At this point the lamp is in ONE piece. The lamp has been tack soldered and tinned on the outside only. Sectional lamps have been attached together and bridging parts installed.
Fill, build and finish the seams inside first then outside. It is almost impossible to fill the space between the foiled glass parts with solder without some solder flow through. When the inside seams are filled and finished first it is easy to make smooth outside seams, solder flow through will be minimal from the outside to the inside. The portion of the inside seam you are working on MUST be positioned NEAR level. The inside of a lamp shade is easily leveled by propping it up with small blocks of wood, styrofoam, etc., or holding it with a positioner.
If you purchase only one soldering iron; buy a 100 watt iron with a pointed tip. A 100 watt iron will allow you to tack solder, tin, build seams, make rims, and install spun brass vase caps. A 150 watt iron with a 5/8" diameter tip is used for any soldering that requires a volume of heat for rims, cast brass vase caps, and tree limb filigree. Use a water soluable ammonia chloride base flux.
Level the seam. Dip the tip of a brush in the flux. Cover the
copper foil only where you want solder to adhere. There is no
need to flood the seam with flux (an inexpensive artist brush
at 1/8" wide will work fine.)
Using a hot iron, melt and spread droplets of solder along the
seam tinning the foil and filling the gaps. Try to gauge the amount
of solder that will be needed to make each seam between seam intersections.
To smooth, brush extra flux over the droplets of solder along
the seam, touch the iron tip to the solder, wait until the solder
is liquid, lift the tip out of the liquid solder and move approximately
1/4 to 1/2 inch along the seam. Touch the droplets, wait until
that portion is liquid and has melted into the first touch point.
TOUCH-PAUSE-LIFT. Try to make one pass across intersections. Try
to work away from intersections. Continue the TOUCH-PAUSE-LIFT
motion until the seam is completed.
As work progresses keep wiping the surface with a wet cloth
or sponge. If the solder becomes tacky, let it cool, then
apply extra flux and redo. Do not worry about solder flow through
to the outside.
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| Too much solder causes seam to bag over | Correct amount of solder for nice rounded seams |
Don't try to build the seams too high. If too much solder has
been applied, push it out on the glass. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PICK
SOLDER UP FROM THE GLASS WITH THE SOLDERING IRON TIP - the glass
may crack from the heat.
Variations of the TOUCH-PAUSE-LIFT method are: (1) drawing the
iron along without lifting it; (2) feeding solder to the seam
by touching the solder to the top of the iron tip as the iron
is drawn along the seam.
The biggest problem is positioning the shade so each outside
seam can be leveled. If you are making several lamps look into
our LampLeveler™ system. Most lamps can be propped up so
you can finish the upper part and install the vase cap, then tipped
on their side to finish near the bottom.
Beading the outside goes much faster than doing the inside because
the seams do not have to be filled. smooth out any solder flow
through and finish the outside the same as the inside. WIPE
THE SURFACE with a wet cloth or sponge to cool and clean.
All lamp shades except those with crowns, should have a reinforcing wire inside the top aperture opening where the vase cap will be soldered. Bend a circle of copper wire (10 or 12 gauge) or the new flexible braided copper wire and place it inside the top rim [Fig. T]. Use a generous amount of flux, tack in the middle of the wire circle and work out toward each end. leveling as you go. Fill in all spaces and completely cover with solder. [Fig U]
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| [Fig. T] 10, 12, or 14 guage or braided wire |
[Fig. U] Copper wire covered with solder |
All lamps with even bottom borders should be reinforced in the same way as the top. If you are making an irregular bottom border lamp shade, it is best to bend short pieces of copper wire around the uneven bottom edge. [Figs. V and W] Braided copper wire is flexible and is easily bent around the uneven bottom edges in one piece.
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The copper wire soldered inside the aperture provides a strong
base to attach a vase cap. Level aperture opening by using a course
file to remove high areas of solder. Grasp with a heavy glove
and cover the entire outside surface of the vase cap (tin) with
a thin coat of solder.
Center the vase cap over the top rim and temporarily hold with
two small tacks of solder [FIG X],
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[Fig. X] Install Vase Cap |
one on each side. Check to see if the cap is level. If level, fill in all gaps and build well rounded seams around the vase cap both inside and outside.
Replacing cracked pieces is not hard to do. A glass cutter with a ball molded on the handle is used to shatter the broken glass pieces. Use a needle nose pliers to remove all glass shards. A hot soldering iron is used to melt the solder at the end of the copper foil that was wrapped around the part. The end of the foil is grasped with the pliers and is gently removed by pulling as the solder is melted out with the tip of the soldering iron. A new part is cut, foiled, pressed into place, soldered, and antiqued.
Wash thoroughly to remove the water soluble flux residue. Apply antiquing solution while the lamps is till damp. Rinse for the last time and pat dry. The lamp is now ready to be placed on a base or swagged. Prepared antiquing solutions are available in black, copper, gray and other colors.