Repairs to Small Stained Glass Fruit Lamp #10

Through the years, I've repaired many fruit lamps from the '60's and '70's. When my customer told me she was bringing me one for repair, I was surprised to see how small it is!  Here's how I went about repairing it.

The lamp came to me with many cracked and broken pieces, marked here with blue tape.

More cracked pieces on the other side.

After assessing the lamp, I decided to repair the bottom layer first.  Here I've removed one of the cracked pieces.  I'm using the soldering iron to melt off the old solder and foil.

I've used a piece of a Manila folder to prepare a template for the replacement glass.  Here I'm tracing it onto the glass.

Grinding the edges ..

I applied new copper foil to the borders of the glass, as well as to the inside edge.

Now I'm applying liquid flux to the copper foil.

And now this new piece has been soldered.  The lamp gets stronger as each cracked piece is replaced.

Moving onto another piece.  I'm cracking out the glass using the metal end of my oil-filled pistol grip glass cutter.

Checking a new piece of glass for size.

A few pieces have now been replaced.  I'm working to prepare the next section.

Tapping out more cracked glass.

Now I've removed two of the four upper crown sides.  The lower pieces have all been replaced.

Here are the new crown pieces, cut and foiled.  I've also applied foil to the upper edge where they will be soldered to the lamp.

An important reinforcement element was missing from this lamp.  That is, the placement of a single length of thin wire to the edge of the top of the crown.  I added it here, to prevent this type of damage in the future.

 Now the crown pieces are in place and soldered.

Brushing black patina onto the solder.  After the patina sets, I wash off the excess, then allow it to dry thoroughly before applying stained glass finishing compound to the whole lamp.  This is a light wax which protects the patina.

And here's the fully repaired lamp.

Another view, done and ready to be enjoyed again.  Thanks Gayle, for bringing this little beauty in for repair!

To see more fruit lamp repairs, click here and see beneath this post, which is up first.  

For more information on my other projects, please click here to visit my website.

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