Friday, February 11, 2011

Tips on Soldering Glass Pendants?

I have always been an admirer of "wearable" art, so last week I decided to try my hand at art glass pendants.  You know, the artwork sandwiched between two microscope slides and then soldered around the edges...?  Easy enough I thought, and maybe I'm missing something obvious....But it's not working the way I thought it would...

I've spent countless hours getting my images just right, making final embellishments and finally encasing them in glass and putting copper tape around the edges ready to be soldered.  Here's where the heartache begins!  After all those hours of hard work, not a single one has worked out right!  SO FRUSTRATING!  I thought I did my research, watched a few videos and read a few tutorials, but I am missing something...

My attempt at soldering is absolutely pathetic, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong!  I can get the first thin layer of solder ("tinning") down okay, but when I try to put any more layers down it ends up all bumpy, rough, uneven etc...Every time I think I've got one side of the pendant looking decent, I flip it over to find all sorts of lumps and bumps to fix again and it just gets worse from there.

PLEASE!  If anyone out there is reading this,  do you have any tips or resources?  I hate to think that all my time and effort has been wasted!  Here are a few pictures of my current disasters...

All taped and ready... looking good at this point...

And the trouble begins...

...and so on...

...disaster...


...another one bites the dust

This is actually my second go at making these pendants...I tried a batch at Christmas with similar results...Here are some things I learned that may help someone else in the future...

Clean, Clean and Clean your glass again, both sides, careful no fingerprints, dust, dog hair etcetera...

I printed my images onto transparencies and layered them over other papers for a layered look.  It looked beautiful...that is until the heat from the soldering iron either melted parts causing some of the image to stick to the glass or caused condensation inside the glass, thus turning a piece of artwork into artwork ready for the garbage!

I'm not quite ready to give up on this and I'm hoping for success after practice.  I just need to wait to solder my "masterpieces" until I've got the process down.  So that would be another piece of advice to anyone considering trying this...practice, practice, practice the soldering and once you've mastered that, then make your pendants.

This experience has taught me a lesson in patience (or lack of it thereof...) My enthusiasm to dive right in cost me an arm and a leg in time, materials and sanity.  Next time I'm trying something new I think I'll take a little more time learning the ins and the outs of the technique!

Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear your comments!

 
                               

3 comments:

  1. Sorry, I can't help you--I've never tried to solder, but I hope you don't give up, because these are wonderful designs! If you find help, I hope you blog about it!!

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  2. Same here, I have tried soldering with two irons now and had terrible results it looks so easy on you-tube.Now I think can it be the solder I'm using?Or the flux? as I am using the paste flux or is it the brush who knows! but like you I am fed up. Any answers would be gratefully received
    Marion London

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  3. Hi Marion, I've experimented some more and still am no pro, but I have found that the temperature of my iron has a lot to do with the success of my soldering. I have found that if I tin the whole piece and then let it cool, then solder another layer later, it seems to come out better. Also I've just come to accept that soldering isn't a perfect science and some of the imperfections add to the unique charm of each pendant. I am almost ready to open an Etsy shop to sell some pendants. I'll post when I do. I hope that little bit helped, don't give up though...from everything I've read, it really takes practice. Good luck and happy creating!

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Kristen