Decra Led - Chesire

Decra Led are a company in Cheshire thathave been in business for over 40 years, and they produce strips of lead for making leaded windows. The strips come in different widths from 1/4 of an inch to 3/8 of an inch and in rolls of 165 foot, in two different colours, i.e. traditional lead coloured and brass, so that you can chose one to suit your decor, prices from £10 to £25 depending upon width chosen.

There is also a choice of profile ...
...entered the handicraft market and Decra Led caters now for the individual by providing their range through hardware stores all over the U.K. They produce plastic film as well which can be used for colouring the areas leaded and these films come in all the colours of the rainbow, although at £10 a sheet (18* x 26"), I have always found this an expensive way to colour glass and have leaned towards glass paints instead.

Their range ... more

Decra Led are a company in Cheshire thathave been in business for over 40 years, and they produce strips of lead for making leaded windows. The strips come in different widths from 1/4 of an inch to 3/8 of an inch and in rolls of 165 foot, in two different colours, i.e. traditional lead coloured and brass, so that you can chose one to suit your decor, prices from £10 to £25 depending upon width chosen.

There is also a choice of profile which means you can buy a curved lead or a flat one, although the curved one gives greater depth to your work. The lead is in a roll and has a backing strip that protects the adhesive that sticks the lead to the glass.

The product was originally produced for double glazing companies, and little by little it has entered the handicraft market and Decra Led caters now for the individual by providing their range through hardware stores all over the U.K. They produce plastic film as well which can be used for colouring the areas leaded and these films come in all the colours of the rainbow, although at £10 a sheet (18* x 26"), I have always found this an expensive way to colour glass and have leaned towards glass paints instead.

Their range also includes bevels so that you can make your glasswork look like cut glass. What a bevel is is an extension to the surface of the glass to give it depth and I find these very pricey, ranging between £3 and £30 for a set, and although these do add character to glasswork, for the beginning, I do feel that these bevels are too specialised because a user would be expected to have a UV lamp to cure the product and not all of us have this.

Going back to the lead. For my windows, I used the 1/4 inch lead, because it is slim and easy to manipulate.

STARTING FACTS

The way in which you use DecraLed is that you draw on a piece of paper the design that you want to put onto your window. Fresh glass is the best alternative if you cannot take your windows out and lie them down to work, because the work needs to be done flat.

The design is put under the glass, and the glass is then cleaned meticulously because if it is not, then the sticking power of the lead strips is less effective. DecraLed do provide a cleaner although I have found household cleaners to be just as effective, and in fact vinegar removes grease and dirt from windows and leaves the surface nice and clean.

The next step is to stick the lead to the windows, and here you cut the lead strip to the required length, unkink any bits of it that have bent or warped, and then start at the beginning of each line that you want to put on the window and press the lead into place.

This pressing is not sufficient on its own. When you have the lead in place, there is a boning tool that comes free with DecraLed and basically this is a little plastic tool that you run over the surface of the lead making sure that it firmly stuck in place. There is a pointed end to the boning tool and this is for running along the edges of the lead. This is particularly important if you are going to paint your leaded windows, because if this stage of the process is not done, paint will seep under the lead and look untidy.

At points where the lead overlaps another strip of lead, the boning tool is used to press down firmly at each side of the strip already applied. Overlapping the lead looks effective and gives the impression of real leaded glass as the overlaps look like joints in the lead where traditionally they would have been soldered.

This is a hobby that anyone can enjoy. I would advise people just starting to lead glass to make a small project for themselves like a glass picture and let experience take them onto more ambitious projects. Straight lines are extremely easy, although the more intricate patterns are really for the more experienced user, when you ave learned to manipulate the lead strips to form curves and have learned how to join pieces at different angles.

The amount of projects that you can do with this product is amazing, although I would suggest that the less experienced start with something simple.

When I started leading glass, this was years before the internet existed. This product has been renowned for a long time, and I have noticed that their website on www.DecraLed.com/intructions.htm gives you picture by picture instructions that were never available to me when I started. Their full range of products are available to buy online.

The benefits of using this product are that you can make your mark on your house. You can have pretty windows and they do not have to cost the earth. The local church asked me to produce a window and I did a scene with the cross on it and fields in the background. They were very happy with the results. As for me, I have done windows for the whole of my house, partition walls with windows leaded to make them full of character, and I have done windows with irises on them for my kitchen which are enhanced with glass paints. These were lovely projects and all part of the renovation process.

As for helpfulness, the staff at DecraLed are extremely helpful and friendly, their website is easy to navigate, and I notice that they have a secure site for payments. They have always been quick to deliver and I have only once complained because I received a defective roll of lead, which was promptly replaced with another roll.

If you lean towards handicrafts, or if you have thought about whether you could produce work with glass, then this product is ideal for someone who wants results quickly. It is a super alternative to traditional leaded glass, where pieces of glass are held together with lead.

As a word of warning, when working with glass, I find that masking tape around the edges of the pane are essential to protect your hands from cuts. I always mask the edges of the glass after cleaning to ensure my own safety.

 

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