Soldering Demo: Soldering Complex Chains
Lesson 16 from: Explorations in Metalsmithing: Creative Chain MakingMegan Auman
Soldering Demo: Soldering Complex Chains
Lesson 16 from: Explorations in Metalsmithing: Creative Chain MakingMegan Auman
Lessons
Prerequisite #1: Basic Metalsmithing Tools
18:10 2Prerequisite #2: Tools for Soldering
14:23 3Prerequisite #3: Soldering Basics
21:16 4Class Overview: Creative Explorations in Chain Making
06:42 5The 10 Variables of Chain Making
04:24 6Finding Your Aesthetic
08:17 7Choosing Your Wire and Link Size
18:21 8How to Make Jump Rings
19:09Assembling and Soldering a Basic Chain
05:10 10Soldering Demo: Soldering Links Closed
50:24 11Hot Seat: Soldering Links
11:55 12Making Different Shaped Links by Wrapping and Bending
30:20 13Making Different Shaped Links by Joining
07:19 14Changing the Shape of Links After Soldering
12:26 15Creating More Variation With Multiple Links
13:46 16Soldering Demo: Soldering Complex Chains
05:18 17Making an S-Hook Clasp
08:14 18Making and Soldering a Toggle Clasp
10:55 19Pickling, Cleaning, and Polishing Your Chain
34:37 20Adding Hammer Texture and Flattening Links
08:35 21Making Ear Wires
08:03 22Turning Your Chain Explorations into a Cohesive Jewelry Line
10:35Lesson Info
Soldering Demo: Soldering Complex Chains
So, this is where, again, if I can avoid holding it in my third hand I always will, because it starts to get a little bit awkward. But what I'll do is we'll just dump this guy in a little bit of our flux. And so in this case, we're going to put our seam at the top. And I find sometimes that it's even easier to stick the piece a little further back, so I'm holding both sides rather than just holding one side of it. So now my solder seam is right here on the top. And then I'm going to go ahead, and just put this on here. Now, obviously this is a pretty precarious solder setup. So if I was doing a lot of chain where I had to solder in the third hand, what I would also do is just dump a couple extra pieces of solder here, right onto my solderite board. So that I have them handy, and then I would make sure that I had my solder pick and my flux close. So I'm gonna try to keep this guy from falling, but if he does fall while I've got my torch on I can take my solder pick in my left hand, dip ...
it in my flux, pick up a piece of solder, and bring it back. So I like to setup in my best case scenario, but in this one I like to have a backup plan. So then, move of our tools out of the way. And there we are. And again when you're using your cross-locking tweezers, remember that this is wood, so I like to solder in a way that doesn't aim my fire at this wooden handle. In one hand it's logical right? Keeps it from being hot metal that you touch, but on the other hand it still gets hot and now you have the potential to burn it. So I feel like that's a design flaw. But they've been making them like that for a really long time. So we do have to now keep in mind that our cross-locking tweezers are a little bit of a heat sink. So I'm gonna just kind of heat from below for a little bit, drying my flux. Kind of keeping an eye on where my solder baby is. And again, keeping my solder picks. So if it seems like it's gonna fall, I can just kind of push it back into place. But then I'm going to, once I've kind of got my flux dry, same kind of thing, around and around. Same process, just in the air. And then, now that my flux is starting to go clear, come in there and solder. So it definitely requires a little bit more of that, keeping an eye on where the solder is, because obviously we're fighting gravity on this one. But it's definitely doable. And the other thing is to... I also am a really big fan of these kind of self-standing, cross-locking tweezers. so this has to go in a third hand. This can actually sit on your table. And so if you're doing a lot of chain that requires you to solder in a third hand, if you've got a lot of that setup, these are not very expensive. Probably like ten, fifteen bucks. You could buy three or four or five of them and set them up in a row. Kind of on your soldery board or on your work surface. And so again, that way you could set up a couple, and move from there. And that's for those of you guys who are thinking about making jewelry to sell, incorporating chain-making into your production line, any time you can get multiple setups happening at one time, so that it's all set up and then you just solder, solder, solder, solder, solder, solder. That's going to save you a lot of time. So like, spending thirty, forty bucks buying four or five of these. That's gonna save you a lot of time in the long run, if you're doing, say, a lot of this twisted chain or something like that. And even though this is wood and it's probably not hot, I still personally like to open it with my tweezers, just in case. And we'll just quench that guy. Any other questions about that kind of complex soldering setup? Were you going to say something to them? Oh, go ahead I was gonna say, and a lot of what I do in kind of these more complex things is not like someone taught me, it's just a matter of trial and error. I'm gonna do it this time and then that seemed kind of slow, is there a way to do it faster? Like I said, I learned how to solder where everything from... I learned how to make chain where everything after that first initial grouping was done in the third hand. And I was like, this is too slow. How can I do it faster? So, don't be afraid to kind of try things out. As long as you're following those basic rules of soldering and again, those are in our pre rec video, which again is free for everybody to watch. As long as it's clean, the fit's right, you've got our flux on there, you can place your solder where you need to, and you can get at it with your torch to heat it up. Just try it and see. There's really a lot of flexibility in this process, in kind of terms of what makes sense for you.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials
Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Liz
Megan' an excellent instructor and lays things out very clearly, with a lot of good tips based on her extensive experience. I've experience making wire wrapped chain and have taken a beginning metalsmithing class before, and this class had some good refresher information. I particularly appreciated seeing her techniques and process for streamlining production.
a Creativelive Student
Megan is an awesome teacher! She is genuinely enthusiastic about sharing her metalsmithing skills with us. I am really looking forward to trying my hand at designing and making a chained necklace on my own soon.
Vernell Bevelander
Another excellent class! Thank you Megan!