All you really need to know is that 7/32" is the most popular width of foil, but read on. Almost all the glass ou will be using as a beginner, will be 3mm thick. 7/32" = 5mm approximately, so it follows you will have about 1mm overlap on both sides of the glass. If your cutting is precise, it also follows that your solder line, or bead, will be 2mm. In a perfect world. But the world is far from perfect, and your cutting will be likewise, to start with. Another factor is your dexterity.. When you start foiling glass, your foil is likely to be un-even..and there's very little margin for error when you use 7/32" with 3mm glass.

So, make life easy for yourself and start off with 1/4" foil, which is just a little bit wider. Yes, your solder seams will be that little bit wider, but by the time you've used all your 1/4" foil (36 yards on a roll), you'll be ready to "move up" to 7/32".

And when you get really good, you can use 3/16" for very fine work, as long as the design has integral strength. With fine solder lines, you must be careful when preparing your design...but that's a different topic altogether...and then there's 5/32", for REALLY fine work...

How does it work?

The foil is very thin, in fact, one and a quarter thousands of an inch. And very pliable, so you can form it around the edges of the glass. It's also self-adhesive, a bit like Sellotape, with a paper backing strip.

After you've cut all your glass to size, you wrap each piece with the copper foil, forming a "C" shape around the edges. The foil should overlap itself by about 1-2mm, preferably at a corner, or point. Never overlap on a straight edge unless your foiling is 100% accurate. You can either put the foil on by hand, or use one of the foiling aids which will remove the human error element.

The next stage is burnishing the foil to the glass to remove all the air trapped between the foil and the glass, and to remove the creases in the foil. Do this with a piece of wood, or use a fid or hand crimper. The hand crimper does save time..it burnishes the 3 edges of the foil in one pass.

Okay so far, now we're ready for the exciting bit...putting it all together.

Assembly...Now, you're ready to assemble your bits. Let's assume it's a small panel, or lightcatcher.

Flux all the solder seams. (see section on soldering correctly)Place all the pieces on the pattern, and "tack" solder them together,. a bit like spot welding..Once you're satisfied that all the bits are in the correct position, go ahead and bead solder, turn the project over and repeat the bead soldering process on the other side.

Now, all you have to do is clean up, apply your patina, clean again, then polish.

Why use Black Backed foil?

Good question, Moston. When you use ordinar foil with clear glass, you can see the reverse (sticky) side of the foil through the glass. Sometimes this is ok. Other times it's an eyesore. You choose. If you apply a black patina to the solder lines, the copper shines out like beacon. There's no need to use anything other than standard foil when you're using opalescent glass.

Why use Silver Backed Foil, Sir?

You again, is it, Moston? Okay, similar reasons...so you don't see the copper. However, silver backed foil is particularly useful when working with mirror, especially if you want to leave the solder lines clean.

Any Queries?

How about you at the back there, the one chewing gum?