ART OF STAINED GLASS
HOW TO SOLDER STAINED GLASS

Assemble Your Tools and Supplies
Be ready with the following:

• Disposable gloves
• Flux for stained glass
• Natural hair paintbrush, or flux brush
• 100W soldering iron
• Spool of 60/40 or lead-free solder
• Small, wide mouth glass bottle to keep flux
• Moist sponge
• Your foiled project

For the beginner project in the example you will also need:

• A pair of 13/16" eye screws
• Copper wire

Do make sure that you work in a well-ventilated area to reduce your exposure to flux fumes. The gloves are useful, as even minute amounts of contact with flux may provoke dermatitis in some people. Plug your iron, and allow a few minutes for it to heat up.



How Does Soldering Work?
Soldering appears intimidating at first, but it really is very simple. When you make contact with the soldering iron tip, and the solid core solder wire tip, the metal melts and falls down. The melted solder will prefer to adhere to fluxed copper, and will be repelled by the glass surface.

Apply Flux
Flux is applied in a thin coat over the solder lines with a special flux brush, or an old natural-hair paintbrush. If you apply too much flux, the solder will tend to fizz and bubble. If you don't apply enough flux, the solder will not adhere to the foil well. It's better to put too little flux, rather than too much. You can always add more, but you can't remove the excess where the solder is fizzing and bubbling.





Apply Flux
Flux is applied in a thin coat over the solder lines with a special flux brush, or an old natural-hair paintbrush. If you apply too much flux, the solder will tend to fizz and bubble. If you don't apply enough flux, the solder will not adhere to the foil well. It's better to put too little flux, rather than too much. You can always add more, but you can't remove the excess where the solder is fizzing and bubbling.

View video of flux application:

Soldering, copper foil technique

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