There are few art forms in the world that have the beauty of stained glass. No matter if you are traveling around the whole world or right there in your own backyard, the examples of fine craftsmanship are all around. It doesn't matter if you are in an old victorian home, a school, or a religious building, you can see wonderful examples of this spectacular art no matter where you go and where you are. We are lucky that we've had so many wonderful teachers that have been willing to carry on the teaching that has allowed this artwork to thrive. Many people seem to think that getting started making stained glass is difficult, but with a few pointers anyone can get started for little time and little money. Here are some of the tools needed to get started with a basic project.

One of the first thing you need to create something wonderful is the stained glass itself! Spectrum Glass is the standard in the glass industry. It's the most widely used glass and with good reason, it's quality and is easy to work with. Spectrum Glass is very good about putting out quality products in a wide array of colors and textures. Not only that, they are continually adding new products and lines of products to their catalog. The other advantage to using Spectrum is that most pattern software programs that you can work with have spectrum glass loaded in, so you can design your pattern using the available colors from Spectrum.

One of the first tools you want to invest in is a good stained glass cutting tool. You use this tool for scoring the glass before you apply pressure to make the break. The amount of money you can spend on stained glass cutting tools varies widely, you can spend a little for a basic one or a lot for a more specialized cutter. You basically use the traditional ones for your standard cuts, but you can also get higher end cutters that can cut cirlces, are easiler to work with, and ones that have different sized blades.

One useful tool that I would recommend as you advance through the hobby is a stained glass grinders. There are a number of grinders available for beginners that start at around fifty dollars or so. The grinder smooths out rough edges after you've made the cut and this allows you to shape the piece. While it's not exactly necessary to have a high end stained glass grinder early on, its a nice thing that most hobbyists will invest in off the bat.

Once you get the basics down, you'll begin slowly finding more tools that will help make your life a little easier. The best recommendation I can make is to purchase a starters stained glass kit and that will give you all the small tools you need to get started. Once you are far enough along, you can also look into some handy tools like the ones that Morton Glass puts out. Morton makes tools that make the life of a stained glass artist just a little bit easier. So there you go.Sometimes when you look up at all the amazing glass produced by stained glass artists it's easy to get intimidated, always remember though that every needs to start at the beginning and as long as you keep practicing, then you will improve!