Yey me

[Wendy Moriarty]

yey me! I have successfully soldered 3 charms onto carriers I won't bore you with how many jump rings I melted. I found it really difficult, some looked okay but when I came to file them the solder pinged out, not sure why that was I must practice a lot more. looking forward to pmc for beginners on sat. :-)

[MuranoSilver]

Glad your charm soldering went well.
If the solder pinged out then it probably either
1) Hadn't melted enough to flow into the join OR
2) There was too big a gap in the join.
The join that you're soldering together should be a faint line.
Take the ring ends past each other with the pliers so when you finally move them together they're absolutely flush.
Apply the solder so it crosses the join (so when it melts capilliary action will flow the solder into the join)
If using solder strip don't forget to flux

Nic x

[Di Sandland]

Wendy, are all the bits involved in the process squeaky clean? Give the ends of the jump ring a rub with some emery paper to remove any oils from your hands. Jump rings are notorious for this - all that maneouvering to get the seam just right!

When I started tho my problem was being so scared of melting the ring that I didn't get it hot enough. Our own Mizgeorge sorted me - she had me melting jump rings on purpose so that I could see exactly what one looked like just before it melted. Worked for me...

[Wendy Moriarty]

Thank you Nic and Di
I have now melted jump rings on purpose and practiced soldering empty jump rings, so I'm getting a little better, but then I get silver clay and forget about everything else :-) I love the silver clay, and have just started on my first free hand own design piece rather than using textures and cutters, and one combining a painted leaf and stone bud. I am hoping to do a day silversmithing course this summer, for expert tuition on the basics, but as I'm a woman I want to be able to do it all now :-)