Haze running along the soldered and patina colored edges of glass

by Jillian
(Ky)

Hi, this is so frustrating. I put ALOT of effort into the production of a piece and at the end something goes wrong and my entire effort is for naught.

I make small panels and suncatchers, using the copper foil on the inside pieces, and a Zinc or Lead came border.

When I finish soldering, I wash the piece THOUROUGHLY with Dawn and baking soda to make sure ALL flux is nuetral and gone. I let the piece dry. Then I will apply black patina to the entire piece with a bristled tooth brush. Once I achieve the right shade, I am very THOUROUGH to rinse the patina off of the glass pieces, and pat dry. Everything looks fine until the patina dries completely, and when I hold the piece up to the light, there is this haze on the border of EVERY piece that butts up to a soldered line. And it doesnt come off EVER, no matter what I try.
I thought it was maybe flux residue that burned into the glass, but thats not possible because I am CERTAIN I remove it. And I don't leave the flux on any longer than nessecary.
I thought it was the patina, but ditto the above statement^.

WHAT IS IT?!? Its driving me absolutely crazy. Professionally done pieces don't have hazes so I feel like I must be screwing up somewhere along the line.

Please help before I pull whats left of my hair out!

On the uploaded photo, where I drew on a red line. thats where the haze likes to appear, on EVERY single piece

Answer

Try cleaning the haze off with toothpaste. Plain toothpaste, nothing fancy. Then, on your next piece, try my way of cleaning and applying patina. You will find the instructions here. If you can't find the #98 scrub pads, get the sponge/pad combination made for scrubbing pots and pans, found at any supermarket. They're not as good, but will work in a pinch. When you do the final wax, don't let the wax dry before buffing, just put it on and wipe it off straight away. I'm quite sure you will be happy with the results of this cleaning and patina technique.