Tinning and Beading Stained Glass Edges

Today I want to talk about tinning and beading your stained glass edges when working with smaller stained glass suncatchers and projects.

Tinning and beading are two different processes you should do around your project edges if you’re not applying a lead came border. This will make your piece stronger and complete.

Soldering the edges of your stained glass projects is a little more difficult than soldering flat seams. Hopefully after this article you’ll be on your way to creating beautifully beaded edges.

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Tinning Edges

You’ve probably seen or heard the term tinning and thought “what the heck is that?” Tinning is simply the process of adding a coat of solder to something. In stained glass it’s the process of adding a thin coat of solder to your copper foil tape.

Although you technically can tin the edges of your stained glass projects without beading them afterwards, this doesn’t create any strength around the edges of your piece. The tape can and probably will pull away over time, especially if you attach a jump ring and attempt to hang it.

With this said, you can really consider tining step 1 in the process of finishing off your stained glass edges. However, since it is its own process and term, we’ll cover them individually.

How to tin your edges

Before you begin the steps below it’s best to turn your soldering iron down to 360 degrees. If your soldering iron is too hot you can melt out the adhesive from under your copper foil tape and cause it to tear.

You should also set up your workspace so that you’re able to grab and lay down the solder using only one hand. The best way I’ve found to do this is to set my solder spool up this way:

Pull out a little solder and position it pointing up, with the solder spool sitting flat on one side. This will allow you to grab solder with your soldering iron using only one hand. This way your other hand is free to hold your stained glass piece/project.

Step One

Apply liquid or gel flux to all exposed copper foil tape of the edge you are working on. This includes the sides and outer edge.

Step Two

Pick up some solder from your spool with your soldering iron. It’s important to keep the tip of your soldering iron horizontal here so that the solder doesn’t roll straight off.

Step Three

Apply the solder to your edges by carefully swiping your soldering iron, almost like coloring it with a marker. The goal here is to apply a thin layer of solder over your copper foil.

Repeat this until all your edges have been tinned.

Scroll down for full video tutorial

Beading Edges

The point of beading your edges is to provide a more sturdy border to your piece. It also helps with the appearance. If your edges are just tinned the tape can easily peel away with almost no effort and your piece just looks… incomplete.

Keep in mind though, even with a nice bead around your border, you still want to only apply jump rings where there is a solder line. Even beaded edges will peel away over time with enough weight pulling on them.

How to Bead Your Edges

Now that the copper foil tape has been tinned on all sides of your edges, you can focus on adding nice, smooth beed to your outermost edge.

Keep your soldering iron at 360 degrees especially for this step. As you gain more experience this may not matter but in the beginning it can be difficult not having solder drip and drop in places. This is even more true with a hotter temperature setting.

Step One

Apply flux. You will need to re-apply flux to any area that’s already tinned before you can begin beading.

Note: At any point when you are laying down solder, if you notice that it gets “clumpy,” this means you need to re-apply flux to that area.

Step Two

Just as you did when you were tinning, you’ll need to pick up some solder with your soldering iron with the tip held horizontally to keep the solder from running off.

Hold whatever edge you’re applying your solder bead to as horizontal as you can get it. The goal is for the solder to stay where you lay it down and not roll anywhere else.

Lay down the solder on your edge by tapping on the edge. The goal is to create a nice, thick bead to sit on top of your edge, and a little over the sides of your edge.

Repeat this step until all edges of your piece have a nice rounded solder bead.