Direct or Trace cutting

Place the glass over the pattern and run the cutter along the pattern lines you see by looking through the glass. There's no need to draw lines on the glass. For translucent glass you may need a light box.

You should be aiming to cut glass efficiently and accurately. Trace cutting is the most efficient, as it completes in a single operation what other methods –such as drawing on the glass or making templates from the cartoon - take several steps to accomplish.

It is more accurate because each extra step required for other methods increases the possibility for error. The fewer times you copy the original pattern lines, the less likely you are to diverge from the original pattern lines.

It is very important to keep the cutter at right angles to the glass - as seen from side to side, not vertical.  This of course is true of all cutting.  It makes the cutting inaccurate, because the light is bent when coming through the glass much like water changes the apparent angle of sight into its depths.  Tilted cutters also have undesirable effects when breaking the glass.