We started a new project in the weekly metalworking class today! We're practicing metal piercing, and I'm liking it a lot better than I thought I would. These three pieces will be sweat soldered together like a sandwich, with the copper tree in the back, the brass tree in the middle, and then the copper stag on top. I think I want to refine the stag's muzzle a bit more, since he looks rather moose-ish.
I also dropped the trillium pendant from my weekend class into the pickle longer to get the rest of the carbonization off of it. It still obviously needs a lot of filing and polishing, but you can see some of the brass peeking through on the petals.
I will admit that at the end of my very first class weeks ago, I had my doubts as to whether I was going to actually enjoy all this. I kept breaking saw blades. Sawing corners was really difficult. I wasn't good at precise lines. But by the end of the second class, when I had successfully soldered those tiny, imperfect bits of metal together, I felt like I had accomplished something.
And now here we are, a month in, and I'm already working on my second sweat-soldered statement necklace, I have four little rings waiting for next week's class on polishing and refining, and I'm looking forward to moving someplace this fall that has an actual outdoor space where I could do my own soldering at home.
I am SO glad I enrolled in these classes.
