I Learned a Valuable Soldering Lesson.

I will start this post out with  *Sigh*. You know they kind of sigh when you already knew the correct way, then strayed away then came back to it? Too me, soldering is a lot like poker, you can learn how to do it in an hour but it takes a lifetime to become good at it.

It all started with the wide rings I make and sell on Etsy. These rings are up to 1 and 1/4" wide, beastly right? I usually make them around the 3/4" width but sometimes I get custom requests. One of the wide rings I make is a gigantic half round ring shank with the middle being 2mm thick. The only way you are forming that into a ring is with pliers, there is not a lot of manipulation to be done with your hands. So I get the seam closed and almost light tight, then run a saw blade through it like we all do. You have to be very careful that your saw blade doesn't stray off course or you will be doing a lot of filing to fix it and downsizing the ring inadvertently.

I should have been soldering the seam like I always had been, with the correct amount of hard solder. I used to only use hard solder because it has the highest silver content and keeps its color the longest. What do I do instead of chip soldering the right amount? I stick solder easy flow and flood the seam with enough solder to fill any gaps that I was unable to file flat. Its so disappointing that I went that route instead of doing it right.

The problem with easy flow solder is it turns black way before the sterling does and you can see the seam in as early as a week or two I recently found out. I know this because a lady sent one back to be re-sized and I was horrified and embarrassed when I opened the return shipment. Not only was I able to see my line where I soldered it, I also saw little black pools of where I left solder on the ring. I couldn't see it at the time because I used 400 grit sandpaper then took it to the polishing wheel. Everything looked perfectly shiny when I sent it off. I am grateful that I hadn't been doing that wrong technique on very many rings. I know better than that, that's the worst part.

This whole experience made me think, can we use Argentium solder on sterling silver to prevent the seam from showing up eventually? Its not a problem on regular sized rings but for these wide bands, everything shows up. Or if I am soldering and sanding, polishing and buffing properly, should a line never show up no matter how much time passes?

Free Sterling Silver Toe Ring with $5.00 Minimum Purchase for a Limited Time!

I will be giving away a free sterling silver toe ring with a $5.00 minimum purchase from our Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Lovethebugs

Its a great toe ring and will make a fantastic Christmas gift for someone :)

Polishing Jewelry with A Jewelers Polishing Machine

I am so surprised at the lack of videos and instruction on polishing with the jewelers polishing machine. I have scoured youtube looking for teaching on it and really nothing gave me confidence on the polishing wheel.

I sell sterling silver cuffs using 6 inch by 1 inch sheets of metal. I am always grateful when a customer orders one with a satin finish and my heart sinks when they want high polish. On a ring, its easy to make it shine because there aren't huge flat spots to get shiny. With that cuff, there are 6 square inches of flat area that has to be polished. It really makes me think about any and every wheel, emery paper or anything else that touches that cuff before the polishing wheel. I want to mark it up as little as possible with still doing the best job that I can.

It seems like I either end up barely touching it at all with prefinish work, or I completely sand the cuff. Either way you end up with an unfinished piece staring at the buffing wheels spinning round and round. So what do you do?

I haven't had good success with tripoli on sterling silver. I don't know if its too gritty or what, but it always makes it worse for me. Even if I use very light pressure when I am polishing with it, it still gouges on me. I wouldn't even dream of using one of those hard yellow buffs, you know which ones I mean? Those things make craters and valleys in silver, it looks like the grand canyon. :)

I will look into less powerful pre finish polishing compounds because I still think there is something worthwhile in a step between the bench and final polishes.

I started with red rouge and honestly, I don't love it. I know a few jewelers who pretty much only use that and they get great results, but they are great jewelers and I am not-yet! I use and love Zam, I love that stuff because it works so well. I never gave it credit for a final polish because it is a cut and polish compound and you can shape soft stones with it. Zam can leave a good final polish on sterling silver, you just need to be patient.

I recently added a final High-Luster polishing compound to my arsenal called LUXI Orange. I have been selling quite a bit of Wide Sterling Silver Rings, they are 20 gauge and 3/4" wide and really fun to make! So I pretty much go from 400 grit sand paper to 600 grit sand paper to Zam and finally finish with a Fine All Finishing 3" Buff and LUXI High Luster Polishing Compound. I get really good results with that combination so far. Plus, I have confidence at the polishing wheel and that really goes a long way when you have a bunch of orders to do.

I will write more on polishing in the near future, we really need to help each other learn and figure this out. Thank you so much for reading, you honor me by doing so! Tommy

Making a Super Wide Sterling Silver Ring

I love making this Wide Sterling Ring because its so big and beautiful! I use 20 gauge sterling silver sheet and saw out the form of the ring. We have had some great success with this ring, its so much fun and it looks good on your finger. I prefer making it in satin, that look seems to compliment it to me.

 Wide rings are a little more challenging because you have a longer seam to close properly. Just take your time and get it right. If you need to run your saw blade through the seam to get it tight, then do that.

Moved To Corona, Ca.

Shannon and I just got done moving to Corona, Ca and let me tell you... it was rough! You know how moving is, its taxing, stressful, emotional including depressing :) We have been getting some great orders from Etsy though and we got most of them while the bench was in pieces inside a U-Haul truck, isn't that so life? I am so very grateful for the orders though, I pray they never stop coming.

Now the bench is set up and I am getting used to making jewelry in my own private room which is good and bad. Good because I can make a hammered sterling ring without bothering anyone and bad because I am not in close proximity to Shannon anymore :( I used to make jewelry sitting 4 feet from her, now its more like 24 feet.

I have been trying to do things that my older self will thank me for and buying our home has to be one of those, doesn't it? Anyways, if anyone reads this, thank you and God bless you! Tommy

Making Sterling Silver Toe Rings

I am absolutely loving making sterling silver toe rings! There are so many variations on them you can do. I have always made them with an open back, to make them one size fits all and it seems to be working well. I wouldn't expect people to know their toe rings sizes, I surely dont know mine :)

I am still figuring out how wide is too wide and how heavy is too heavy for a toe ring. I have been giving away free sterling toe rings with many orders lately. I just really love giving back to my customers, I appreciate them so much.

Here are the Sterling Toe Rings I have so far.: Sterling Silver Toe Rings

I Finished My GIA AJP Courses!

GIA offers some distance education courses for those of us who arent near their actual locations. They have quite a few different classes you can take, I chose the Accredited Jewelry Professional credential. The AJP consists of three different courses, Colored Stone Essentials, Diamond Essentials and Jewelry Essentials.

For me it was a huge learning experience as I don't have any formal training in any of the three courses. The world of colored stones is vast and although one course doesn't make you a master, it sure opens your eyes to whats out there. The diamond essentials course was packed full of vital information on diamonds, cut, color, clarity, carat weight - all good to know. The jewelry essentials course talked about all the different types of jewelry and the history of it, fascinating if you are in love with jewelry like I am.

I highly recommend looking into those courses, in total there were about $450.00. Let me tell you, it was well worth it and now I can put AJP after my name! Love it!