How to Copper Foil

The following instructions are for Copper Foil Method of Stained Glass and it is the technique that I personally use. I prefer working with copper foil as opposed to the lead came method. I find copper foiling allows you to make very small and detailed pieces with more ease. When I build a large stained glass piece, I will use Re-Strip which is a ribbon of hard copper and incorporate it into seams. The final result is not visible but gives strength to the finished stained glass piece. For larger pieces I will also solder a zinc 1/8"x5/16" bar around the outside.

The Project:
Butterfly Suncatcher "8"

The Supplies:

• Glass - Wissmach 197L, butterfly wings
• Spectrum 1009W, butterfly body
• Spectrum 1/100V background (irridescent)
  
  
• For outside frame: RU-80 lead
  (note): If you are doing a straight edged piece, you can purchase various widths of straight zinc lengths that you cut to size with a mitre Vise and hacksaw.
• Copperfoil: 3/16" and 7/32" black backed copperfoil , the wider one for the thicker glass pieces on the butterfly wings
• 18guage pewter jack chain
• Novcan Black Patina for Zinc
• Glastar Flux
• 60/40 Solder
• Ceiling tile for a workboard . This workboard can be used again and again.It is inexpensive, fire retardant and can be purchased at your local hardware store. I like to tape the edges of mine with duct tape so its not so messy.
• Glue stick
• Craft wire to make the hoops for hanging system

The Pattern:
I prepare my patterns by computer with the Glass Eye 2000 softwear. (www.dfly.com) This is a fantastic art program, that meets all the needs of the serious stained glass artist that wants to draw their own patterns.
Once I finalize my artwork, I print out 2 copies of the pattern.
You can prepare you patterns in whatever method you have available, but you need to have 2 copies.

The Tools:
There are many brands and styles of tools available and each artist has their own preferences. This is a list of what I use.

• Regular sissors
• Pattern Shears - Pattern shears have a triple blade design which removes the right amount of space between your pattern pieces so the project won't grow as it is constructed.
• Morton Maxi Surface for my cutting surface. (If you are a beginner and do not have this, you can use your tile workboard as your cutting board)
• Pistol-grip Supercutter and cutting oil. I personally do not put oil in the cylinder as I prefer to dip my cutting wheel into a small cup of oil that I keep beside my cutting table. (There are many brands and styles of cutters available)
• One set of breaking and grozing pliers. (There are many brands and styles available)
• Morton Push pins (or some alternative method to secure your work onto your working board-small nails, horseshoe nails).
• G8All Star Glastar grinder. Again there are many styles and brands available.
• 3/4", or 1" and 1/4" grinding heads. If you are going to be able to grind tighter curves, you need the 1/4" head.
• Saftey glasses
• Fid
• Exacto Knife
• Came cutter.
• Lead vise - for lead came frame
• Soldering Iron and holder.
• Pro brush to apply flux
• Cookie cutter tool (round blue tool you see in my instructional pictures) - not necessary, but I like as it saves the fingertips and allows nice even pressure when pushing glass into grinding head.
• Old towels or rags

Instructions:
Take the two copies of your pattern and place one on your workboard.
Using your Pattern Shears, take the second copy of the pattern and cut out your pieces. I find having a regular pair of sissors handy to cut off the 'tails'.
The more precise you cut your pattern, the better your results when cutting your glass.

(note) If it is a straight edge pattern, then I use morton edges and using a square, I set up the working guides pinning them into place so that I end up with a nice square or rectangular piece.
Because our butterfly is a circle, we don't need to concern ourself with pinning anything in place just yet.

Some hints when choosing glass, hold the glass piece up to window light and let the natural light shine through.
Although it is not necessary, I like to use a light table when I work with the glass. I lay my glass onto the light table when I am gluing my pattern pieces on so I can pick and choose the grains and texture that the pattern section I glue the pattern piece onto will have what I am looking for.
There is more waste with glass doing it this way, but I often am building a product that I really aim for a specific look to it when completed and my goal is to produce the most artistic piece I can for my clients.
Having the light come through your glass when placing your pattern pieces, allows you to see what the exact characteristic the glass piece will have.
Lightly glue the pattern pieces onto the glass. Be sure the fine tips and edges have some glue on them to hold into place when you are doing your cutting and grinding.
When I am building a large piece, I like to work with one colour at a time. For small pieces, I cut them them all at the same time.

Wearing your saftey glasses, cut your pieces out.
One you have cut your piece of glass,grind it to the exact size and shape you desire. Because you have your pattern piece glued on to your glass you can be very exact with this process.
I keep a bowl of water beside my grinder and when I am finished grinding a piece I put it into the water, let it soak for a bit to loosen the glue, then peel off the mushy paper.
You then dry the piece of glass with an old work towel or rag and place it onto the working pattern.

Although it is not necessary, if you are doing a lot of glasswork the 'cookie cutter' tool (the round blue tool you see in my photo) allows you to put the necessary pressure when pushing your glass against the grinding stone with more ease than just using your fingers.

Once all the pieces are cut, its time to wrap each piece with the copper foil.
My personal preference is using the black backed copperfoil because I tend to finish my pieces with black patina and the black backed foil dosen't end up showing through the glass like the copper backed foil does.

There are lots of sizes and styles of copperfoil tape. The one I use most often is 3/16". If you have selected glasses that are thicker or have more texture, its a good idea to use a wider copperfoil.
Wrap each individual glass piece, adhereing the copperfoil as evenly as you can, the more precise you are, the more even the final soldering lines will appear. Using a fid, be sure that all your foil is pressed on really well. Using your exacto knife, cut off any little overlapping ends that may have occurred when you were wrapping your piece. Again, this makes your final solder lines smoother.
For this butterfly stained glass suncatcher, I used the 7/32" copper foil on the blue wissmach glass as it is thicker and the 3/16" copper foil on the other glasses in this piece as the glasses were thinner.

Take your lead framing material and roughly measure around the piece how long you will need it, then your came cutter, make a clean cut to approximate length.
Using your lead vise stretch your came. Be careful to not overstretch it as it will break.
Put this stretched came around the outside of your soldered glasspiece circle, and once wrapped, cut to exact size necessary.
Now you will see why you did not solder your copperfoiled lines right to the edge in the first soldering step as your frame will now just wrap around the outside nicely.
Flux where it joins and solder. The zinc came melts fast really fast, so be careful not to overheat it when you are joining your lines to it.
Flux and solder all the unfinshed lines, connecting them carefully to the outside frame.