How to Make a Soldered Glass Necklace

You can make a soldered glass necklace using pieces of stained glass like those used in windows.

All types of materials are used to make jewelry, including metal, gemstones, clay, wood and resin. Glass is used to fashion various types of jewelry. Because it is available in a multitude of vibrant colors, is relatively durable, and has a pleasing, translucent glow, glass is an appealing jewelry-making material. You can cut glass into virtually any shape you desire, and join glass pieces together with solder. By soldering pieces of glass together, you can fashion an colorful and eye-catching necklace.

Things You'll Need

• White paper
• Erasable marker
• Glass pieces
• Glass cutter
• Pliers
• Electric glass grinder
• Copper foil
• Flux
• Soldering iron
• Lead solder
• Wire or jewelry bail
• Necklace chain

Instructions

1. Use a marker to design a necklace pendant on a white sheet of paper. Draw a simple design with few separate parts, best for replicating in glass. For example, try drawing a flower with round centers and three to five ovoid petals. Connect at least one inch of each portion of the pendant to at least one inch of another portion of the pendant; this way, you won't struggle to connect small or sharp edges as you solder the glass pieces together.

2. Position a piece of glass on top of the pendant drawing. The drawing will be visible through the transparent glass. Trace the drawing directly onto the glass using an erasable marker. Try tracing different parts of the drawing onto different colors of glass. For example, combine a red glass flower center with yellow and orange glass flower petals.

3. Roll over the marker outlines you have drawn on the pieces of glass with a glass cutter. Trace the glass cutter over the marker outlines slowly and with even, firm pressure. Let the rolling blade of the glass cutter leave a visible mark in the glass.

4. Break the excess glass away from the pendant parts using pliers. After you have outlined a flower petal on a piece of glass and traced over the outline with the glass cutter, for example, gently break away the glass outside of the cut outline with pliers until only the petal remains. Do this with each part of the pendant.

5. Push all sides of each piece of cut-out glass against an electric glass grinder. Abrading the perimeter of each piece of glass will encourage the copper foil to adhere to the glass.

6. Pull the sticky backing away from the copper foil to reveal its adhesive side. Wrap the copper foil around the perimeter of each glass piece. Make sure the sticky side of the foil is pressed against the glass and the copper side of the foil faces outward.

7. Position the glass parts on a flat surface so that they are pressed together in the exact manner you established in your drawing. The pieces of glass should all fit snugly together so that they can be soldered together with ease.

8. Paint flux on all of the copper foil wrapped around each piece of glass with a paintbrush. Note that the flux will help solder to flow.

9. Connect the individual glass parts with solder. Position a bit of lead solder against the seam between two glass parts. Press a soldering iron against the lead solder. Use the soldering iron to draw the solder along the seams of all the glass parts you want to join. Let the solder cool and solidify.

10. Turn the glass over and solder the parts together again on the back side.

11. Continue to solder around the perimeter of each part of each piece, so every part of glass is framed entirely in solder. Let the solder cool and solidify.

12. Bend a portion of wire into a small loop with round-nosed pliers to form a bail, or use a pre-made jewelry bail. Solder the bail onto the top of the soldered glass pendant. Use the wire to suspend the soldered glass pendant from a chain to create a necklace.

Tips & Warnings

• Try creating a much larger soldered glass pendant that is five inches wide. Attach two bails to the pendant, placing one on either side of it. Hook a necklace chain to each bail. The end result will be a much bigger, bolder soldered glass necklace.

• Rather than draw your glass pendant design freehand, try using one of the stained-glass patterns available for free online. You can print out the pattern and shrink it on a copier, or just use certain elements from the pattern, such as a single flower.

References

• "How to Work in Stained Glass"; Anita Isenberg; 1998
• Better Stained Glass: How to Cut Stained Glass

Resources

• Chantal Stained Glass: Free Stained Glass Patterns