Repairs to Stained Glass Wedding Hearts Panel

This unique panel was made by my customer as a wedding gift for his bride twenty years ago.  He used to do stained glass, and this is evidence of his expertise and creativity.  After he designed and created the panel, he asked each wedding guest to etch their name into the hearts.  The panel was damaged and so he came to me to repair it.

Here's how it came to me with both corners snapped off and with several cracked pieces in the bottom row.

I began by removing old copper foil and solder from the upper corner.  Laying nearby is the replacement piece of green, to which I've already applied new copper foil.

In preparation for the attachment, I'm using a hand file to roughen up the edges of the glass.  This helps the copper foil to adhere better. The signatures can readily be seen in this photo.  Its irreplaceable.

With the new corner piece in place, I'm applying liquid flux to the foil.  This helps the solder to flow evenly.

Now the new piece is in place.  Notice that I replicated the decorative solder as well.  A nice touch.

 Here I'm using steel wool to remove old patina so that I can solder the adjacent piece of glass.

Making a pattern for the replacement pieces in the other corner.

Tracing the pattern onto the glass.

This beautiful panel was created using opalescent glass, which tends to be more difficult to cut than cathedral, or transparent, glass.  Therefore I used my wet saw to do the job.

Using the glass grinder to smooth the edges of a replacement piece.

Now the corner has been repaired.

Moving onto the bottom, there are a few pieces where cracks can clearly be seen.

I've scored one of the cracked pieces by cross-hatching the surface with the glass cutter.  Here I'm carefully banging out the piece with the metal end of the cutter.

Now the piece has been removed and I've prepared and traced the new replacement glass.

With that piece in place, I moved on to the adjacent one.

Now that one is repaired.

Another view of another pattern in place, awaiting replacement.

After all of the cracked pieces have been replaced, I'm spraying the surface with a cleaner which neutralizes the flux.

Here my husband Eric is fitting a custom frame onto the piece.  Not pictured is the end process whereby I solder the lead lines to the frame in several places on the front and back.  

And here is the finished repair, minus the zinc frame.  (A first for me, I didn't take an "after" photo). Many thanks to Rich for entrusting this special piece to me.  May you and your wife enjoy it for the next twenty years!

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