Making Gold Jewelry

I very much like working with gold, it has different properties and characteristics than silver. I find it easier to work with than silver. Its a bit harder to shape and bend but its easier to sand, blend and polish, at least that's what I have found.

Soldering gold is a bit shocking at first as the solder is initially really yellow in color, dont worry you didnt ruin your piece. :) It cleans up like a champ and turns into a warm and lustrous glow after you polish it. It turns a glowy red when you are soldering it, unlike silver. Its a fun and frightening endeavor, but one that is so rewarding! My advice is to go slow, think about what you are putting your torch too and if stones are in it, how are you protecting them. If there are stones in the ring, don't quench it, just let it air cool so you dont shock anything into cracking, been there, done that.

 My first experience with gold was Shannons wedding ring. The original jeweler who sized it didn't use enough solder and the seam just broke one day while she was wearing it. She handed it to me and so I bought some 14K yellow gold solder from Rio and got to it. I wimped out the first 5 attempts because I was afraid of ruining the entire ring. Gold turns orange at soldering temp and it scared me :) I ended up soldering it and it wasn't pretty. I used too much solder and didn't want to file it too much as to wear away the design on the back. Its actually pretty straightforward and there is nothing to be afraid of, just go for it!

I am slowly adding gold to our Etsy shop and I just love working with it. It is a quite a bit more expensive than silver, thats just something we need to deal with. On the flip side you can make some decent profit on gold items and gold is such an honorable metal, isn't it?

My New Ultrasonic!

Well its new to me anyway :) I have been in the market for an industry respected ultrasonic and I came to the conclusion that they are expensive! Harbor Freight sells one for $86.00 on sale but from what I have learned, they don't last very long. Do you buy the cheaper version, baby it and hope it holds up? Or do you invest your money in something that is tried and true to work well and last?

The ultrasonic I was using was one of those home use jewelry spa types, you know the type. While it did vibrate and have heat, it was small, old, cracked and didn't do what I needed it to. I always had to toothbrush the polishing compound out of the recesses of my rings and pendants and it kind of defeats the whole purpose of having an ultrasonic in the first place.

I went on Craigslist and did my search and a Quantrex LR140 came up for $150.00. I ended up getting it for $125.00 and I feel like I got a good deal because its almost new. It has the basket and lid, but I am going to do away with the basket and use the little bar that goes across the top of it. I think the basket absorbs too much of the vibration.

I find myself needlessly polishing just so I can test it out. :) I am glad I didnt settle for a cheaper ultrasonic, not that they cant do an awesome job, just I have never had any luck with cheaper vibrating machines.