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You are visiting: Home » Decorating/DIY » Create Your Decor » How to Cut Glass

How to Cut Glass

by Lindsay Ballard on March 22, 2010 24 Comments

Have you ever broken a piece of glass in a picture frame?  Or picked up a great frame at a garage sale that was missing the glass?

That has certainly happened to me plenty.  I used to think that the only way to replace the glass was to buy it at a home improvement store or craft store.  But then, it only comes in certain standard sizes, and we all know that picture frame glass is rarely a standard size – it’s always seems to be just a wee bit smaller than it should be if it’s even close to standard.

Let me show you a simple way to cut glass to any size you want.  All you do is measure, draw a straight line, and snap.  It’s really that easy!

How to Cut Glass

1.  Measure the inside of your picture frame so that you know the exact size to cut the glass.

2.  Lay down a thick towel (I use a beach towel) to protect your workspace.  Your towel won’t be damaged, but it’s best to protect your surface from glass knicks.

3.  Wipe off a larger piece of glass with a soft cloth (I used a left over piece of glass I had removed from a frame for another project).  Do not use Windex, but you may use water if you need to.  Measure out the height you need with a tape measure or ruler on one side of the glass.  Draw a straight line using a felt-tiped pen or dry erase marker.  I always mark my lines 1/8″ smaller than I want the final cut to be due to the way my glass cutter is set up (see Step 4).

4.  I bought my glass cutting tool at Hobby Lobby, but they should be available at any craft or home improvement store.  It has an angled head on one end with a small rotating cutter disc on top of the head.

When you line the head up with your straight edge (like you would do if you were cutting a straight line with any sort of blade), the disc is about 1/8″ away from the straight edge.  That’s why I mark my measurements 1/8″ smaller than I want my final cut to end up.  Does that makes sense?

5.  Armed with my work gloves and eye protection, I line up my straight edge against my marked line and use the glass cutter to make a straight line down the glass.  You don’t want to push too hard – only hard enough that there is a hairline cut in the glass (see the white line in the picture below).  Don’t worry, the cut doesn’t go all the way through the glass.

It’s very important that you DO NOT take your glass cutter off of the glass while you are making the cut.  If you do, it will cause the glass to break unevenly.  The cut should go entirely from one end of the glass to the other.

6.  Once your hairline cut is made, all you have to do is snap the glass at the cut.  To do this, simply hold the glass on each side of the cut and then snap it AWAY from you.  You will be impressed with your straight line!

Note: It is MUCH easier to snap the glass where the piece coming off is at least an inch or so wide.  If you are trying to just trim off a tiny piece of glass, you are going to need a lot of force to get that piece to snap off.

7.  Repeat the process for the glass width you need for your picture frame.

8.  You’re done!  Add it to your picture frame and you are good to go.

Any questions? Have you tried this process before?  Let me know in the comments.

About Lindsay Ballard

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.

Lindsay lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband (Tom), children (Zack and Emma), and dogs (Duke and Jill). She plays roller derby for the Rockin' City Rollergirls out of Round Rock, Texas.

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Comments

  1. Trish says

    March 22, 2010 at 5:54 am

    I’ve been doing stained glass work for a while. I was taught to cut glass on a clean, flat, HARD surface. I question the wisdom of cutting glass on a towel for a number of reasons. 1) If you are scoring the glass on a surface that gives, you risk breaking it (where you don’t want it to break). 2) Cutting glass inevitably results in glass dust and tiny shards from the edges. How could you be sure you got that off/out of the cloth. I guess it would be OK if you were using an old one. After cutting glass on a beach towel, I’d personally never want to use it again as a beach towel.

    Reply
    • Lindsay says

      March 22, 2010 at 7:12 am

      I understand your concern, but it hasn’t actually been a problem for me at all – and I’ve cut a lot of glass and mirror (although, I’m sure not as much as you). My glass hasn’t broken because of the towel. When I’m finished, I shake the glass dust off into the grass really well and then wash the towel. It works for me!

      Reply
      • Trish Williams says

        August 8, 2020 at 8:25 am

        Thank u Lindsay. Your directions were clear and made perfect sense.

        Reply
  2. Megan says

    March 22, 2010 at 6:01 am

    Thank you for all the tips. Its seems like I have broken the glass from a few frames recently and just put them away because I didn’t know what to do with them. I am always finding neat frames at garage sales or the goodwill so this will come in handy!

    Reply
  3. Felicia Kramer says

    March 22, 2010 at 6:59 am

    When I was growing up, our enclosed front porch had a ton of small windows. Before it was remodeled, and with 9 kids in the house, windows got broken a lot! One thing I learned from my Dad at an early age was how to cut glass. I cut the glass for all my frames and silently thank my Dad every time!

    Reply
  4. SHayna says

    March 22, 2010 at 8:17 am

    So cool, never knew how to cut glass and now I can replace the glass instead of throwing away the frame.

    Reply
  5. Angie @ The Country Chic Cottage says

    March 22, 2010 at 10:27 am

    Thanks Lindsay!! 🙂 This is definitely a need to know!

    Reply
  6. Melissa Howard says

    March 22, 2010 at 10:59 am

    Thanks for the little tut. I have a glass cutter but never have had the gumption to use it.

    Reply
  7. Jess says

    March 22, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    I use to do stained glass work often. There are some other inexpensive tools to purchase if you need to make smaller cuts etc. Cutting glass is pretty easy you just have to watch out for cuts. 🙂

    Reply
    • Lindsay says

      March 22, 2010 at 4:15 pm

      Oooh! What are the other tools that you can use to make smaller cuts? Those could really come in handy.

      Reply
      • Jess says

        March 23, 2010 at 2:22 pm

        They make a small set of plier-things for small cuts. you make your cut, then use these for the breaking-they have notches in them where you put the glass and break it off. I’ ve used them for cutting corners off pieces to make them “round” etc.

        Reply
  8. Amanda @ Serenity Now says

    March 22, 2010 at 4:41 pm

    I had no idea you could do that! I’ve always gone to the little old glass store downtown and had them cut it for me. Good tips!

    Reply
  9. Jen @ Just for Rachel says

    March 22, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    Definately good to know! That tool is going on my wish list. Also, I love your new blog design! It looks really nice, and is easy to navigate through, great job!

    Reply
  10. Mary says

    March 22, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    Huh. No kidding. I always thought you had to take it to the hardware store or something to have it cut for you. Neat.

    Reply
  11. Amber says

    March 22, 2010 at 8:42 pm

    Great tip! I had no idea this was possible or so easy. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  12. Autumn says

    March 22, 2010 at 8:51 pm

    The last time I cut glass I was in shop class in 8th grade. lol I do remember it being a fun experience, though. To get the small cuts, there were these little pincher things that you grab perpendicular to the cut and it breaks the hairline in two.

    Reply
  13. Silver Thistle says

    March 23, 2010 at 5:17 am

    No glass cutting anecdotes to share…….but I just had to comment on that frame! It is just the coolest looking frame I’ve seen in a long time! Very nice!

    Reply
  14. lisa says

    March 23, 2010 at 6:24 am

    Hi Lindsay,

    This is my first comment on your blog. I appreciate this idea as I am always breaking glass in my frames! I will also never hear of the “horns” again without thinking of you. One of my best friends became the first Charlotte Hornet mascot. What a great experience you must have had.

    lisa

    Reply
  15. Twill Jill says

    April 5, 2010 at 4:02 pm

    Wow! I always had the same problem too – glassless frames. I never knew it was so easy to do it yourself. Great tip!

    Reply
  16. charlotte says

    March 22, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    I want to make a pendant necklace out of a Blue Willow Plate, what type of glass cutter do I need to use?

    Reply
  17. Mike says

    November 12, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    i make craftsman style frames because they are so hard to locate locally. then i outsource the glass work and closing to the frame shop. i am at the point that i would like to pick up these skills. so a couple questions:
    what is your source for off sized glass?
    what thickness do you use?
    do you do anyhing to smooth the edges?

    Reply
  18. Vivian Black says

    April 8, 2022 at 7:09 am

    At first, my husband wanted to cut his own glass when we wanted to replace our windows. We have had the same windows for 20 years. I liked how you describe snapping the glass AWAY from yourself once the hairline cut is made. We are now wondering if we have the best tools for the job to make the snap as clean as it needs to be. We are now thinking that a professional might be a better option.
    https://twinbayglass.com/residential

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Does Hobby Lobby Cut Glass In 2022? says:
    January 25, 2022 at 4:35 pm

    […] If you’re more skilled with DIY, you can get a sheet of glass and some glass cutters (both available from Hobby Lobby) and cut it yourself. […]

    Reply
  2. Does Hobby Lobby Cut Glass In 2022? (How It Works + More) – WordXa says:
    July 26, 2022 at 5:21 am

    […] If you’re more skilled with DIY, you can get a sheet of glass and some glass cutters (both available from Hobby Lobby) and cut it yourself. […]

    Reply

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About Makely

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.

Lindsay lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband (Tom), children (Zack and Emma), and dogs (Duke and Jill). She plays roller derby for the Rockin' City Rollergirls out of Round Rock, Texas.


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