Cleaning Stained Glass Projects

The following are the steps that I use to get a good patina finish.

After soldering, wash the piece off in warm water. First run the water on the piece and rub your fingers over it to remove the solder balls. Put a drop of Joy dish washing liquid (or some other light soap without perfume or softeners) and a sprinkle of baking soda onto a scrub brush (a nail brush works here) and scrub the piece. This will help kill off the flux. Wash it thoroughly. Then dry and patina. Then repeat the washing steps as before.
After the piece is all patinaed, polish it. If you used copper use a light duty metal polish like Semi-chrome or the like. Or if it's black or silver, use Chem-o-pro wax. This will give you a very professional finish, and it will really bring out the shine in the copper.
If you already have a stained glass project and don't have the above-mentioned products, you can clean your piece by first cleaning it with a glass cleaner (if there's mirror in it make sure the cleaner is safe for mirror). Then using spray Pledge you can re-polish the glass. Never submerge your project in water unless you're absolutely sure it's safe. Some examples of when not to submerge the piece is when you have a photograph inset in the lid or pressed flowers. To shine the metal you can use a light duty car polish. Just be sure not to rub to hard or too much because the patina can rub off.

If you have any comments, ideas or questions, please email me at esavad@home.com

Last modified March 14, 1997

Started on 9-22-98