Arts Publications

Through the looking glass: layering glass slides into intricate jewelry pieces

Expression, Nov-Dec, 2004 by Alma de la Rosa

A wonderful instructor--Romona Dolan--taught this technique to me and I have since expanded upon her way of layering collaged slides and applied it to jewelry. I prefer using glass slides for this technique because they are thin and you can layer up to five slides per piece. More bang for your buck!

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INSTRUCTIONS

1. Using the glass cutter, cut the glass slides into the sizes you need for each piece. You will need from two to five pieces. 2. Clean both sides of the slide with glass cleaner. If you wish, you can stamp on the glass with permanent ink. Loosely collage on one side of one slide. I find that using tweezers helps. If you feel that glue is necessary to hold the collage to the slide, sparingly use clear glue. After you are done, carefully lay a second piece of glass over the collage. Remember that the backside of the piece is also visible, so you may want to turn the piece over and collage on the back to cover up any glue that shows through. Cover this second collage with another slide to seal it. You can stop here or continue collaging and layering up to two more glass pieces. 3. Remove 1/2 inch of the backing of the copper tape and place the corner edge of the glass pieces flat, 1/4 inch from the edge of the tape. Gradually, roll all the glass pieces along the tape while removing the tape backing, centering it in the tape. There should be at least 1/8 inch of tape on each side of the glass. Neatness counts I find it is easiest to hold the glass in one hand like a vise and collage and tape it with the other. After all edges are sealed, cut the tape at a corner for a nice finish. Press the tape on either side onto the glass and burnish. 4. Plug in your soldering iron and while it is heating up, place your copper-edged slides into the chip clip. (The chip clip exerts just enough pressure to act as a holder so that you can use both hands to solder, but not enough pressure to break the glass.) 5. Dip your brush into the flux and brush onto the copper tape. The flux "cleans" the copper and allows the solder to stick to the copper. 6. Hold the soldering iron in one hand and the lead-free solder in the other. Place the tip of the soldering iron on the copper tape to heat it up. Solder will always flow towards heat. Place the solder on the top of the tip of the iron. Once the solder has reached its melting point it will flow onto the tip and then onto the copper tape. Move the soldering iron slowly around the copper tape until the edges are covered. Complete the soldering process in stages, letting the slide cool down before moving it in the chip clip. Clean with glass cleaner. 7. Use stainless steel to smooth out and remove oxidation from the solder. Wipe clean. Use a stained glass finishing compound to seal and polish the piece. 8. To use the pieces for jewelry, solder on stainless steel jump rings and attach beads for use as a pendant. Or use heavy-duty glue to attach a pin back.

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