Making Stained Glass Lamp Shades

Stained glass lamp shades can accentuate and complement the interior design of your home. They can add more character than normal and boring lampshades. Fabricating your own design to suit your home can be a fun and fulfilling project. Instead of buying or hiring a professional to make a stained glass lamp shade, try doing it yourself and let your creative and constructive juices flow.

Step 1: Preparing the Pattern

To start your stained glass lamp shades project make sure that the pattern design is symmetrical, because it will be difficult to put your lamp together if the edges of your design are not the same. To do this, trace the design pattern on a piece of paper. Fold the paper at the center of the pattern. Check to see if the two halves are similar. If not, erase the other half and copy the un-erased portion to make it symmetrical.

Step 2: Making Pattern Pieces

Trace the symmetrical pattern for your stained glass lamp shades on poster boards using carbon paper and pencil. After you have traced everything, number the pattern pieces. Cut them out individually using the scissors, working as accurately as possible.

Step 3: Make a Jig

Get a board two inches larger than the size of your stained glass lamp shades pattern. Set your pattern in the middle and secure it with masking tape. Then set wood strips along the sides of the pattern and secure them with tacks. Make sure that the strips of wood line up evenly along the sides.

Step 4: Cut the Glass and Construct the Panels

Start cutting the glass, one panel of the lamp at a time. Fit them into the jig to make sure that they line up with the design pattern. Wrap each piece with foil and make it overlap on the end of the pattern. Smooth out the ends where the foil overlaps. When the entire panel is foiled, apply flux on the edges and start soldering the pieces together. Do the same with the other panels of the stained glass lamp shades.

Step 5: Fitting Panels Together

Join the panels by their sides. There should be a round opening in the middle. Solder them together. Put electrical tape across the sides that join the panels together. Pick up the pieces from the hole in the middle and set it upright. The whole thing should stick together when you stand it up. Pull the opposite ends towards each other and tape them so they’ll stick. Turn the whole thing upside down and solder the points at the bottom where the panels meet. Now turn it upright and solder the points where the panels meet at the top. Solder some points on the seams and carefully remove the tape afterwards. Solder the pre-tinned 16-gauge copper wire around the top and bottom of the stained glass lamp shades.

Step 6: Put on the Vase Cap

Apply solder to the edge of the vase cap where it will meet the shade. Place it on top of the shade and solder the edges where they meet.

Step 7: Finishing

Completely solder the sides of the panels that meet together to further reinforce the connection. Let all the solder dry and clean your new stained glass lamp shades.