I made a book

A tiny book, really small: 1" x 1-1/4" to be exact. I learned how to in an online class with Leslie Marsh through Artful Gatherings. The class was excellent. If I hadn't procrastinated so much to get started, things might have gone more smoothly. But, in my defense, I took another class during the same time period and thought I should start with that and working on two such different projects doesn't really work for me.
So, anyway, it is almost finished, just needs a chain. And I definitely need to make at least one more because I made mistakes on this one. I won't even tell you about that.
So, here are the pictures:

The front of the book, brass with solder and a small filigree soldered on.

The spine. The pages are sewn in using coptic stitch which was new to me and which I actually really enjoy. Leslie did an excellent job of demonstrating and explaining.

These are for size comparison. And, BTW, the papers inside are coffee dyed paper and an old book page.

Just another look with the book open.

The book pages came from an old German book, obviously, it's old writing. What surprised me, when I took out the pages, was that they weren't sewn in with thread but held in with a thin wire. Strange!

Solder hearts

Bumming around on pinterest this morning, I found a link to a tutorial for making hearts out of solder. It looked interesting and it works, although, I adapted it. I used my torch instead of the soldering iron.
I admit my hearts are definitely rustic, organic and definitely not beautiful, but it was fun to make them.

They are easy to texture and it's possible to stamp on them and I see them being used dangling from a bracelet. As usual, I made components rather than a whole (bracelet or necklace).
The tutorial can be found here.
And I apologize for the slightly fuzzy picture on the bottom.

What I learned this week

I took a (real life) class a couple of weeks ago, we made rings with bezels (picture to follow eventually). In the morning, we practiced with copper using silver solder. Somebody asked if there was copper solder because the silver does stand out. Yes, it exists. But it's possible to turn your silver solder copper-colored. It's as easy as dipping your steel pliers into the pickle. I thought I remembered that it was supposed to happen instantly.
Well, I tried it yesterday and, no, it didn't happen instantly. It took a google search to get it right.
I don't have any "before" pictures, sorry, didn't think of it.
But here it what my little heart looked like when it came out of the pickle:

Not very pretty, right? But no silver solder, either.
And here is what it looks like after I scrubbed it lightly with steel wool:

A little better, right? Not superbright and shiny but still no silver solder showing (and I used quite a bit). I didn't scrub too hard, I was concerned I'd end up with the solder showing again.
And I didn't use my steel pliers, either. I used a piece of annealed steel wire from the hardware store and left it lying on top of my heart. And everything soaked in the pickle for quite a while, I didn't time it, sorry.
Here's where I found all the info that explained it in detail:
http://www.jewelrymakingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2012/04/04/alternative-metals-tips-for-soldering-copper-and-brass.aspx

I really can solder

I thought it was more luck than skill that my first bangle worked out a couple of days ago. So, I tried again today and I made a little friend for the first one. Okay, that worked, how about trying those dots Terri Brush taught us to do? Yup, those eventually worked, too, although there were a few "oops" moments involved.
I am really quite thrilled to be able to do this - finally.
Of course, with all the soldering and hammering I never got around to cooking dinner. Take-out it is.

Soldered bangle

I am taking another very enjoyable class with Terri Brush, this time it's silversmithing. We jumped right into soldering rings, made soldered hearts and progressed to bangles.
Now, I have to confess that I've soldered before, I took my first class over 5 years ago and never really took to it. I took a few more classes, ended up with some finished and quite a few unfinished projects.
This time around, though, I jumped right in: I did simple links, I soldered a few very simple hearts and yesterday I dug out the heavy wire (12 gauge) and, since it's copper and inexpensive, I just did it. And it worked, I like how it turned out. It's simple, unembellished and, yes, you can see the seam in the back, but I'm happy with it. The edges are neat (I hammered a lot), there's nice texture and I've worn it constantly.
There will be more bangles. I have small wrists and big hands so any bangle flops around on me. I figured out (finally) that bangles look better in multiples. So, yes, there will be more.

All those metalsmithing classes are paying off

I drink my morning tea while reading email, blogs and Pinterest pretty much every morning. This morning, I came across this tutorial and decided I had to try it.
After a bit of texturing, doming and soldering which didn't take long, I ended up with this:

It was fun and I decided to try a few more. Only one of the pendants didn't stick after soldering and had to be re-done. There were a couple of gaps in a couple of others and I re-did those, too.
 





























I used patina on the two shown on the bottom, Vintaj, along with some alcohol ink and I'm not sure they'll stay this way. Couldn't find my Gilders Paste (what else is new?). I'll try that as soon as it surfaces.


 
I'm sure the soldering would have been easier if I'd had paste solder, but I don't so I used what I had on hand.

Practice really does make a difference

Who would have thought?
I mentioned already that I'm taking a soldering class with Terri Brush online (and an etching and soldering class, as well).
There's been some practicing going on and quite a bit of bad language. For one thing, I (and several other people in the class) have been having problems with our highly recommended soldering iron. I finally contacted the company when my second iron showed the same problems as the first and it's now on its way back to the manufacturer for repair/replacement. I've also invested in a different brand and am very happy. The other problem had to do with those cute little rhinestones - they are glued to the background but balancing two pieces of glass on something that small is difficult and there's been a lot of undoing going on.
But, I'm getting better. Really. And it's much more enjoyable.