more questions, are you bored yet?

Brass is the one that's 'usually' used - maybe because it's cheaper than copper - don't know the reason.

Soldering to ali is possible - but you need special solder - wouldn't recommend it.

If by 'tin' you mean the stuff that baken beans comes in - that's 'tinned steel' - also known as 'tinned plate' - a thin coating on top of steel - and you can solder to that very easily - but I've not seen it used all that often in stained glass work.

Brass is often used by the model boatt / model car / model locomotive people - so that might be somewhere to go & look - if there's a shop supplying this kind of thing somewhere near you ?

Don't know how to get the delivery sorted - but you'd be surprised how sturdy the brass channel becomes once it's soldered up.

If you've got a suitably hot iron (and let's not go _there_ again !) you might even be able to copper tape the edges of your item and then solder the brass channel to it along its complete length.

I've never tried this - but electronics people use solder that's in the form of thin wire - you _might_ be able to lay some of this in the channel before you assemble it - and then let the heat melt the whole lot..... try it on something that doesn't matter first !

Have fun - sounds like you're going to

Adrian Suffolk UK

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Thanks again Adrian...you're full of good ideas...

HOWEVER! (you knew that was coming)...the thin solder that's used by electronics folks- isn't that the stuff with a flux core? okay..i'm NOT using it with glass so maybe on the metal parts it's a good idea. i actually have some of that...my electrician friend in town gave me some to try..not knowing what was being produced in Turkey..but it's the stuff with a paste flux core... so it's not suitable for glass work..but i'll try it on the tin sheeting.. the application of the metal isn't visible actually...it will fit INSIDE the wooden base to hold the glass up without bending...i'll have to get some from in town and experiment once the studio is set up.

i am positively 'itching' to start having fun!!! i'm not the most patient person on the planet so this is really hard...but i have to slow down...i have NO choice! the studio door isn't even delivered yet! let alone the workbenches built... slowly she turned.......

don't i wish i could 'fast forward'??

take care and have a great day...it's a gorgeous spring day here. all of our days from now till september or october are going to be like this. i think we've seen the end of the rain till autumn...we'll see. this has been a strange weather year so far...so who knows?

arlene the goddess of glass

hahahaha!!

Not sure about that - I've been accused of being full of all sorts of thing over the years

OK. Thinking about it - the difference in the electronics solfer is that it does contain cores of flux. In electronics, you bring the iron to the thing to be soldered (commonly wires or circuit boards), heat the thing and then apply the solder - without using any other flux. The flux in the solder melts and allows the solder to do its job. What you are advised not to do with electronics (or 'multicore') solder is to pick up solder on the iron and then carry it to the job - because by the time you get there the flux will have burnt off.

I guess that this means you'd want a bit of 'ordinary' stained glass flux there as well.... you'll have to experiment....

I know - it's frustrating. We're hoping to move house in the near future - can't get away to search for our new place until next week - days seem to drag a bit

Wishing your life away ? - don't !

Here in the East of England we had lovely sunny weather all last week

- then yesterday (Saturday) the heavens opened, thunder, lightning & heavy rain. Nice ! Brighter again today though...

Like it !

Adrian

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WELL, that's a great idea too.

in the coming two weeks, i'm going to get myself to the new 'home depot'-like store about 35 miles from here. i'm going to search around for materials that are solderable and adaptable for these lamps...

thanks for the idea...maybe i will try a few 3 - sided lamps too!

arlene

Try a local business directory, you need to find out what is available to you in your own area so you can avoid all these shipping charges. The people of Turkey are well known world wide for their creativity in solving common machining and assembly problems. The material and tools you have been shipping in are probably available to you, you just haven't found them yet. When I was in the service in the early '70's, stationed in Germany, we had brief trips to a base in Turkey and I saw 1940's and 50's cars running the streets. I was told the local guys were very adept at making the parts that could no longer be purchased. I would find it hard to believe in a country such as Turkey that there is no place that you can buy items needed to accomplish what you wish. Are they importing all leaded glass into that country finished?

hi Javahut no, actually the two wholesalers i've been able to locate are shipping in supplies from the US, Europe and the Far East. With the exception of a copy of a good German soldering iron, nothing else has of yet been copied.

yes, i too remember my first trip to Turkey in the early 70s...i never in my life saw so many '57 Chevies!! interestingly enough, the Turks not only kept them running until the early 90s, but they also added a third row of seats and turned them into special taxis...called Dolmush...in the second half of the 90s, all of these old cars were replaces with nice new mini-vans that serve the same purpose...and with a bit more comfort, i might add.

every once in a while, i will see an old american car on the road.

but i live in such a small place...we don't have access to the same things as city folk. and my big problem is language. i need to learn what some of this stuff is called in turkish...it's hard when you don't have an example to show someone..how to you describe something without the right words or without a picture...not an easy task...

that said, i will go to the special 'hardware' store and see if i can find a reasonable facsimile...and maybe we can take it from here.

the stained glass 'business' is still in its infancy here. only a handful of people actually working in the field at present. but there are a couple of places that are offering classes...very very basic stuff...but that's how it starts..as the middle class grows and as people develop 'leisure time' (something unheard of just 15 years ago) i'm sure stained glass as a hobby will grow...and then a few novices will start their own businesses...it just takes some courage and some creativity...qualities that have been repressed for a while here. but they are resurfacing...slowly..but surely.

arlene

Yes, there is a 'glass furnace' program just outside Istanbul in the forest that has 2 week residential glass courses. It's relatively new, maybe 2-3 years since it opened. The price is quite high for those of us living and working in the country but it's encouraging to see this happening here. From what I've seen with regard to stained glass, the 'industry' is still very much in its infancy here. The average person doesn't have the spare time to invest in this as a hobby nevermind the extra cash. I would venture to say that in a country of over 65 million citizens, there can't be more than 25 people doing stained glass as a 'hobby'...there are, however, a few companies now that are selling finished stained glass products, produced in their own moderate size studios. in the region i live in, more than 8 hours out of istanbul, there are NO stained glass studios and no one is commercially doing glass work other than window and mirror glass! I'm guessing that i'll be the only 'real' art glass studio for a radius of at least 250 miles...so supplies, if they exist in Turkey at all, are going to have to come from Istanbul...

I'm having a dickens of a time trying to locate a 'morton grid' or a reasonable facsimile.I can't work well without one ... i can't have one shipped from the US because of the size...the companies that sell them won't ship them here. my wholesaler in istanbul has never heard of them...but i sent her info and she's checking it out for me...i KNOW that this kind of plastic grid must exist here but i have no idea where to go to ask...i don't even know how to describe it in turkish.. and a photo isn't exactly helping....the few places i asked just sort of look at me as if i'm from Mars...they are clueless.

things take their own sweet time in this part of the world, but eventually, i'll find what i want...or learn the vocabulary so that others can find it for me! where i live is just too romote from 'the market'...but we DO have lots of city folk buying old homes at dirt-cheap prices and fixing them up! that's where my clients will come from.. let's hope it happens!

ar.