Framing, hanging and finishing

• Zinc came is stiff, and the right answer for anything that has to stay flat: framed panels, anything over about 12 inches (300 mm), anything going into a window opening. It solders well and does not sag.
• Lead came is soft and bends to a curve, which makes it right for round or irregular edges and wrong for long straight ones under load.
• Brass is zinc's expensive cousin: stiffer again, takes a polish, worth it on a piece where the frame is part of the design.
• A soldered bead edge alone is fine on a small suncatcher and nothing larger.

Whatever you use, mitre the corners and solder them inside and out. An unsoldered corner is a hinge.

Copper foil panels sag under their own weight over years, slowly enough that you do not notice until the bottom edge has bowed. Anything much over 12 inches (300 mm) in either direction wants help.

1. 1Hide it in a seamTinned copper restrip or steel rebar soldered into a long seam that already runs most of the width. It disappears into the solder line and does all the work.
2. 2Run it the short way across the long spanThe sag is across the widest unsupported distance. Reinforce against that, not along it.
3. 3Solder it along its whole lengthTacked at the ends only, it flexes and eventually tears the seam it was meant to protect.

• Solder hanging loops to a seam junction, never to foil in the middle of a piece. The junction has metal underneath it; the middle of a piece has adhesive tape.
• Two points, not one, set in from the corners by about a sixth of the width. A single central hook lets the panel pivot and puts all the load on one seam.
• Use tinned copper wire or a proper ring, and flow solder right around the joint so there is no gap for it to work loose in.
• Chain rather than fishing line for anything with weight. Line creeps and eventually lets go, usually overnight.

1. 1Clean before you patinaPatina is a chemical reaction with the solder surface. Flux residue or finger grease gives you a patchy, streaked result, and the fix is to clean and do it again.
2. 2Copper or black, applied coldBrush it on, keep it moving, and work the whole panel in one session so the color is even. Wear gloves: patina solutions are acidic.
3. 3Neutralize and washA little bicarbonate of soda in warm water stops the reaction. Then wash properly and dry, including the edges of every piece of glass where solution has crept.
4. 4Whiting, then waxCalcium carbonate powder rubbed over the panel with a soft brush lifts residue out of the seams and leaves the solder bright. Finish with a hard wax polish, which protects the solder and makes the glass sing.

Leave a panel unwaxed and the solder oxidizes to a dull gray within a year. Five minutes of wax now is the difference between a panel that looks made and one that looks old.