Monday, August 28, 2017

Hundred Year Old Stained Glass Lamp Repair

My customer told me this lamp belonged to her grandmother and that it is 100 years old.  Fortunately, none of the glass was broken, or it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to replace.

Here's how it came to me, with the glass panel out, and the surrounding areas compromised.

As with most older lamps, the edges of the glass were not ground before foiling.  I'm doing that here.  It improves the adhesiveness of the foil.

Here's another look at the damaged side.

Safety is important when working with stained glass.  Here there's visible white smoke rising up from where I'm melting off old solder and foil.  I'm wearing a protective breathing mask and I have a filtered fan on as I work.

Now I've lined the borders of the area with new copper foil.

I decided to remove an adjacent piece was was loose, and was letting light in.  It's also been copper foiled.

 Here I'm applying liquid flux to the copper foil.  This acts as a catalyst to help the solder flow freely.

After those two pieces are soldered in place, I began work on the border.  Here I've push-pinned the border foil in place. I added new foil to the outer edge and soldered it to the new lead lines at the top of the replaced pieces.

After cleaning off the area, I'm now applying black patina to the newly soldered areas.  It instantly turns the patina black.

And now its repaired!  This is the view from inside the shade.

And a final view from outside.  Thanks to Loretta for entrusting me with your precious heirloom.  Now you can enjoy it for many years to come!
For more information on my other projects, please click here to visit my website.

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Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Stay tuned .. Vacation time!

We'll be back after our vacation to the Pacific Northwest which will include witnessing the total eclipse!  I've got a few projects yet to post, with more on the way.  I've also upgraded my computer.  Along with that came new photo software which I have yet to learn.  But I think it'll be worth the wait!  Stay tuned.
Thanks!