Foiling Tight Curves

Foiling tight curves often leads to splits in the foil.  This note gives information on how to generally avoid the splits and a repair method when they do occur.

Make sure the piece of glass is free of dust and oil and that there are no sharp ledges. Find the flattest part of the glass piece to begin the foiling.

To get the foil to stick to the curve and fold over onto the glass with the minimum of tears, use your fingers first to burnish the sides of the foil onto the piece of glass beginning on the outside curve.

As you move to the inside curved portion gently and progressively ease the edge of the foil with your finger toward the surface of the glass. Easing and burnishing one side of the curve at a time will give you better results toward getting the foil to stretch onto the glass without tearing the foil.

Finish by burnishing the foil down using a fid. This helps keep the foil firmly adhered to glass through the soldering.

Dealing with splits
Tears in the foil line happen. Clean up the broken foil lines with a craft knife and the solder line will look nicer when project is finished. You can also patch the tears by placing a small section of foil over the broken foil.  Place the scrap on one side, burnish it, and fold it onto the edge.  Ease the foil onto the second surface and burnish all the surfaces again.  Then trim the scraps that extend beyond the rest of the foil with a craft knife.