Green Floral Stained Glass Lamp Repair

Yet another gorgeous lamp to repair!  (I've done over 100 so far).  This one is mostly green with some orange flowers around the sides.  The glass colors are spectacular. Here's the process to bring it back to new again.

Here's a view of the lamp with the cracked pieces marked with blue tape.

Another view of the damages which extend over half of the border.

After assessing the damage, I'm beginning to remove the worst-cracked pieces with needle nose pliers.

I've removed every other cracked piece and will repair them in that order.  I do this so as not to weaken the structure.  I'm using a hot soldering iron to melt off the old copper foil and solder.

Manila folders make great templates.  Here I'm tracing openings to prepare new glass patterns.

Tracing new pattern pieces onto the glass with a Sharpie.  Each piece gets a number.

These blue running pliers snap the glass after I score it with a glass cutter (the purple tool on the work surface).

Each new piece of glass gets its edges ground.

After the piece is cut, ground and fitted, I apply adhesive copper foil to the edges.  I also apply copper foil to the borders where the glass will be inserted.  Here I'm applying liquid flux to the foil.  This is a catalyst which enables the solder to flow freely.

Now this section of the border has been repaired.

Not all of the pieces had to be replaced.  Some of them were just loose.  Here I'm using a razor knife to scrape off old adhesive.  This piece will be re-inserted into the lamp.

 Here's the process of burnishing the foil onto the glass using a fid, or flat plastic wand.

Now I'm building the border back up again, piece by piece.

Cutting another piece of glass.  Matching the glass is very important to me. Since green is such a popular color in lamps, I have a large inventory of different textures and colors in inventory.

 Now all the cracked pieces have been replaced.  I'm applying black patina to the solder.  It turns the solder black instantly.  After it sets for a while, I wash it off with a spray cleaner called Kwik-Clean.  After it dries, I cover the inside and outside of the lamp with stained glass finishing compound.  This is a light wax which protects the patina and shines the glass.

And here is this beautiful lamp, repaired and ready to be enjoyed again.

Another view.  Thank you Rosemary, for the pleasure of meeting you and for allowing me to repair this beauty!

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

If you're on FaceBook, please click here to "like" my BoehmStained Glass Studio page to keep up with all the latest projects.  Thank you!

Floral Stained Glass Lamp Repair

This lovely little lamp was brought to me by the same customer who had the prior lamp repair (click here).  She drove down from CT to see me in NJ on her way to PA.  Happy to be of service!

This lamp needed only 4 cracked pieces to be replaced.  Here are two, marked in blue tape ..

And here are the other two, also marked with blue tape.

The first step is to score the cracked piece with a glass cutter (shown). Then the piece is repeatedly tapped with the metal end of the cutter to loosen the glass.

Here the glass is nearly all removed.

The adjacent piece also needs replacement, but for the time being, I left it in place.

In the process of removing the larger cracked piece, an adjacent smaller one loosed.  Here I put it back in place after I applied new copper foil to its edges, and to the borders of the nearby pieces.

After the larger piece of glass was removed, I cleaned off the old solder and foil.  Then I traced a pattern as shown.

Using the pattern, I cut a new piece of green glass.  Here I'm using "groziers" to chunk out small pieces of glass along edges. This saves time at the grinder.

Then I apply copper foil along the edge of the replacement piece, as well as inside the borders of the dome where it will be soldered.

Now all three pieces have been replaced and soldered into place.  This is the view from inside the dome.

Moving around to the other side of the lamp, I've removed the piece of cracked glass which extends up to the border.

After making a pattern, cutting new glass, and preparing it, I've replaced it into the lamp as shown.

Here I'm applying black patina to the solder.

Soldering and patina-ing is complete .. Next I'll wax the lamp for protection and shine.

Here is one side of the lamp, repaired and ready to be enjoyed again.

And here is the other side, repaired. Thanks so much Sandhya, for bringing me two lamps to repair for you!

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

If you're on FaceBook, please click here to "like" my BoehmStained Glass Studio page to keep up with all the latest projects.  Thank you!