There are few art forms in the world that have the beauty of stained glass. If you travel around the world, you will see breathtaking examples of stained glass throughout the world. 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. Most folks are very intimidated when getting started in stained glass. After all, there is sharp glass and cutting involved, but its really not that difficult, even for a beginner. Here are some of the tools needed to get started with a basic project.

Obviously, you need stained glass in order to create stained glass! If you want the best and most popular, you will want to go with Spectrum Stained Glass. It's the most widely used glass and with good reason, it's quality and is easy to work with. They also come in a wide variety of textures and colors so you always have a lot to work with. 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.

The next tool you'll likely need is a good stained glass cutting tool. The name is somewhat misleading because the tool doesn't do the actual cutting, it only scores the glass which you will break eventually. 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 cutting tools. 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.

A stained glass grinder is another lifesaver that most artists will invest in relatively quickly after they've started their first project and determined they are in it for the long haul. There are a number of glass 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 artists will invest in off the bat.

Once you get the basics down, you'll start slowly finding more tools that will help make your life a little easier. A good option might be to check out buying a newbie's stained glass starters kit and then you get the whole lot of tools for one low bargain price, they will give you everything you need to begin. 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.When you see those churches and impressive works, its easy to get intimidated, but remember that everyone has to start somewhere!