Have Fun Making 3D Flowers
With Stained Glass

Making 3D flowers out of stained glass is a fun way to use up your scraps. It's also a good way to get your creative juices flowing.

What I'm showing you here are the bare bones basics, just a way to get to get you started. Some of the techniques are fairly unconventional, especially making the sunflower. Experiment with different materials and techniques. Make some very big flowers rather than the small ones shown here. There are no set rules to follow. The most important thing to remember is..... when you're working with stained glass, HAVE FUN!

All of the stems are made from brass tubes or rods (it doesn't matter which).

The solder around the petals of the cosmos, poppies and pansies is painted with Color Magic, in a color to match the glass.

To get supplies for your 3-D flowers, have a look at A1 Stained Glass. They carry Color Magic Paint in a large range of colors.


The stems of these 3D flowers have all been painted with green Color Magic. They could also be wrapped with green floral tape, which you can buy at any craft store.

The stamen in the poppies were made with stringers that I pulled in a torch flame. They are attached to the flowers with clear silicone. If you don't have a torch, you can buy glass stringers at any stained glass shop that sells hot glass supplies.

Cut and foil all 5 pieces. Edge bead each individual piece.

Use the photographs as your construction guide.

Layer the pieces as shown in the picture, tack soldering as you go to hold them in place. They will only be held together at the center points, so make sure you have a secure solder joint. Solder the stem (brass rod) to the back.

Wash and dry the flower, then paint the edges of each petal with a shade of Color Magic that will match your glass. Put yellow Color Magic on the solder in the center of the flower. Paint the stem green.

Poppy

In my opinion, these are the prettiest 3D flowers.

Using the pattern piece, cut 3 pieces with the pattern facing up, and 3 with it facing down. Foil all 6 pieces. You will use one of each for each petal.

Use the photographs as your construction guide.

Find something, to use as a jig, that will hold two pieces together at about a 120 degree angle. I stood my pieces up on either side of a ball point pen (laying flat on the table) and supported the bottom edges of the glass with masking tape. Solder the joint inside and outside. What you are trying to accomplish is to solder the 2 pieces together at an angle where they join (see the photograph). Finish the edges of each petal with bead soldering.

Set the three finished petals, upside down, on the table so that the bottom edge of all 3 petal come together in the middle. You will need to use masking tape to hold them together. Hold the brass rod (stem) in the middle where the 3 pieces touch and solder the 3 petals and the rod in place. Solder the petals together where they touch on the sides, which will only be a small spot on each petal.

Clean the flowers and paint the edges with Color Magic in a color that matches the glass. Paint the stem green.

You can put stamen in the flowers by making stringers with a bead making torch. You can also buy ready made stringers at any stained glass store that sells hot glass supplies. Glue the stamen in place with clear silicone. When the silicone dries, paint it (using Color Magic Paint) the same color as the stringers.

Lay out the petals around the nugget to make sure they will fit and make any adjustments necessary. Solder the petals onto the nugget, one at a time, lifting the ends of some so that they are not all laying flat on the workbench.

Turn the flower over and solder on the back side. Bend the copper rod at the angle shown on the pattern sheet and solder it to the flower.

Clean the flower and paint as described above, for the Poppy.

Sunflower

These 3D flowers are the most difficult, of the 4, to make.

Use large nuggets for the centers. Rough up the edges of the nuggets, clean them with alcohol and foil with 1/4 inch foil.

Cut 20 to 30 pieces for each flower. Turn the pattern upside down for some of the pieces so that the tips aren't all pointing in the same direction on the finished flower.

I heated some of the pieces with my torch until the tips twisted just a bit. They were then placed in a fire blanket until they cooled. Unfortunately, many of them fractured as soon as I got them out of the flame. I use a lot of glass to make 6 sunflowers! It would be much easier to slump them in a kiln. However, the flowers could look nice with all straight pieces, so you can make them without using a torch or kiln.

Wrap just the wide end of each petal with foil. The rest of the glass is not foiled. Use a small piece of foil and cover the bottom edge, running the foil from front to back, so that it covers the bottom edge of the glass.

Then wrap another piece of foil around the bottom end of the petal (like bandaging a finger tip)so that it covers the front, back and both side edges. Use 1/4 inch foil for this. Trim off any foil that might be sticking out from the first piece you put on. You will now have a petal that has no foil on it except for the lower part. This is what will attach to the nugget.

Lay the nugget face up on your workbench. The petals will be attached in 2 layers. Attach the back layer first using the technique described for the cosmos. Attach the front layer the same way, staggering the petals so that the second layer of petals lays between the petals of the bottom layer.

The back petals will be attached at the back edge of the nugget and the front petals will be attached at the front edge of the nugget.

Solder front and back with a thick bead of solder. Attach the stem on the back. You can do decorative soldering around the nugget to give the appearance of a real sunflower center.

Wash well and paint or patina the solder around the nugget.

Note: Some of the petals might come loose in the foil, since they aren't secured in with foil all around. If any are loose, just pull them out of the foil, put some glue (ie: E 6000) in the foil and push the glass back in place. Once glued in, they are there forever!

Here are pictures of the leaves. They are separate (not soldered to the flowers) and can be stuck anywhere. The flowers are in small clay pots filled with floral foam. The leaves are stuck randomly, where ever they look right.

Now you can make a bunch of 3D flowers to put in a vase. They make a nice item for a craft show, a gift, or for your own home. Get creative and have some fun!

I originally made these 3D flowers as part of a creation for a contest. Everyone was given the same bits and pieces and were told to create something using them in the design. It really challenged the imagination. I was amazed to see how many different pieces could be designed and constructed, incorporating 12 3/4" bevels, 6 "tortoise" jewels, and 2 castings into each design.

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