Forum Home Post Anonymously Sign up Sign in

Dragonfly wings

This is my first time to this forum, and I am hoping someone could give me some advice. First I will premise this by saying I have only been creating g stained glass projects for under a year and I am self taught, so go easy on me.

My question is this; I am working on a 16' dragonfly shade, and have noticed that the dragonfly wings are quite long and of course do not lay flat agains the form, but jut out a good inch on each end. How do I solder this so there are no gaps? The only way I can think of eliminating the gaps would be to cut the glass wings into 3 separate pieces, but I think it would ruin the look of the shade.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


re: Dragonfly wings

Well, 1" at each end really sounds excessive. It's true that the wings are often proud of the surface, but not that much. Makers fill the gaps with solder in the final finishing.

So, first, it makes me wonder if the pattern and form are correctly sized.

Nonetheless, the simplest solution I've read is to install the wings after removing the lamp from the form and "average-out" the gaps. This means the wings would be a bit below the rounded surface in spots.

Is there a spot under the filigree where an extra line wouldn't show?


re: Dragonfly wings

Hi Glenn,

First, an inch at each end is huge! I wonder if there is any spot under the filigree which would hide a thin line?

I've recently read a few posts on another other board about this issue. The best suggestion I read was to install the wings after the shade was assembled and average out the gaps. Maybe not the best look but better than an inch.

My question would be whether the pattern and form are right for each other?


re: Dragonfly wings

I built the 20" hanging head dragonfly lamp, many years ago. The cone shape was more forgiving for soldering on the dragon fly wings, but there were still the gaps, you are describing. If I recall, the 16" is more of a dome shape and the curves around the bottom are tougher to deal with. The gaps are going to be big, use 50/50 solder to bead up as much as you can. It requires a lot of solder, go easy so as not to heat crack the glass. 60/40 to top coat and smooth the solder. You're going to have a very textural lamp. If you don't want that look, then you'll have to cut the wings down to better meet the curve of the form. Follow a natural line in the lace part of the wing. You have the option of score breaking, when foiled, thus no solder joint between the the two pieces, for a transparent line. If you have kids or pets, you might want to use copper foil and solder, just trim your foil to the thinnest joint possible.