Glass Tips & Tricks 

Newsletters from our past converted to fresh articles about stained glass.

Re-Apply Patina  To Stained Glass

Here is a panel that is in need of brightening. The blackness of the patina is dull and you can see that there is a buildup of pale corrosion around the edges of the lead lines.

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Get your favorite cleanser (the kind you're never supposed to use except when revitalizing a window) and a stiff brush. (An old tooth brush will work fine or you can use a household scrub brush.)

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Apply a light coating of cleanser.

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Add a small amount of water and scrub the lead lines. Make sure to scrub each direction to remove any corrosion that has formed around the lead lines.

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After both sides of the panel have been cleaned, rinse the cleanser off and dry the panel well. It's easy to rinse off in the sink or with a garden hose. If water is not easily available, get a bucket or pan of water and use rags to rinse off the window.

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Next you'll need your patina and a rag that you don't care about. You need it to be cloth, paper towels disintegrate and even rags get eaten away by the chemicals in patina.

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Apply the patina liberally. If you only put a little on, the chemical reaction doesn't work right. Black patina will try to go copper and copper patina will try to go black. See the crystals on the edge of the bottle? They form after the chemical has been sitting, so always shake the bottle before applying patina.

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Take your rag and apply a liberal coat of patina. Don't be afraid to use a lot. You'll have better success with more of the chemical. 


 Wash and dry the window thoroughly. Leaving patina on the glass can cause it to discolor.

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Here is the completed panel, looking new. There are many methods to renewing windows, check out other techniques in this section.