STAINED GLASS GLISTENS IN JACKSON

Stained glass can be used to create a variety of items. Mary Koenig of Jackson exhibits some of them in her workshop. She's holding a piece of pinkish-white, opalescent stained glass.

Pieces of cut glass that have rough edges are smoothed at a grinding machine with a diamond-coated grinding wheel.

Stained glass is an art with a thousand-year history and one that has never lost its elegance and beauty.

Its first use in church windows dates to 969 A.D., and within several hundred years most of the churches in Europe glowed with elaborate, multi-colored stained glass windows.

Following a revival of stained glass making in France in the early 19th century, the wondrous windows began to appear in buildings other than religious.

These days, stained glass art appears everywhere -- in restaurants, hotels, banks, and in doors and windows of private homes, and on lamp shades and jewelry boxes.

Mary Koenig of Jackson took a class in making stained glass windows in 1982 -- and she's been making them ever since. Her creations can be found in many area homes and businesses.

"I fell in love with it over 10 years ago," said Koenig, referring to the ancient craft. "My sister was a co-owner of a crafts shop in Cape, and she and her partner offered different classes -- one was how to make stained glass windows."

Koenig said it took several years of experience before her hobby matured into an enterprise. She opened a shop for her creations in Cape, taught stained glass making there, closed the shop in 1990 and now operates out of a renovated garage at her home.

She says the value of stained glass lies in its color effects and design. From sunrise to sunset the colors change. Blues grow prominent when light dims; reds and yellows are brilliant at mid-day; and throughout the day there is an ever-changing pattern of tones.

Whereas a painting reflects light, stained glass transmits light. And the colors used in the designs have psychological impact -- yellows and oranges are cheerful colors; reds are violent or exciting; blue is serene; green, restful; violets, mysterious.

"I usually use more than one color in a creation," said Koenig, motioning to a wooden crate containing large pieces of stained glass of different colors. "It goes in stages of what colors people want. Sometimes it's the mauve colors ... whatever's popular at the time."

Besides making stained glass windows, Koenig uses stained glass to create lamp shades, wall hangings, jewelry boxes and marble scopes -- a kind of up-scale kaleidoscope with a marble at one end that refracts and splits light.

Koenig says stained glass "is so much more than windows," but quickly admits it's stained glass windows that are most popular.

Last year, with help from her husband, Ron, who does glass etchings, she completed her most challenging piece of work -- a 6-foot diameter round stained glass window with beveled cluster designs. Made for a home in Cape Girardeau, the window took about five months to make and weighed about 125 pounds.

The first step in fashioning a stained glass creation is to decide on the colors. People often want the glass to match upholstery, carpet or drapes, says Koenig. Also, different textures of glass are available. Texture affects the amount of light that penetrates.

The next step is to make a pattern to use as a template to guide the glass cutter as the glass is "scored."

A shelf in Koenig's workshop is packed with pattern books. "People look through the books, sometimes we combine patterns or make changes in them. Sometimes we come up with original patterns," she said leafing through pages of a pattern book that shows designs of owls, rabbits, flowers, cowboys, eagles and cacti.

Running through the patterns are "lead lines" -- marks that show where to cut the glass so it can be fitted with other pieces of cut glass and connected by lead and solder or copper foil and solder.

Koenig enlarges the pattern to the full size of the creation, and makes two copies. One of the pattern copies remains intact and the other is cut into templates and numbered. The numbers -- or coding -- ensures pieces are not left out of the design.

With the template held firmly on the selected glass, most of the glass used is 1/8th-inch thick, Koenig uses glass cutters with carbide heads that are well-oiled to "score" or gently cut along the pattern lines. A pair of special pliers can be used to snap off small, straight line scores that are hard to break manually.

If the piece of glass has a "jag" or uneven edge, a grinder with a diamond-coated grinding wheel smooths it.

Leading -- or glazing -- is the structural support for the cut glass pieces. There are two techniques to choose from -- lead channel and copper foil.

"The lead channel technique is the original way," said Koenig, reaching for a long, slender piece of lead, which is malleable. "You fit the glass into the channel and wrap the channel around it.

"Then you snip it and where the ends meet you solder it."

Koenig uses an 80-watt soldering iron although irons range from 50 watts to 100 watts. She uses a rheostat to control the iron's heat -- if the iron's too hot the glass can break and the solder becomes too runny; if the iron's too cold it's difficult to "pull" the solder along the seam.

When all the pieces of glass are joined it's time to cement and clean the creation. Putty is poured onto the glass and with a brush scrubbed into the channel.

"That stabilizes the glass," Koenig said. Plaster of Paris or sawdust is sprinkled on the work to absorb oil from the putty. Residue is brushed away. After the cement has been left to dry for a few days, the glass can be cleaned with a window cleaner.

The copper foil technique is the other way of securing together pieces of stained glass. It became popular just after the turn of the century. Louis Comfort Tiffany, says Koenig, is probably most responsible for its development and usage by means of his famous Tiffany lamps.

Because of its flexibility and thinness, copper foil is well suited for small, intricate designs. Also, it is weather-proof and doesn't require the use of putty for stabilization.

"The copper foil tape comes in different sizes," said Koenig, "and one side is adhesive. You clean the glass and wrap the foil around the edges until it meets, then you cut it. Then fold it over the edges."

A burnisher is used to smooth the foil so it lies smooth and tight against the glass. After each piece of glass has been wrapped, they are positioned in place on the work bench.

Solder is heated and the foil is covered gently and evenly. "The tape disappears under the solder," said Koenig.

After soldering, the work is cleaned using the same process as in the lead channeling technique.

"If you like the copper color, you can apply some copper patina to the solder," she explained.

Koenig says the copper foil technique is more exacting and time consuming, but the design advantages can produce an exciting piece of work.

Mastering soldering was the hardest part of working with stained glass, said Koenig.

"You have to have a smooth, steady flow of the solder with no apparent interruptions or bumps."

Koenig says she wishes she had kept her first attempt at a stained glass window -- "It was so bad I threw it away."

But the stained glass windows she creates now -- are keepers.