Leading Windows

I am probably going to die of lead poisoning before I get all of these windows finished. I am growling and spending a lot of time peeling lead off of my fingertips. Ask me how it's going......No. On second thought, you don't want to know. These aren't really hard. They are just very time consuming. The first step was re cutting all of the window frames out of mat board and all of the windows from hard plastic. I used a protective document folder that I got at Wal Mart. It is plastic that doesn't bend but it can still be cut with heavy scissors.

The next step was painting all of the frames on both sides so that they wouldn't warp. The ones in the photo are all for the first floor only. Next time I think I am going to build a cave with no windows. This house has way too many.

Next I glued the plastic to the backside of the frames. It will be sandwiched between the inside frame and the wall. Then after they were dry I taped them, one at a time to the paper drawing of what I wanted the finished leading to look like.

Next I made the leading as I went along. Yes it is real leading. I bought it at a golf shop. It is a lead tape that golfers use to weight their clubs. I used a metal ruler and an Exacto Knife to cut the lead in about 1/32" strips. The tape has a very sticky adhesive back. When you peel off the back it sticks nicely to the plastic laid over the pattern. It can be curved to the lines if you want curves.

As you can see in this photo the stripping can be cut and overlapped to make whatever pattern you want to do.

After I did the leading on the front side I flipped the window over and leaded the other side on the same lines. That way it looks finished from either side.

After I finished that, I colored some of the sections with colored Sharpie pens. Have you checked out their colors lately? They are no longer the same few crayon colors that they once were. They now come in every shade that you can imagine. The last step is flipping the windows over again, so that you aren't working on the Sharpie side and covering all of the sections with clear nail polish to get the old glass look. I will try to get a better photo of the colors tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Because this is the slowest thing I have ever done.

Admittedly, I am not working all day on these, but after hours of work for two days, this is the sum total of my efforts. I do have all of the frames and windows cut and the frames painted. All I have to do is spend hour after hour playing with lead strips.

Yup! Three windows are finished! I will take some more photos as I go tomorrow. I have to quit now and remember to wash my hands before I start cooking dinner. Lead in the soup wouldn't taste very good.

See you tomorrow.