I never did follow up and post how my soldering class went. It went awesome!

Here is a photo I took with my phone halfway through the class. The bracelet is only half done, I just draped it over my wrist.

Here are is a picture I took after I got home. I plopped everything I came home with (finished and unfinished alike) into my light box and took some shots with the Canon 30D.

You can see 2 square links that have not been soldered, one that was soldered, but I didn’t need, a few little bitty clasps I made, and some balled headpins — which I strung a pretty lucite bead on to show how I plan on using them. And then of course, the bracelet I finished in class.

As you can see, when you put the torch to silver, it oxidizes the metal. The oxidation is the black and goldish colors you see in the torched pieces. In order to remove the oxidation, when you’re finished, you place it in the “pickle” a solution that removes a very fine layer of metal, including the oxidation. The finished bracelet went into the pickle at the end of class, thus it’s nice and shiny. It had not yet been tumbled, so the silver is still a kind of matte finish rather than a shiny finish. I have a tumbler at home, so I didn’t worry about tumbling it in class.

And here is my finished bracelet.

When I got home, I added (unsoldered) chainmaille pieces inside each of the square (soldered) links. I absolutely adore it – The organic asymmetrical-ness of the squares makes it looks kind of retro to me. Very mod. I am going to make another one with a little less hammering of the squares…. once I can find a square mandrel to use!! I’ve just been keeping my eyes peeled for anything but I may have to ramp up efforts, head to a hardware store and actually actively look for something.

My pyromaniac sale is over, and I sold 2 items, which in my book, is a SUCCESS! I received my torch and soldering supplies, and let me tell you – it is FUN! I’m hoping to finish some earrings this weekend to list.

Also, I may be teaching a chainmaille class August 1st! I am kind of excited! If you are in the northern VA area and are interested, let me know and I’ll keep you up to date! It will be a byzantine class, and participants will be able to finish this bracelet in class:

-amy

My silversmithing class was awesome. I loved it. I instantly came home and ordered a torch and all the supplies I needed to do my own soldering at home. Stuff called pickle and flux and also? Charcoal. Cool huh!

It’d be nice though if I had some SALES from my ETSY shop to offset my latest order… so….

Enter “PYROMANIAC” in the comments when you buy something from my shop, and I’ll refund you 20%! that’s right, a bonefied SALE! I haven’t decided how long I’ll run the sale, but probably until the weekend if not through the weekend.

Here are 2 new items I just listed. The bracelet is relisted from when it sold last month (finally made another one) and the earrings are my new absolute favorite pair ever. Hard to imagine that anything would bump the Posies from that slot, but these have done it!

Next up, I’ll give a little more detail on my soldering class, and show some pictures.

-amy loves to play with FIRE!!

So yeah. Things are in there. In that shop. My shop. For sale. And stuff.

I feel very weird. I have gone through many different obsessions in this blog’s lifetime (the very first of which was blogging! Imagine that!) and I feel so weird with this new obsession because I am now selling what I am obsessing about. So I feel all conflicted, because I am having a blast and want to show it off, but also, I feel pushy and shilly (shilly? schilly? def: When One Hawks Their Wares On Innocent Blog Readers) and I don’t like that feeling (but let’s be honest, I’d get over it in a hurry if someone bought something) and FINALLY… I bit like the girl who gets all dressed up and goes to the school gym but is worried no one will ask her to dance.

But you know what? I will be fine. I’ll get over the conflict. I made a bracelet last night that is so beautiful I may sleep with it under my pillow 🙂 That’s the feeling I will keep on the surface the most! However, even if you don’t buy anything, feel free to say, “Wow, Amy, the things in your shop are so stunning!” — You won’t hear me complain!

And as an aside – how awesome is fd’s flickr toys? I actually made the above mosaic FROM MY IPHONE. That is how awesome the interface is. I usually can’t STAND to do things that might require a lot of typing on my phone– which is why it was awesome! No typing required! I heart fd’s flickr toys!

– amy

Oh my god people! I have UPDATED MY BANNER!

You do realize, that this now means that black = white, and white = black.

So.

You know, …

Sorry about that.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEEEEAAAANN??? (the banner, I mean. What does the banner mean. Was I being cryptic? Sorry.)

It means that since christmas is over and I no longer have an occassion to give my jewelry away from, and also because I keep placing $80-$100 orders at various bead stores both in the real world and in cyberspace, and since I can no longer actually have any chance of WEARING all the pieces I am making[1. that’s a lie. i would totally wear all the pieces i am making, all at once, if at all possible.], and I have opened an etsy shop!

So, you know, please go check it out! And by all means, buy something! Because I have a bead order I want to put in already! Clicky clicky!

OK, so actually, there’s not much there yet. I’m having product photography issues. It’s hard, man, like, really hard! But I’m working on it, and hopefully will have some more stuff in the etsy shop soon.

Oh, and in the banner? On the left – the necklace I made my sister, which I really kind of wanted to keep, so it sucks she actually loves it, and on the right, the necklace I made for my mom, which she told me with glee she wore on her birthday[2. that i forgot to call her on, what a daughter i am!] on Monday. So! Success! I’ll show you the others soon.

So in the meantime! Go here! And feel free to buy something! Mommy needs a new set of hammers and anvils.[3. OK, actually, it would be momma’s FIRST set of hammers and anvils, but who’s counting?]

-Amy