This is where things got messy! I cut a couple of hole in my vermiculite board for the hinge and catch. Sweated some easy solder onto the back of the flower and laid it on the bar, but I really struggled to get the easy solder to flow, particularly hard when you can't see what's happening. Eventually after a couple of unsuccessful attempts I managed it, but also managed to reflow the solder holding my flower together (little bit of slumpage but nothing too catastrophic).
When soldering the bezel settings onto the side of the bar, my solder kept jumping to the top of the bezel or onto the front of the bar (instead of between the two), i suspect this is to do with the heat not being quite in the right place. I ended up with firestain, particularly noticeable on the bar, pleased I managed to sand it off.
Last edited by Sheen; 25-02-2021 at 02:05 PM.
Well you're battle scarred but much wiser, Sheena. I guess for the very last soldering of the bezels onto the bar, I would have used extra easy solder placed inside.
The truth is you have packed more stages into a little piece than is good for your health.
Next time try to make a simpler plan. Dennis.
But extra easy solder is cheap and worth ordering, because it extends the hierarchy of solders when you need it.
Cookson will send it by return. Dennis.
Lots of episodes to this series and each one ending in a cliff hanger. Everything fits well and there is little reason for the rivet to work its way out, so it will only need minimal tapping. Dennis.
Had a very long and tiring eye appointment but pleased to find my eyes are fine. The stones setting went smoothly. They're step bezels but with a wee reflector of 0.3mm fine silver under each topaz. Finally finished with platinol. Used a cotton bud and cocktail stick, bit of a struggle to get the platinol even, still prefer just to dip but it would have been a bad idea in this case. Hope you like the result. The platinol is likely to wear but as a flower is an organic thing, I think it should still look good even if it does.
Does anyone else want to do a step by step of their latest project?
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