One of the more difficult skills to master when creating stained glass is soldering. This is especially the case when using the copper foil method wherein the majority of your stained glass piece requires smooth, sturdy solder lines to join all your pieces of glass together.
Have no fear, though! With a little learning, and a lot of practice anyone can master great soldering and create beautiful, professional-looking stained glass works..
Today we’re going to cover the stained glass soldering basics, so that you have all the knowledge you need to start building your skills.
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Stained Glass Soldering Supplies
This list below covers everything you’ll need for soldering your stained glass project. If you’re needing a more detailed breakdown that includes other stained glass supplies you can find that here. I also have a free supplies checklist that includes all the supplies you’ll need for creating stained glass from start to finish.
For soldering, all you’ll need is:
Solder
The solder you use is completely up to you. There are a few different types of solder for stained glass. The most popular one being 60/40. Keep in mind the “40” here is referring to the mixture of lead, so if you’re wanting a lead free solder be sure to get one that specifically states “lead free.”
Soldering Iron
I recommend an adjustable temperature soldering iron, like the Hakko 601. This is because there are times when different iron temperatures will make your soldering easier, for example when you’re tinning edges the lower setting really helps.
Flux
There are two types of flux you can use, liquid flux and gel flux. Neither one is better or worse than the other. It just depends on your own personal preference. I like liquid flux over gel right now, but I flip-flop between which one I prefer all the time.
Liquid flux can splatter more, especially when you’re soldering the back side of your piece, but honestly that’s the biggest difference that I’ve noticed. I prefer the liquid right now because I don’t use anything to secure my piece together before tack soldering, which means the gel may cause it to move more when applied.
I recommend trying both at some point so that you can know which one you prefer.
Flux Brush
You can use anything for this. Currently I’m using an old paint brush, but I also really like these cheap disposable brushes.
Soldering Safety
At just about every stage of creating stained glass there is a need to protect yourself. This is especially true when soldering because the flux fumes can be very bad for both your respiratory and your eyes.
Before you begin soldering anything, you’ll want to properly protect yourself so you don’t end up with ill health effects. To do this you’ll need the following safety equipment:
Soldering Terms
There are a few terms you’ll hear often when looking up anything that has to do with stained glass soldering, or really just soldering in general. It’s a good idea to know what the terms mean, so here’s a breakdown:
Tack Soldering
This is when you use little dots of solder, typically at your connecting joints, to “tack” your piece together. This is done to secure all your pieces before you start soldering the whole project. By doing this you are also able to move your piece around which makes soldering SO MUCH easier.
Tinning
Tinning is what you call adding a thin layer of solder to your copper foil (or any material.)
Bead
A solder bead is a nice build-up of solder. This is what you want. A nice smooth bead of solder.
Flood or Flooded
When you’ve flooded a piece that means you’ve laid down way more solder than you need and it floods over your tape, exposing globs of solder through the other side.
Soldering Iron Basics
No matter what soldering iron you have, there are some basic rules to keep in mind when working your iron.
Iron Temperature Settings
It’s important to know the melting point of the solder you’re using because different solders melt at different temperatures. However, if you’re using typical 60/40 solder the ideal iron temp is between 360 and 410.
For beading any edges, you can move the knob down to 360 and this will still melt your solder, but won’t make it flow as easily.
How to Hold Your Soldering Iron
There’s two main things you will be doing while soldering: picking up solder, and laying down solder. The way you hold your iron is different for both of these.
When picking up solder, you want your iron tip flat, or horizontal. This is because the solder sticks to the surface area of the iron.
When laying down solder, you want your iron tip pointed down, or vertical. This way the melted solder rolls off freely.
Keep a Clean Tip
Tip tinner is not required for soldering, however it’s a great thing to have to prolong the life of your soldering iron tip. This product is mainly for when your tip is already pretty oxidized, however you can, and I do, use it as a form of iron maintenance.
I simply roll my hot iron in it once or twice while soldering on a project.
Stained Glass Soldering Steps
Now that we’ve covered supplies, safety, basic terms, and your soldering iron (whew) – let’s get into the good stuff.
At this point all of your individual glass pieces should be copper foiled, and laid out, ready to solder.
Step One: Secure Copper Foiled Pieces
As I mentioned above, I actually don’t do this part so it’s not MANDATORY, however it is a really good idea so you don’t have to worry about any pieces moving when you go to tack solder. You can do this several different ways, and I’ve seen other artists on social media get pretty clever with it. The two main methods I’ve seen are:
- Using tacks or horseshoe nails on a homasote board
- Taping the piece together on the front with blue painters tape, and flipping the piece over to solder the back first. (I can see how soldering the back first would be appealing, but other than that I feel like this is too much work, and just not possible at all if your piece is rather large)
Step Two: Apply Flux Where You Plan to Tack Solder
Before you attempt to lay down any solder you must make sure you apply flux first. Don’t worry, if you forget you’ll quickly realize. This is because your solder will just kind of clump up and not flow over your copper without the flux.
Step Three: Tack Solder Joints
By joints, I mean all the corner connections where your pieces of glass meet. Or actually it doesn’t have to be a corner I guess, the goal is to get all your individual pieces of glass secured together so you can move the whole piece around freely.
Simply grab some solder from your roll and lay it down where you want to tack. I typically will hold my solder in one hand, pull some solder from it and then lay it down. Remember, hold your iron horizontal to pick solder up, and vertical to lay solder down.
Step Four: Apply More Flux
You will continuously need to reapply flux to areas that need to be soldered. If your stained glass piece is fairly small, you should be able to apply all your flux and then solder the entire piece. However, if your piece is rather large than most likely you will be continuing to apply flux as you go.
It is possible to use too much flux while soldering your stained glass. Using too much flux and not properly cleaning it afterwards will cause your piece to form white mold around the solder lines. Ideally, you want to use just enough flux to get your solder to glide easily across your copper foil.
Step Five: Solder
When it comes to soldering the entirety of your piece, you’ll want to pull out plenty of solder from your roll, and hold the end of that solder down with the tip of your iron melting it as you create a thick, beaded solder line.
This is the part that takes a lot of practice to master. Your speed, the way you hold your iron, the direction in which you prefer to solder. All these particulars are different for each person, and something you’ll perfect as you continue to practice. There are a couple of things – such as the horizontal, vertical trick – however most of what soldering is, is you finding your groove.
Don’t be discouraged if your first piece, or first few pieces, come out less than ideal. This is what we all experience. Practice makes progress.
Step Six: Solder Back
Once your entire piece has been soldered together, it’s time to flip it over and start from step four. Now that your piece is all soldered on one side, you don’t need to tack solder. Simply start with adding your flux and complete the back of your piece.
Step Seven: Tin Edges
I have another article that goes into this already called Tinning and Beading Stained Glass Edges.
Conclusion
Soldering is really quite simple, but as I’ve mentioned many other times on here already – practice makes progress. Just keep picking up the soldering iron and practicing <3
Let me know if there’s something I’ve missed that you’d like to know. You can also check out these tips, tricks and frequently asked questions. Happy creating 🙂
