Bits N Bobs: Jewelry Haiku

My soldering station. Photo by Emily Wiser.

I'll probably live to regret "publishing" this poem, but we need to have fun while we can.

The pickle!

The pickle,
it burns my eyes, smells
like salt brine.

In the photo above, you can see my soldering station. That big crockpot is full of pickle. In the old days, jewelers used to clean their soldered metals in pickling solution--the same kind that was used to make pickles. Later, we moved to sulphuric acid. Now, the green jewelers are back to good old fashioned pickle--vinegar and salt.

The bricks are fire bricks. You can heat them and they won't break. The white pads are Solderite pads. The pill boxes hold bits of solder. I use the trivet with steel screen to enamel.

Soldering Fun

Silver solder chips on firebrick. Photo by Emily Wiser.

Soldering sterling silver is a fun process. Above, I've taken a photo of one of my firebricks. I put sterling rings on the firebrick, heat the ring, then melt one of the silver solder chips you see in the photo. The solder balls up, and I can pick it up with my pick and drop it onto the ring. At the very end, you get a beautiful sterling silver stacking ring (see below).

Sterling silver stacking ring. Ring & photo by Emily Wiser.