Stained Glass Terms and Definitions

Stained Glass | Terms & Definitions - L
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Laitance: The shiny reside of cement left after casting concrete has been vibrated.

Laminating: (1) Process of building up thickness with resin an fiberglass. (2)Process of layering a piece of stained glass inside or between layers of clear glass for protection, security, or weather resistance.

Lamp Bit: Specialized diamond bit for glass grinders used to put a back beveled edge on glass pieces so that they create a narrower solder seam. Used in panel lamp and other three dimensional projects where the pieces meet at an angle rather than squarely against each other.

Lampworking: General process of manipulating glass pieces in a hot flame or torch. Also called flameworking. How some types of beads, vessels, and sculptural items are made.

Lancet: A long, narrow window with a pointed arch.

Lathkin: An instrument made of wood, bone, plastic, or metal used for opening the channel of lead came. Sometimes also called a fid.

Lead Came: An extruded product of lead or lead with trace metals for added strength, made into channels of specific dimensions and profiles on either one or both sides. The channels accept and hold the glass to shape. There are H channel, U channel that can have either flat or rounded profiles. Also spelled 'calm' or 'calmes'

Lead Line: A line produced on a full-size drawing of a leaded window to indicate the position of the lead came.

Lead Knife: A weighted, sharp, generally curved knife used to cut, mold, bevel, place, fit, size, and work with lead cames.

Lead Shears: A special three bladed scissor designed specifically for cutting apart patterns in lead came construction. The extra blade removes a strip between pieces to accommodate the width of the heart of the came.

Lead Stretcher: Tool used to straighten and stiffen pieces of lead came before used in assembly. Set up consists of a lead vise to hold one end of the lead opposite the stretcher. The stretcher itself is a vise attached to a moveable arm. The lead is secured at both ends and as the arm is pulled down, it stretches the lead piece, straightening and stiffening it.

Lead Vise: Tool used to hold one end of lead came secure while you stretch it and then release the lead when done without hour having to drop, kink or curl the piece you just stretched.

Leaded Glass: Glass held together by lead came to create a stained glass work.

Leading Process: The activity of putting together a leaded stained glass work.

Lehr or Leer: The oven used for annealing glassware. Early lehrs were connected to the furnace by flues, but the difficulty of controlling heat and smoke made this arrangement impracticable. Later lehrs were long, brick-lined, separately heated tunnels through which the glass objects were slowly pushed; the glass remained in the lehr for several hours, while it was gradually reheated and then uniformly cooled. Today, lehrs work on a conveyor belt system.

Light: Another term for an entire stained glass window or a portion of one with defined boundaries. As in lead light referring to a leaded glass work.

Light Box: Device used to view glass colors for selection; to trace patterns, or for cutting glass English style.

Lime: Calcined limestone, which, added to the glass batch in small quantities, gives stability. Before the 17th century, when its beneficial effects became known, lime was introduced fortuitously as an impurity in the raw materials. Insufficient lime can cause crizzling.

Lithyalin (from Greek lithos, "stone"): A type of glass, developed in Bohemia by Friedrich Egermann (1777-1864), that is opaque and has a marbled surface resembling semiprecious stones.

Lost Wax Casting: A technique adapted from metalworking. The object to be fashioned in glass is modeled in wax and encased in clay or plaster that is heated. The wax melts and is released through vents or "gates," also made of wax, which have been attached to the object before heating; the clay or plaster dries and becomes rigid. This then serves as a mold, into which molten or powdered glass is introduced through the gates. If powdered glass is used, the mold is heated in order to fuse the contents. After annealing the mold is removed from the object, which is then finished by grinding, fire polishing, or acid etching.

Luster: (1) A shiny metallic effect made by painting the surface with metallic oxides that have been dissolved in acid and mixed with an oily medium. Firing in oxygen-free conditions at a temperature of about 1150° F (600° C) causes the metal to deposit in a thin film that, after cleaning, has a distinctive shiny surface. (2) A glass lighting device, such as a candelabrum or candlestick, decorated with hanging prismatic drops.

The sources for this material include:
•Glass: A Pocket Dictionary of Terms Commonly Used to Describe Glass and Glassmaking.
Compiled by David Whitehouse, 88 pp., 47 illus., 1993
•How to Work in Stained Glass. Anita & Seymour Isenberg, 247 pp., 1972
•Stained Glass Lamps. Anita & Seymour Isenberg, 222 pp., 1972
•The Techniques of Stained Glass. Partrick Reyntiens, 168 pp. 1977
•The Coming Museum Website: www.cmog.org
• The Stained Glass Association of America Website: www.stainedglass.org