Tips and Techniques

To remove an edge piece: Heat the solder at the edge until it melts. When it melts, while holding the soldering iron on the seam, slide an aluminum strip between the two pieces. It will only partially slide in at this point. (Hold the strip with a gloved hand...it gets hot). Slowly slide the soldering iron along the seam and at the same time slide the aluminum strip right behind the iron. It will open up the seam for you as you move along. Don't go too fast, but, at the same time, you don't need to go at a snails pace. If you go too fast, the solder will run back into the joint behind the aluminum strip. Practicing this technique will teach you how fast to go.

To remove pieces totally surrounded by glass: When the piece is surrounded by other glass, heat the solder at any given point and, using a narrower piece of aluminum, poke it into the melted solder and wiggle it until it slips in between the two pieces of glass. It works best if you hold the soldering iron on the back side while pushing the aluminum in from the front (or vise versa). You might want to prop the panel up on something to make working from both sides easier. Now you can slowly work the strip around the piece as described above. Once in a while it won't work, especially if the glass is a very tight fit, but it is worth trying first, before going to other methods.

Sometimes it is easier to grab the aluminum strip with needle nose pliers once you get it started. It is easier to pull it along with the pliers instead of using your fingers.

Once the piece is removed, run your soldering around the surrounding pieces to remove any remaining solder. You want the edges of the surrounding pieces to be smooth and flat so that the new piece of glass will fit back in the opening.

Before you solder them in place, put pennies or dimes under the pieces you are replacing. The coins hold the pieces up to the proper height. If you don't prop them up, the new glass will be at a different (lower) height than the rest of the panel.

What Are Your Favorite
Tips and Techniques?

Tell us about your favorite tips or techniques.

They can be about any aspect of glass work such as cutting, leading, foiling, soldering, fusing, bead making, mosaics, stepping stones, painting, etching...anything at all that has to do with working with glass. Describe what you did, and share it here. Everything, whether it's big or small, could make glass working easier for someone else.

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