I LOVE tools. I love researching new ones, getting new ones, and of course, practicing new techniques with them. I just got a few extra toys, so, I finally am set up to do some basic soldering. I fuse with fine silver all the time, which takes less steps and less heat, but there is so much more you can do with soldering. I'm really excited!
I also have my pickling solution all set up - which I have actually used. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about - a quick explanation...a picking solution is something you put your metal in after you've soldered or just applied a ton of heat to. The metal gets awfully dirty and the pickling solution - which is acid based - cleans the metal off beautifully.
Here are a pair of earrings made of fine silver and gold-filled wire. The gold filled piece was actually a large oval jump ring that I just reshaped and hammered. Then, I fused (still not confident enough to try soldering :)) a larger fine silver ring and hammered it. At that point the gold was filthy from the heat of fusing the silver - like an uneven, dirty rusty color. So, I dropped it in the pickle solution for just a minute (you have to be really careful with gold-filled material not to leave it in too long) and VOILA! You can find them in my Etsy Shop!
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