The Triangle: a Glass Closet for Wine

Hello there wood workers!

I would like to introduce you to this new piece of furniture.

A right triangle is what it looks like, a modular wine closet is what it is.

The idea to build some shelving for storing wine came when I had some nice big wine glasses as a present. Figuring out where to put them was the next step, which, actually, brought to build these shelves.

The idea mingled aesthetic, geometry, functionality, rustic and contemporary style. This triangle is what resulted from it.

The concept of modularity also spurred the design for this shelving as it is composed by 6 different cabinets with doors, which can be rearranged in different poses at your liking.

Eventually, the stained glass technique was used to make the colorful window doors.

The main contribution to this project comes form Almascien Architecture.

So let's get started.

ATTENTION: there will be some dangerous activities, such as wood cutting with a jigsaw and glass cutting. Beware splinters and shards!

WOOD

2 plywood panels of 2.85 x 1.85 m

1 fir wood plank of 2.40 x 0.25 m

1 fir wood plank of 2 x 0.25 m

1 fir wood plank of 1.33 x 0.25 m

some fir wood cuts

screws

shelf pins

hinges

STAINED GLASS

- cathedral antique glass in different colors

- C lead profile

- tin

- antioxidant compound

- soldering fluid

The project was designed with SketchUp. Feel free to download the attached file and have a good look.

The triangle hypotenuse delimits the shelves and there are 3 parallel lines along which the hypotenuses of the glass triangles follow.

Although the final shape might seems very unlikely for a furniture, the sketch and the resulting design is very rational.

A 3D model was made to see how all the pieces would fit together.

As you can see from the pictures there are 6 cabinets 50cm x 33cm in size. These were piled to form a "staircase" which became the actual shelving.

The position and the approximate dimension of the pieces of glass are colored in white in the project.

Now that we have clear all the wooden cuts we have to place all the elements on the wood panel, paying attention to optimize the disposition in order to save as much material as possible. Then we'll pay a visit to our local wood merchant. You can ask them to cut it for you or do it yourself with a jigsaw.

The "triangular holes" for the pieces of stained glass were initially cut with a jigsaw. Afterwards around the opening a rounded recess of 5mm was milled with a milling router. This resulted in a lowering, a frame, which is where the glass would accommodate.

HINT: cutting curves with a jigsaw is not easy, all the corners of the triangular window openings can be done using a hole saw. You will need it also to make the round recess for the furniture hinges.

I the first picture, you can see the wooden boxes, which where the first to be made. In the second one, the cabinets (with hinges already fixed) piled one on top of the other.

This modular concept make the final triangular furniture very easy to assemble. Just a few screws are need to hold everything together.

The final step is to paint all the surfaces with light walnut impregnating.

This is not the first Instructable in which I make stained glass. I invite you to read my other Instructable about making a Gaudí Style Bathroom With Mosaic and Stained Glass, in which multicolored pieces of glass have been used and joined together following the vitraux technique.

For making the windows of this wine closet we only make a piece of colored glass per window, this is easier, in fact not all the steps that where used here will be done. For example, this time we won't need to apply any putty a the end.

If you are new to glass crafting and would like to go into further details, feel free to visit this website and have a good read.

ATTENTION: cutting glass is dangerous, to avoid nasty wounds: clean the table from shards and splinters after each cut, use gloves and always use sandpaper to chamfer the glass corners and edges.

DO LIKE SMILEY: WEAR PROTECTIVE GLASSES

B-)

The steps to make stained glass are the following:

- create a reference shape, in my case I cut a piece of paper a bit smaller of the window frame (I left 5mm tolerance so the glass would fit well)

- start to cut the glass

- once you have the glass pieces, use sandpaper to smooth their sharp edges

- straighten, cut and place the lead C profile, use spatula, nippers and chisel to work with lead profiles, they are very malleable

- with a small brush, spread soldering flux on the spots that needs to be soldered to close the lead loop

- solder with tin the joints of the C profile

- with a small brush, apply antioxidant on every lead profile and on the tin soldered spots

In the first picture you can see all the tools used for this job:

• a long metal batten or a metal ruler
• some plastic pliers for dealing with glass
• professional glass cutter (with lubricant inside)
• sand paper

In the second picture you can see the piece of paper used as reference.

HINT: when cutting make sure you keep the cutter perpendicular to the glass and make sure the glass cutter is filled with lubricant and apply some pressure while scrolling it on the glass, don't be too soft! Especially don't pass twice over the same cut!!

BEWARE: if the glass breaks badly you can use small pincers to remove small bits on the glass sides. Make sure you always wear protective glasses while doing it.

Sandpaper of different thicknesses can be used to smooth the edges.

The lead C profile is very malleable but I suggest you to make small cuts when you have to bend it to follow the rounded glass.

We left a tolerance of 5mm between the frame and the glass, adding the 2-3mm resulting from the C profile the stained glass filled almost perfectly in its frame, in some occasions I had to lightly hammer the stained glass in position.

I have filled the slit with a sealant similar to silicone colored in light wood.

Painting the lead and the soldered joints with antioxidant is very important as it will keep your work durable in time.

Just use a thin brush and paint along the C profile.

Once dried the stained glass window is finished and ready to be mounted.

Now you just have to fill your new closet with wine glasses and wine bottles and it will certainly give a nice touch to your house.

Remember that if you are fed up of this shape you can unscrew the long plank and rearrange the cabinet boxes as you like.

I hope that you like this furniture and this way of shelving and it seems as original to you as it is for me.

Until the next time.

Pietro