Boehm Stained Glass Blog: Repair of Pendant Lamp

Friday, May 16, 2014

Repair of Pendant Lamp

This lovely little pendant lamp arrived a few weeks ago. Its owner was kind enough to wait for me to complete a major segment of a commission before I could repair it. Here's how I went about the repair:

This is one of a set of pendant lamps. One of the four sides was very loose and the cap which attaches to the light fixture had failed.

As is the case with many manufactured lamps, the edges of the glass had not been ground. This is an important step, not only to protect from cuts, but to aid in the proper adhesiveness of the copper foil. I used a hand file to rough up the glass on the open sides. Prior to hand grinding though, I carefully tugged and melted off the existing old solder and copper foil which was around these pieces of glass.

Below< I've added fresh strips of 7/32" copper foil to the top and sides of the affected areas.

Next, I laid the lamp on its side so that I could apply liquid flux, and then solder the joints together.

The ring of course is round at the top. Part of the issue with the design is that it is attached to the square topped lamp base. I worked around this by melting the old solder off the ring and then using new foil at the touch points to re-solder it in place.

For extra security, I added solder to 1-1/2" strips of flat reinforced copper wire. Then I placed them under the ring and on top of the square top. After a healthy dose of solder was applied, the bond became even stronger.

Viewed from the inside of the pendant, I added additional solder at the top corners for more security.

Following the soldering, I cleaned the flux off the lamp with spray Kwik Clean. Then I applied Novacan Black Patina to the solder, as shown, with a wire craft brush. The patina reacts instantly with the solder. After letting it sit for a few minutes, I cleaned it again with Kwik Clean and applied Livia Stained Glass Finishing Compound to the lamp. This gave it a nice shine and will serve to protect the patina.

And here is the repaired lamp! Thank you Heidi for bringing it over to me. It was a pleasure meeting you, your sister and your parents. Keep up your good work~!