Lace Soldering Project
by Suzan McKenzie
(Quebec, Canada)
What materials do I need to do lace soldering and how is it done?
Milly's reply: Wow, this is an unusual question. I'm taking it that by 'lace soldering' you mean trapping a piece of lace between two layers of glass to use as pendants or decorative pieces?
If so, you need to buy some micro-thin glass - either from a specialist stained glass supplier or a scientific company that supplies glass for microscopes - yes, that thin!
Then you have to copper foil this together to join the glass and to keep the lace in place. Assuming you get the glass pre-cut, the very least you'll need is: a roll of the thinnest copper foil you can buy - 3/16", a Soldering Iron, liquid flux and a stick of solder. You need patina if you want to blacken the solder.
Clean the glass and stick the copper foil around the edge. Solder the corners together as suggested on this page, and then carefully add more blobs of solder along one edge at a time - not too much - before joining them together by melting them with the soldering iron. Clean, and brush the patina over the solder to blacken the solder.
NB: be very careful of the fumes. It's best to do this outside, or with efficient ventilation procedures in place.
A bit of a crash course, but good luck!
To find out more about how to make stained glass, click here and return to the Everything Stained Glass home page.
