pattern shears cut away slightly more than needed

by Diana Aldridge
(Salisbury, N.C.)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS SITE! My problem is - I used pattern shears that cut out ever so slightly more than 1/16 and the heart of the came I obtained is slightly too small also. The face of the came is 5/32, and I thought that would look better because some of the pieces are small. Anyway, now I am thinking that I need a wider face and a thicker heart to avoid having to recut too many pieces that are going to have too small of a fit. I hope you are following me. Should I go ahead with the 5/32 and the small heart and recut glass to make up the difference as I go? What would you do?

Answer

That's one of the many reasons I don't like pattern shears. The few times I've tried them they have caused me nothing but trouble.

I use a black Staedtler Lumocolor Permanent marking pen to draw along the cut lines, then cut out the line by cutting on either side of the line with regular scissors. I know it takes longer, but I've never had pattern pieces that were too small.

To fix your problem, you have three choices:

1. Cut the heart out of some scrap lead and put it against the heart of the lead you are using, then slide the glass in place. It will make the glass fit better unless the glass is way too small. That's a trick we use when we have a piece of glass that's too small.

2. You can do the same as above using pieces of copper restrip.

3. Re-cut the glass.