Octagonal Stained Glass Lamp Fixture Repair

I'm always amazed at all the different objects which can be made with stained glass.  Here's another unusual one which I recently repaired.  It's a special fixture which my customer purchased in Cape Cod over 40 years ago.  He added the light fixture to the top.  He had over 5 pounds of pea gravel in the base, with a small Malaysian doll standing in the gravel.  It hung over his kitchen table all those years until he noticed the bottom was detaching from the top.  That's when he brought it to me for repair.
 
 Here's a "before photo.  Notice that the top part of the barrel is not copper foil construction.  Its assembled with brass channel which is usually not repair-able.  But the detached part is, in fact, copper foil, so I was able to bring it back for him. The bottom of the barrel is clear glass.  Its hard to tell, but there are two small open areas at the top portion, just large enough to fit my hand inside.

Here are the five pounds of pea gravel which were in the bottom.

After I removed all the old copper foil and solder, I used a hand file to grind the edges of the glass.  This helps the copper foil to adhere better.

Here I’m applying new copper foil to the edges.

Moving on to the bottom portion, I’m taking off the old foil and solder.

I’m using tweezers to pull out as much of the old foil as I can.

Now I’ve lined the inside of the bottom with new copper foil.  I also soldered in a length of wire on top of the foil, to make the piece sturdier.

Now I’m soldering the inside of the bottom piece.

I’m using a wider copper foil on the bottom, attaching it to the sides as I go.

Then I added flat, braided reinforcement wire to strengthen the sides

After I soldered it, I turned it over and added new copper foil to the outer edges.

 I lined up the corners and taped the top to the bottom.

I soldered the top to the bottom, inside and out.  Here I’m working inside.  I’m applying flux to a length of flat braided wire which I soldered along 4 seams for strength and stability.

After all the reinforcement is in place, and everything is soldered, I’m applying black patina to the solder using a cotton ball.  This chemical instantly turns the solder black.  After this process, I use a spray cleaner to remove all traces of the chemicals inside the fixture.

And here it is, finished and ready to go!  

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