Leaded Came Work

Construction

Lengths of ‘H’ section lead are used in this process and the whole piece of work is built on a wooden board. The design template (or cartoon) is placed on the board and the glass panel constructed on top. The first piece of glass is slotted into the outside ‘H’ section of lead and another came slotted onto the exposed edge and bent around the glass to fit. The came is then trimmed and the adjacent piece of glass slotted into place. The glass is kept in place as the work progresses by a series of horseshoe nails which are repositioned as the panel develops.

When all the glass is in place a wider lead came is fitted around the edge in order to hold everything in place.

Soldering

Having checked that all the individual joints are neat the whole piece can be soldered together. This is done by placing flux on all the joints then, using a soldering iron and a length of solder, each joint is heated until a neat flat area of solder is formed which joins the joint together. Once all the intersections are soldered the entire piece is then turned over for the joints to be soldered on the other side.

Cementing

Now that the entire panel is being held together the individual pieces of glass need to be cemented into the lead cames to make it rigid and water tight. This is done by pressing leaded light cement, similar to putty, into the gaps between the glass and the cames smoothing it out as you go. This process inevitable makes the glass and cames messy  so before the panel is turned over to cement the other side powdered chalk or whiting is spread over the entire work and rubbed around absorbing and removing the surplus cement as it goes. The panel is then ready for turning and the cementing process is repeated on the other side.

Blacking

To finish the silvery lead cames can be blackened by applying stove black and buffing up with a soft cloth.