Introduction: Glass Jewel Spiders

By Sever Glassworks
About: Chemical engineer with a ridiculous number of hobbies.

This quick and easy project uses supplies that most stained glass hobbyists already posses to create 3-4" glass jewel spiders that are great as gifts. Each spider only takes 10-15 minutes to make.

These instructions are also available on my stained glass FB page at:

https://www.facebook.com/severglassworks/

Come by and give us a like if you enjoyed the project :-)

Step 1: Prepare the Components

  • Grind the outside of the glass jewel, wash & dry it, and foil it with copper foil.
  • Cut 5 lengths of wire... 4 for the legs and one to wrap around the glass jewel. Cut the middle 2 leg legs a little shorter than the front and rear lengths.
  • Bend the front and rear at 90 degrees at the middle, middle two are around 30-45.
  • Wrap the 5th piece of wire around the jewel with the remaining lengths parallel.

Step 2: Solder the Legs Together

  • Arrange the leg pieces as shown
  • Flux and tack solder the legs together with a small bead of solder.
  • Warning: You do not want to attempt this soldering step without bending the legs. The solder will wick down the length of the wire about 1/4-1/2" both directions, and it will be a pain to unstick them.

Step 3: Position the Retaining Ring and Glass Jewel

  • Flip the legs over
  • Position the jewel and it's retaining ring as shown.
  • NOTE: If some of the retaining ring's length protrudes past the legs, that's ok... they can become fangs :-D

Step 4: Tack Solder the Components

  • Carefully flux and tack solder the retaining ring to the legs. You want to be careful not to remelt the solder bead on the legs too much or they may shift around on you.
  • Put a quick tack on the back side of the jewel to hold it in position.

Step 5: Lots of Solder "dabbing"

  • Bend the rear legs out of the way as needed
  • Solder the retaining ring to the jewel all the way around. You may need to just get a small quantity on the tip of your iron and "dab" it on in small amounts.
  • NOTE: If the jewel gets to hot, leave it alone for a bit and come back to it. Running the jewel under water to cool it will likely cause it to crack.
  • You should also "dab" additional solder on the main body section (top and bottom) as required to build it up and make it more like a spider.

Step 6: Lots of Wire Bending

  • Use some needle nose pliers to bend the legs into the shape desired. You may need to "overbend" and then bend back a little to get a nice sharp angle.
  • If your retaining ring wire protrudes from the front of the spider's body, you may need to snip off some of the fang length and bend them too.