Stained Glass Unicorn repair

This 12" round blue and white unicorn sustained a cracked mane, horn, and front leg.  It was brought to me by my customer who had it in storage for many years and wanted it repaired for her grandchild.  Here's how I went about repairing it for her .. (Click on any photo to enlarge).

Here's how the poor unicorn looked when I got it .. Her mane was cracked, most of her horn was missing, and the bottom part of her front leg had snapped off.

The part of the mane to the left of the crack was in great condition.  I don't like to disturb any part of a stained glass piece that is not damaged, so I opted to leave it in place and simply cut a new piece of glass to the right of the damaged area.  In this photo, I've melted off the solder and the foil and then removed the broken half of the mane, and the horn.  I marked the position of the horn with a Sharpie.

Here I'm using my electric grinder to sand down the edges of the mane.

I've applied fresh copper foil to the lower borders where the new glass will be inserted.  Here I'm using a file folder to draw a new pattern for the mane.

I've cut the new glass and horn, applied copper foil to each piece, then applied liquid flux to the foil, and soldered them to the unicorn's head.

My husband is an talented (and very humble) illustrator.  He drew the pattern for the horse's front leg for me.  

I've put tape down on the back of the piece to hold the new front leg in place.  Then I soldered it on, attaching it to the "elbow" and to the hoof of the adjacent leg, for stability.

Then I cleaned off the entire piece using Kwik-Clean which removes all traces of the flux and solder.  As a final step, shown here, I drip Livia Stained Glass Polishing Compound on the entire piece, both front and back and let it dry.  This protects the solder and gives the glass a nice shine.  Once its dry, I buff it off.

And here's the unicorn, repaired and ready to delight my customer's grandchild.  Thank you Gail, for finding me!  It was a pleasure repairing her for you.

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!