Striped Stained Glass Lamp Repair

This colorful lamp had a few cracked pieces in it when my customer purchased it from an antique dealer.  Here's how I went about repairing it ..

The cracks aren't obvious but they're marked here with blue tape.

Here's the glass that we agreed would be the best match.

First I'm using the metal end of the oil filled pistol grip glass cutter to crack out the piece that's slated for replacement.

Then I cleared the border of old foil and solder.  Note the notch on the piece below.  That's also going to be replaced.

I made a paper template of the opening and traced it onto a strip of glass.  Just by chance, I used this glass as a cutting demonstration for a group of students at a grammar school last May.  The strips I made just happened to be the exact right size and color for this project.

Now I'm applying adhesive copper foil in 7/32" width to the glass.

Cracking out the glass in the rest of the row.

Using a metal file to sand down the edges of the glass.

 Now the turquoise row is cut, foiled, and in place in the lamp.

Onto cutting the blue piece.

Using running pliers to snap the glass after I've scored it.

Now both rows are in place, ready for fluxing and soldering.  Liquid flux is always applied to the foil before soldering.  It acts as a catalyst and helps the solder to flow.

An unusual feature of this lamp is that the patina was a mix of copper and black.  So I made a custom mix of both colors to replicate the existing color.

After I soldered the rows in place, I'm applying the custom black and copper patina onto the solder.

After a cleaning and waxing, here is the repaired lamp.

And here it is, lighted from below.  Thank you to Allison for bringing me your lamp.  May you enjoy it for years to come!

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