A New Addiction

December 17, 2007 by acrawley63 3 Comments

Well, perhaps “addiction” is a bit of a strong term since I’ve only done this once.  However, the soldering class I took last Thursday was quite fun.  This form of soldering involved using a 60 watt soldering tool, copper tape, flux, and lead-free solder; not the traditional metalsmith soldering with an open flame.  I’ve experienced that type of soldering and was not entirely comfortable with it.

The class I took was taught by Patti Euler of The Queen’s Ink and was held at Ink About It in Westford.  It has been quite some time since I’ve taken a three hour class where the goal is to leave with a finished piece.

The goal was to make 1-2 ornaments or focal pieces for a necklace.  Here is what I created:

       

Constructing the ornaments was the easier part.  Getting comfortable with the soldering gun and the solder itself took a little adjusting.  Yet once I got the hang of it, the process was really fun.  Fortunately, I like the organic look and didn’t stress over the less than smooth soldering lines on my ornaments.

There was something else I learned in this class; to let go and just “do.”  Because of the short length of time to create the ornaments I was forced to go with my first decisions and to not labor over and think too much about what I was doing.  That is something that I have a hard time doing; just “doing.”  It was a great lesson in what I learned to do (solder) and in what I learned I must do more of: play, let go and just “do.”