Pendant Lamp Stained Glass Repair

This small pendant lamp is part of a matched set.  One of the four panels of clear seedy glass had cracked from the outer part of the lamp.  Here's how I went about repairing it .. Click on any photo for a closer look.

Here's how it looked with the panel badly cracked and a chunk of glass missing.

After I located a piece of glass to match the existing glass, I tapped on the cracked piece repeatedly to loosen the remaining pieces.  Then I carefully pulled out the glass with a needle-nose plier and with leater-palmed gloves.

Here's the lamp with all the cracked glass removed.  I've added blue tape to the top to strengthen the lamp as I work.

 This was a nice find.  The builder of the lamp inserted lengths of straight wire in the seams, in order to strengthen the construction. I left those in place.

Below, I've applied 7/32" copper foll to one of the sides, and wrapped it around the support wire shown in the photo above.

Now both sides of the opening have been copper foiled.

Below, I'm tracing a piece of Manila folder to make a pattern for the replacement glass.

The pattern is then traced onto the glass with a black Sharpie pen.

Leaning against a flat ruler to "score" the glass with an oil-filled pistol grip glass cutter, my preferred tool.  Behind it is a pair of blue "running pliers" which I use to snap glass such as this which has been scored in a straight line.

After the glass is snapped, I run the edges through a grinder.

Then the new piece of glass is rinsed and dried and copper foil is applied to the borders.  Below, I've taped the replacement glass onto the rest of the lamp. The next step is to apply liquid flux to the copper foil.  Then I went and soldered the sides, top and bottom of the replacement glass.  The soldered areas then receive a thorough cleaning with Kwik-Clean Flux and Patina Cleaner.

After the soldered areas are thoroughly clean and dry, I apply Novacan Black Patina with a metal acid brush, as shown.  This chemical instantly turns the silver solder to black.  After it sets up, I again clean it off with Kwik Clean and allow it to dry.

Here is the finished lamp ...

And here it is, atop the smaller, secondary part of the fixture.  I also repaired that as well, by adding some solder to the fitting at the top. Its now ready to be re-hung and enjoyed for many more years!

Please visit my website to see my custom windows and repairs (click here).  And if you are on FaceBook, become a fan and I'll keep you up to date on all my stained glass projects.  Call me any time at 201-600-1616 or email with your questions. Thanks!