Guide: Foiling

This guide is for people wanting to learn the application of Foil. This guide is assuming you have something to apply it to already.

Things Required

Item	Use
Foil	This is what you are applying.
Scissors/Thread Snips (Optional)	Used to cut the foil and paper backing. Thread snips are better than scissors as they are always open. Can also just tear the foil or paper if you prefer that.
Fid/Lathekin/Marker/Pen or Some sort of smooth hard object.	This is what you will be using to Burnish the foil. Nearly anything works, many people just use the butt of their glass makers.
Damp Towel (Optional)	Used for cleaning the glass.
Dry Towel (Optional)	Used for cleaning the glass dry or drying it after washing/cleaning.
Foiling Tool (Optional)	A device to apply and/or crimp the foil for you. Hands are a valid option too!

Step 1: Surface Prep (Optional)

While foil should stick to most things, rougher surfaces will allow the foil to stick better than a smooth surface will. Roughing up smooth surfaces with your Grinder or a Carborundum Stone can help with getting the foil to stick better.

Step 2: Washing or Cleaning

To apply foil to any material the area that the foil is being applied to must be free of dust, dirt, oils and any loose bits. Foil is just like working with tape so if it's not clean it won't stick!

Step 3: Pick the Width and Type of Foil

Foil comes in a variety of widths, thicknesses and backing colors. Depending on the piece you are working with you will want to pick a foil that matches it. Keep in mind that this is also an artistic choice so if you really want copper to show you absolutely can as the backing color does nothing special otherwise.

Foil Backing	Uses
Black	Good all around option, Hides edges on clear or Cathedral Glass, Looks good with any Patina.
Silver	Best used with no patina on clear or Cathedral Glass, can reflect light back into the glass.
Copper	Best used with Copper Patina on clear or Cathedral Glass, Best option for Opaque Glass, can reflect lightly copper colored light back into glass. Can create interesting effects in some semi-transparent glass.

Due to the amount of foil sizes and variety of uses only the three most common will be placed in the table.

Foil Width (Inches)	Uses
Smaller than 3/16	Used on thin glass or for other specialty applications. Isn't going to cover most things.
3/16	Skinny lead lines, harder to work with. Will not work well for uneven/highly textured/thicker glass.
7/32	Probably the most popular all around foil. Gives small lead lines but not too small that it's hard to work with.
1/4	Larger lead lines, easy to work with, often used for thicker objects.
Larger than 1/4	Used for fat lead lines, decorative foiling or for foiling thick/heavily textured glass as the extra can be easily cut back.

Finally you need to pick a thickness! Though there's few options out there for glasswork.....

Foil Thickness in Mil (Thousands of an Inch)	Uses
Anything Thinner	Don't bother. It will tear like tissue paper, often found as "electronics" foil.
1 Mil	"Normal" quality, Can tear easier than thicker foils but will fold better on complex curves/shapes.
1.25 Mil	"Higher" quality, Can be a bit more stiff and won't fold as nice on complex curves/shapes.

Step 4: Apply the Foil

This is where foiling can get tricky as there's many ways to peel back the paper and apply the foil.... there's no one technique that is perfect and there's even tools to help that you may have different results with. Regardless of what method or tools you use the goal is the same, get the foil on so it's evenly overlapping the front and back faces of whatever is being foiled.

So let's split this into parts and feel free to try a bunch of things! Including things not covered here!

Before we get started, we need to talk about concave parts. These parts will be more difficult to work with due to the foil wanting to pull straight, Foil Splits occuring and the possibility of tools not fitting in places. They will require you to slow down and give them a bit more attention!

Foiling by Hand

TODO

Seems like you have stumbled into a page that isn't complete yet! If you can help fill in the following missing content please feel free to contribute!

---

Insert images and a gif someday....

1. Grab your foil and get the end started.
2. Pull off a small section of paper, not too much as we don't want the foil to stick to everything else while we start it.
3. Pick the end of a side to start at this will be our anchor point to hold the foil while we lightly pull on it.
4. Try to center the foil as best as possible then press it on good.
5. Rotate around to the next side, peel back more paper if you need to and lightly pull the foil taught.
6. Line up as much as possible in the center of the foil.
7. Press it on once centered.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 until back at the start, being careful if the part has any concave sides.
9. Once you get back to the start point you can cut or tear the foil so that there's a small bit of overlap.
10. Move to the next step!

Foiling with Tools

As there's lots of tools that exist they will each get their own page for detailed instructions. Though they all follow the same general idea.

1. Pick the correct tool/parts for the width of foil you are planning on using.
2. Thread the foil through the tool.
3. Set any gauges, stops or other things the tool may have.
4. Run the tool along glass or run the glass through the tool till you get back to the start.
5. Cut or tear the foil so that it overlaps the start point if you didn't go past it.
6. Move to the next step!

Foiling Tool Guides

Todo: Put them here someday hah.

Step 5: Crimping & Burnishing

Now that we have the foil on the glass on the edge, we need to fold over the bits hanging out. This can be done in one or two stages depending on what shape the part is and what you are comfortable with. If you used a tool it may have already crimped the foil down for you.

1. If you did not use a foiling tool, Grab your Fid, Lathekin, Marker, Pen or other hard smooth object. Using light to medium pressure, press the foil that you placed on the edge all the way around so it sticks in place good.
2. (Optional) Crimp the foil with your fingers or tool by just pinching/pushing it over the edge.
3. While making sure you are holding the tool flat against the glass, using light to medium pressure, press the foil down so it's nice and smooth on one side. What part of the tool you use doesn't matter as long as it's making full contact.
4. When you get to a corner make sure to fold it so that the adhesive side is down.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 or 3-4 as required.
6. Flip the glass, repeat.

Done!

If everything went well and to plan you are ready for soldering!

Tips, Tricks, FAQ

• When burnishing small parts it might be beneficial to complete one whole side so you have a decent spot to grab the part.
• Placing the part on the table after crimping to burnish is also a good option if you can't hold it or don't want to. Just make sure the corners are folded down or you could bend them the wrong way!
• If a corner or any section of foil is showing the adhesive side you need to try and correct it. Solder will not stick at that location.
• If you have any Foil Splits or other damaged foil you will need to Repair it before soldering as the solder will only stick to the foil and nothing else.
• Foil can easily be trimmed with a craft knife! Get creative!

• Why does my Foil not stick?
  • Foil does have a shelf life! Even sealed the adhesives can dry out and not stick anymore. Once open foil will dry out faster. While you can still use it, it's not enjoyable. You can test the foil by sticking it to a fingernail and pulling. It should peel like tape and not just pop off.
• Why does my foil always tear in this spot?
  • Foil while malleable can't just be pressed flat in all spots, try gently pushing it over a little at a time going back and forth across it until it's flat. TODO: make a gif of this.
• Help! I changed my mind about the patina for the solder!/Do I need to match my foil with my solder?
  • It's fine! Do what you want! It may look better matched but you probably won't notice unmatched in most cases. Most people wouldn't know the difference anyway.
• My foil is way too wide but my smaller foil is too small!
  • Ah yes, when you need an in-between size but it doesn't exist. The easiest option is to line up the overlap on the FRONT SIDE of the glass so it looks correct and put all the extra on the back. Then use a craft knife to trim it so it's the right size! That way you don't need to trim it two times!
• How do I get foil into deep/small textures?
  • This is a tricky one.... Depending on the texture you may just end up Splitting the foil tons. In cases like this using something like a Ripple Bit or Face Grinding to reduce the thickness changes would be beneficial. Otherwise just get it as close as possible. It isn't really noticeable unless using a backing that doesn't match the solder finish. It also won't really affect the strength at all.