Jewelry Making Tips: Soldering Practice

[@Lisa-yj8dt]

Welcome back. Keep your head up. You have a strong artistic voice that deserves to be heard. You have a nice new environment and I am sure you will enjoy it once you are back in the groove. Thanks for sharing 🙂

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

Thank you so much Lisa! I’m finally starting to feel the juices flowing. 😁

[@prubin111]

Thank you so much! I can’t wait for more 🌺🤙🏻❤️

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

Thank you Paula!

[@debterilli1380]

Thanks, that was great 😊

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

Thank you Deb! 😁

[@valerie4710]

Good to have you back.. Been expecting a video from you since your last, 3 weeks ago. Looking forward to more. Thanks.

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

Thank you Valerie! It’s so good to finally be back at it 😁

[@debrahays7005]

Sometimes when we get away from doing anything even the things we love it take awhile to get going again. The break away most of the time gives us a chance to breath again but getting the will to start again takes time. Great to see you back and thanks for the great tips. We sometimes come back better when we take a break because our minds get a chance to think about the process and get better at it. Take care and looking forward to more videos. Love the new studio too.

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

You’re absolutely right! I feel like I have the motivation to work on new things from my sketchbook now. It felt really good to be back at the bench 😃

[@kennethrichey8143]

awesome

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

Thank you Kenneth!! ☺️

[@catzkeet4860]

Periods of what I call, “creative indigestion” are par for the course for creatives usually. They’re days/weeks/months…..hell even years, when you just have no inspiration, no impetus……no energy to create, to do what brings you joy, usually. Sometimes these times are concurrent with depression, sometimes not, but in all cases, there’s a sense of discomfort….of things not being “right”, but not being able to work. It’s not fun. I don’t know if that happened to you, but I DO know, taking that step to just “get started” can be a huge step…..seemingly insurmountable sometimes. But once you take that huge step, you wonder why it seemed so hard, and get a bit annoyed that you waited so long 😂. Glad you’re back and I bet you are too ;)

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

I love that analogy! It’s so true. I guess I’m lucky it hasn’t happened before and I think I’m back to my creative self finally😁

[@gb2309]

You're really not alone my mojo up and went early 2020 and I'm still struggling. I know I'll get there but baby steps and not to berate myself. 🙏😅

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

Gill, it’s so hard to not be hard on ourselves, but I think when we’re ready, it comes back 😁

[@Rachel-yi8yy]

Great video, what would be the best material and gauge to practice on ?

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

I suggest copper in the 18-20gauge to practice with. It’s a little more forgiving than silver and a heck of a lot cheaper right now. If you can master copper, then silver will be a little easier to see the “flash” when the solder flows. 😀

[@Rachel-yi8yy]

Thanks so much

[@4nbop80user]

Welcome back ! I’m always surprised that the top piece, all oxidised, still sticks without pickling it after melting the solder on it. What did I miss ? Did the solder melt all over the surface or just a blob where it was applied ?

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

Thank you Anamee! The reason the solder is able to flow is the flux. I always use flux in both operations. It creates a barrier to keep the oxidation of the torch from “sticking” to the metal and impeding the join when the temperature reaches the right point. However, sometimes it fails. The best way to make SURE it works every time is to stop, pickle, and re-flux the piece before trying to sweat solder the pieces together. Copper is much more forgiving than sterling silver too. Sterling silver does not like oxidation so when it looks like it soldered but you didn’t clean the piece, you will end up with a failed joint. For example, you may not realize the joint failed until you go to set the stone and the bezel pops off or you go to set the stone and then the ring shank pops off. I’ve definitely experienced both situations many times. So, safer to pickle and clean a lot with sterling.

[@4nbop80user]

@@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith Thanks so much !! I had lots of trouble with brass to copper too and next time, i’ll make sure it’s pickled and fluxed !

[@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith]

Brass is especially hard to solder because it gets a lot of oxidation and requires a lot more heat. If I’m doing brass, I go with a much bigger torch tip and a lot of flux 😁

[@4nbop80user]

@@JulessaScofieldMetalsmith That explains my woes ! Thanks so much !!!