MAKING A SUNFLOWER SUNCATCHER (CONTINUED)

These are the Next Steps in Making the Sunflower Suncatcher

After cutting the pieces of glass for the petals and shaping each one using a grinder when needed, the next thing to do is to wash each piece of glass in warm soapy water to remove all traces of the cutting oil.  Then the glass is ready to be copper foiled.

Copper Foiling the Glass

On this Project I have used 3/16 silver backed copper foil.  I have wrapped the edges of each piece of glass with the copper foil and then flattened it by hand.  I then use a crimping tool to apply pressure to it and to seal it to the glass.  This is what the sunflower looks like once it has been copper foiled.

Soldering the Sunflower

The next job is to solder the glass pieces together.  First of all I have to flux the copperfoil seams so that the solder will melt onto the copperfoil.  Then I tack solder the pieces together - this involves melting a drop of solder to attach one piece of glass to another.  When I have done this and the piece is secure I remove the horseshoe nails and it is time to solder the seams. 

I solder all of the copperfoil seams to achieve a continuous rounded solder bead.  Then comes the tricky bit which is putting a solder bead around the edges.  This is done by taking a drop of solder onto the tip of the soldering iron and patting it onto the edges - the trick is not to take so much solder that it runs onto the seams and glass but ensuring that there is just enough to give a raised edge. The soldering process for this project took approximately 1.5 hours. 

Once all the soldering is done, I solder some jump rings to the suncatcher to take the chain or wire to hang it in a window or where the light will catch it.  Finally, another thorough wash in soapy water is required to remove all of the flux and then I attach either a chain or fishing line to hang the suncatcher. 

The entire project, from the sketch to completion, has taken about 5 hours. 

Here is the finished sunflower suncatcher hanging in the window.

 Jackie