Flux Is Your Friend ... Sometimes

A few years back I purchased one of Sally Jean's online soldering tutorials. I love her artwork.  I love her pendants.  And the woman can wand solder like a freakin' rock star!  Anyway, there was a ditty in one of the videos where she says "flux is your friend" and every single time I sit down to solder that is exactly what goes through my head.  After yesterday it has a little add on, not only is flux your friend, but not all flux is created equal.

In this post here I talked about the hours it took me to get my solder to flow.  And let me tell you I tried EVERYTHING!  I kept thinking I was doing something seriously wrong.  Going in too fast, too much heat, not enough heat, metal not clean enough, on and on.  All I accomplished that day was making a big mess.  Finally I decided that while I was in fact new to torch soldering, I wasn't completely stupid and there was a big possibility that the flux I was using just sucks and wasn't right for my kind of projects.  I ordered some Handy Flux hoping that would help.  Sure enough, all flux is not created equal and Handy Flux is now my new best friend. And finally a completed project to show...

Click here to see more pics and details.

The tricky part yesterday was that I had previously spent so much time working with crap flux that I am now overdoing it a bit.  But I'm learning and starting to get a really good feel for what works and what doesn't.  I've also figured out that metal is very very forgiving with me and if I screw something up it really doesn't take too much to fix it and often times the mistakes turn out to be pretty bitchin anyway.  Did I mention how much I love metal?  Like to the moon and back a million times over.

Here's another project from yesterday that required absolutely no heat at all (which honestly was kind of a let down since I really love playing with fire).

Click here to see more pics and details.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these earrings.  They have inspired me to try something a little different with my earring hooks, but that may not take place until after my Harley vacation (7 DAYS!  WHOOT!).

Both the pendant and earrings from today's post are available in my eTsy shop if you'd like to check them out.  Everyone have a great day and remember, Flux is your friend but not all flux is created equal.  :)