Green Floral Stained Glass Lamp Repair

Yet another gorgeous lamp to repair!  (I've done over 100 so far).  This one is mostly green with some orange flowers around the sides.  The glass colors are spectacular. Here's the process to bring it back to new again.

Here's a view of the lamp with the cracked pieces marked with blue tape.

Another view of the damages which extend over half of the border.

After assessing the damage, I'm beginning to remove the worst-cracked pieces with needle nose pliers.

I've removed every other cracked piece and will repair them in that order.  I do this so as not to weaken the structure.  I'm using a hot soldering iron to melt off the old copper foil and solder.

Manila folders make great templates.  Here I'm tracing openings to prepare new glass patterns.

Tracing new pattern pieces onto the glass with a Sharpie.  Each piece gets a number.

These blue running pliers snap the glass after I score it with a glass cutter (the purple tool on the work surface).

Each new piece of glass gets its edges ground.

After the piece is cut, ground and fitted, I apply adhesive copper foil to the edges.  I also apply copper foil to the borders where the glass will be inserted.  Here I'm applying liquid flux to the foil.  This is a catalyst which enables the solder to flow freely.

Now this section of the border has been repaired.

Not all of the pieces had to be replaced.  Some of them were just loose.  Here I'm using a razor knife to scrape off old adhesive.  This piece will be re-inserted into the lamp.

 Here's the process of burnishing the foil onto the glass using a fid, or flat plastic wand.

Now I'm building the border back up again, piece by piece.

Cutting another piece of glass.  Matching the glass is very important to me. Since green is such a popular color in lamps, I have a large inventory of different textures and colors in inventory.

 Now all the cracked pieces have been replaced.  I'm applying black patina to the solder.  It turns the solder black instantly.  After it sets for a while, I wash it off with a spray cleaner called Kwik-Clean.  After it dries, I cover the inside and outside of the lamp with stained glass finishing compound.  This is a light wax which protects the patina and shines the glass.

And here is this beautiful lamp, repaired and ready to be enjoyed again.

Another view.  Thank you Rosemary, for the pleasure of meeting you and for allowing me to repair this beauty!

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