Stained Glass for Beginners – Part 2: Foiling and Soldering Tools

Welcome to Part Two! Now that you know all the basic cutting tools (if you didn’t catch my last post read it here Stained Glass for Beginners – Part 1) I’ll tell you about the basic tools you need for the foiling and soldering process.

The bonding agents:

Copper Foil: this is essentially copper tape; available in different widths and thicknesses. It is wrapped around the outside of a piece of glass and then pressed into place along the sides later to be covered with flux. Copper foil is also available in different colors to give your designs a different effect. If you need some help selecting your foil check out my post on How to Choose Foil for Stained Glass Projects.

 

Fid: a tool used to adhere copper foil to glass, you could use a pencil or craft stick, but most fids are grooved and specially designed to burnish best

Flux: a paste or liquid that is applied to copper foil just before soldering, kinda like the cutters, the type you use is up to you and what you are comfortable with 

Flux Brush: used to apply flux to copper foil, like a heavy-duty paint brush

Soldering Iron: a tool used to heat solder to liquid form

Soldering Iron Stand with Tip Cleaning Sponge – a clean soldering iron tip is a happy soldering iron tip a stand with a cleaning sponge is essential to maintaining a clean solder tip

Solder: mostly lead/tin (lead free available) based material used to adhere pieces of stained glass together and finish the piece. Kind of like the glue that holds the piece together.  If you need some help selecting your solder check out my post Choosing Solder for Stained Glass Projects .

Heat resistant/homosote board: essential for protecting your work surface, I mean we are dealing with heat here

 

So you know all of the basic tools and supplies for the foil method of stained glass, aren’t you excited!!!

For some really great free stained glass patterns, check out the Diamond Tech Creative Corner and to find these stained glass cutting tools in a store near let our store locator be your guide.

Stay tuned, next week we’ll go over some basic cutting procedures  and I’ll take you through the basic steps of making a stained glass piece.