Types of Stained Glass...

from Creative Stained Glass - Modern Designs & Simple Techniques:

There are two main categories of stained glass: cathedral and opalescent.
Cathedral glasses are clear or transparent, while opalescent glasses are, well, opal.

Antique Glass is made to look old. If it is machine-made, it will have a slightly distorted texture but be fairly even in color and thickness. If it is mouth-blown, it will be more varied, and show distortions, some bubbles, and differences in color intensity.

Bevels are thick, flat, precut glass shapes that sometimes come in prepackaged clusters for inclusion into stylized designs. They act as prisms, refracting the light that passes through them into rainbows. Bevels are usually clear, but may be glue-chipped.

Glue-chip glass is a textured cathedral glass that has been treated with hot glue, which then peels away to create a pattern.

Iridescent glass can be cathedral or opalescent. It is coated with metallic oxides that produce a rainbow effect when light reflects off of it.

Hammered texture glass also comes in cathedral and opalescent. The "texture is similar to that of hammered copper."

Glass nuggets are small globs of glass which are flat on the bottom and rounded on the top. You've probably seen these in your local craft store in the floral aisle.

Ring-mottled glass is an opalescent glass that is mottled with small, circular patterns, similar to a tortoise-shell.

Ripple glass can be cathedral or opalescent and has a rippled texture.

Rondels are mouth-blown glass pieces spun into a flat circular shape. They are similar to the bottom of a wine bottle and are usually transparent.

Seedy glass has many seed-like bubbles trapped below the surface.

Wispy glass is made by mixing cathedral glass with another more transparent color.

Streaky glass is made up of one or more cathedral colors mixed together with a white opalescent color, creating a thinly streaked, multi-colored glass.

Wavy glass has the appearance of a "gently rippled lake".

So that's about it for the types of glass section of this book. I'm actually fairly disappointed with the descriptions given for the types of glass. I have been reading another book, "Stained Glass Step By Step" by Patricia Ann Daley, and I think I'll have to do another post that gives some of her explanations. They are a little more explanatory and make much more sense.

"Creative Stained Glass - Modern Designs & Simple Techniques" by Christine Kellmann Stevenson has a few intriguing patterns towards the back of the book and is heavy on leaded glass patterns that seem to mimic one another. All around, I wouldn't recommend this book, although it has gotten one (of one) good review on Amazon.com.