an Ultra Fine Sharpie (so the lines don’t get too wide), & then score on the lines.
I used to do it the way you do & totally forgot about it to list it as an option.
You can skip the tracing with vinyl cuz you’re sticking it right onto the glass & scoring around it. You can use vinyl in a couple of ways. You can run it through a die cutting machine like a Cricut or Silhouette & stick the pieces right on your glass, & then score right around it.
Or you can draw directly on it, cut it out by hand, & place each piece on the glass.
Another option is 8.5″x11″ full label sheet paper made for printers. It seems to stick decently, but not be a pain in the butt to remove. You can print right on them from your computer which saves the step of tracing your drawing onto it.
If that doesn’t make sense, let me know. I’ll do a post with pics. ✌️💕😀
Hello Shannie:
I hope there’s no such thing as a stupid question, so here goes.
I like using vinyl adhesive paper to transfer the pattern to glass. But I’m confused as to which side of the glass to put the vinyl. When glass is textured we’re taught to cut on the smooth side of the glass. But if I put my vinyl on the smooth side I end up with a cut piece that’s reversed with respect to the pattern. Maybe I should be printing the pattern on the opposite side of the vinyl sheet? Please advise. – Paul
Nope! Ya don’t know what ya don’t know…so no dumb questions (And I very truly never get tired of answering questions. For realz!)😁 If you’re using a Cricut or Silhouette machine, you should have a mirror function so you can flip the pattern over before you send it out to cut. If you’re printing them out on adhesive paper and then cutting by hand, you may want to use a software like Canva to flip the pattern over and then print. If any of that doesn’t make sense, let me know!
It’s my first ever piece, I think I’m overthinking this, but I am using sticker paper and trying to freehand my drawing on it, not realizing oh my pieces need to fit together. I’m doing a really simple butterfly but I’m stuck and realize it needs to fit like a puzzle to work and freehand won’t work….unless it will? Sorry! So excited to start that when I’m actually trying to do it I’m realizing more thought must go into it.
Oh no! It’s definitely a learning curve, but you’ll get it for sure! I’d start with patterns made by artists who’ve been at it a while and also understand stained glass design structure (I have freebies on the site here, more freebies in the Community, & Poloinzio Glass is another one that does great, structurally strong patterns). There’s a lot that goes into good pattern making, especially when it comes to structure, so it’s easier to take that out of the equation when you’re just starting out in stained glass and concentrate on the rest of the process.
You can freehand your designs (I did for a long time before getting an iPad), but you’ll want to make sure you’re using an ultrafine sharpie when you’re drawing so you don’t end up with either too small or too big of gaps between your pieces. You need to draw the whole outline first, then add in your cut lines (this is where the structure thing really comes into play), cut your sticker paper, and then put each individual piece of sticker paper on your glass (let me know if that doesn’t make sense…I know it can be hard to visualize written out).