Just what the doctor ordered!
This article will go into depth about the 5 steps of soldering.

Step  1:  Fitting

Soldering is much more challenging when the two or more pieces of metals to be connected together do not make a fitted “join”; fitted join meaning the smooth, built-in or even point of connection with the other.  The edges that will be soldered together must have a fitted match to ensure a secure and lasting bond.  In order to do this, filing may be necessary.  Make sure that the surfaces are free of dents, warping, and kinks.  If joining two flat edges together (butt join), it is recommended to bevel the surfaces so that the metal or wire is overlapping the other.  This will allow for a strong joint.

Step 2. Cleaning

It is important that your metals are clean, and free of dirt, grease, and oil.  This is because solder will not flow on an unclean surface.   Unclean surfaces include those with fingerprints!  Cleaning can be accomplished by pickling or sanding.  Pickling, a chemical process, is very effective.  In order to clean the metals using this method the following items are needed:  pickle, pickle pot, tongs, and tweezers.  Pickle is an acidic solution and can come in a liquid or powder form.  As for the pickle pot, an old coffee pot on top of a hot plate or small crock pot will suffice.  Once you designate your equipment as a pickle pot, it should never be used for cooking or brewing again.  After pickling, the metals need to be washed thoroughly in water with a little baking soda (a copper tong should be used to take the metals in and out of the pot–copper will not contaminate the pickling solution). Dry well.

A wet pumice stone and bristle brush or a clean piece of emery paper will also work for cleaning.  Use a clean pair of tweezers to manage the metals with after they have been cleaned.

Step 3. Fluxing

All areas to be soldered need to be covered with flux (unless using paste solder).  Each piece of solder should also be fluxed.  Soldering flux helps dissolve and prevent oxidation of the base metal.  It also acts as a wetting agent allowing easier spreading of the solder around the join.   There are many soldering fluxes on the market available for use.

Step 4. Solder Placement

Prepare a few snippets of solder; these are called pallions. With a pair of tweezers or a flux-moistened brush tip, place the solder paillon on the join.  Do not use more paillons than necessary for the join, as it is difficult to melt and remove as well as causing blemishes.  If excess solder does flow off the join, it can be removed by filing.

Step 5. Heating

Using a torch, carefully and quickly preheat the entire metal area evenly to provide solder flow.  If the solder is heated without heating the entire piece first, it melts and forms a ball that cannot enter the join.  Equally heat the two or more pieces that are to be connected together.  Once the piece begins to glow, the solder will flow and will fill the seam.  Working in soft light will increase your capability to see the metal glow.  Melted solder is attracted by heat and will always flow toward the hottest spot.  By moving the torch, you can target the solder to flow in the manner you desire.

After the solder has melted to your satisfaction, cool, and place the piece in a warm pickle bath to remove oxidation.  It can also be boiled to increase the cleaning time.

For years we have been the king in the jewelry making instruction business.  Are there other companies out there that have instructional videos and trainings for wire-sculptors?  Yes.  But the bottom line is… nobody competes with Wire-Sculpture.com for useful, valid, easy-to-use instructional wire-wrapping videos and ebooks.

From our Small Biz Jewelry Course to our Master’s Course, our customers have access to over 20 years of valid hands-on training materials to help them get started in their jewelry making hobby or profession.

Up until today, these packages come in….well….packages. When you buy the Master’s Course you receive over 30 DVDs , wire, tools, eBooks, and much more. This package retails for over $4,000, and we sell it for only $997. Pretty good deal, right?

Let’s face it, nearly everyone’s pocket book has been affected by the current economic crisis, almost everyone is now being tested for Swine Flu, and our government is spending Trillions of our hard earned dollars. With all of these things going on who has an additional $1000 laying around?

Don’t worry. If you’re thinking, well, maybe I’m the only one that can’t afford this, you’re not the only one, trust me. There are hundreds of other people thinking the exact same thing.

But Jewelry Making is at the very center of our very being! Who among us, doesn’t love sitting down and using our hands to create a masterpiece out of some wire and some cabochons? I think all of us do! We all yearn to be good at jewelry making, so that we can truly enjoy the experience.

That’s why Wire-Sculpture.com is introducing their very first DVD Auto-Ship program! All of our most popular DVDs are now available for a fraction of their normal price. And more bonuses are being added to each of our new packages!

If you’ve ever thought about purchasing one of our instructional DVD packages, but couldn’t afford it, now is your time! We have broken down a few of our most popular packages below:

-    The Master’s Course now is only $299.25 each month for 4 months! You receive all of the same great stuff, but it’s delivered to you during a 4 month period. This allows you to go through the materials at your own leisure and learn the art of wire-sculpting at your own pace! During those 4 months, you’ll receive all of the same DVDs, EBooks, tools, wire, etc.

-    If you’re thinking that $299.25 still sounds like a little too much right now, don’t wory, we have 2 additional options for you! You can choose to receive the same DVDs as our popular Master’s Course over a 24 month period for only $59.95 per month. Or you can opt for our 12 month package at only $99.95 per month. Same great jewelry making DVDs, at a very low price! Plus with either of these options you will get some great bonuses, click here to see them all.

-    If you just want to get to the very meat of jewelry making we’ve put together a fun and exciting package just for you! You can now receive 2 DVDs per month during 6 months. These are our most popular DVDs and tools put together for a truly fascinating and unique package! In this package you’ll receive our amazing Rings, Bracelets and Pendant DVDs, 12 DVDs in all. This package is only $84.95 per month for 6 months!

And if that weren’t enough, for 3 days only we’re going to include some great bonuses for Free when you sign up for one of our Auto-Ship programs before the end of the day Wednesday May 13, 2009! Here are a list of bonuses that you will receive:

Jewelers Double-Horned Anvil ($12.97 Value)
Stainless Steel Ring Mandrel ($37.95 Value)
Free Upgrade from Wire-Sculpting Tool Kit to Master’s Tool Kit ($49.96 Value)
Automatic Upgrade to Gold Club Member Status (Priceless!)

So what are you waiting for? These courses will never be as affordable as they are now. Now is the PERFECT TIME to start learning how to wire-sculpt or how to perfect some of the skills you already possess as a Jewelry Maker.

We’ll see you soon!

Brandon Hutchins
Wire-Sculpture.com
877-636-0608

Do you collect things around the house like action figures, toy cars, dolls, different kinds of mittens, antiques and many other things? Well, then, how about deciding on collecting things and earn extra profit from it? As you can see, a lot of people today are into the collecting many things and made it as their hobby from calling cards to action figures and just a year ago, some of these people have discovered that they can make this hobby of theirs as a part-time business. You might already be aware of lots of stories about some people who have dug up a goldmine when they decided to sell their antique stuff to some museum or something and they got big money from it. I’ve heard of people collecting stamps, pennies, bits and pieces from old gel mattresses, and other interesting items! There is even this one guy who sold his own copy of the very first superhero comic book and he got thousands of dollars for it. The fact of the matter is, there is money in what you collect. A collector hobby can be a lucrative hobby, too, just as long as you know what to do and how to do it.

Others don’t collect things beforehand to sell them. They would go through Internet websites, hoping to find out what kinds of items that are saleable and once they have found what they are looking for, they will go and find some collectibles price guide , find out how much would it cost to sell those items in a collection and earn profit. For example, people are going crazy over their new president’s merchandise from hats, to pin buttons, to posters and even shirts and handkerchief and other things and they would even sell their soul just to get their hands on those items. As a collector care and collector hobbyist, you invest on these items, put them into one good group or collection and then, post it up for sale and in no time, somebody has to contact you and want to buy that “presidential” collection for a hefty price.

Soldering is the most common technique for joining two or more metals together.  In the soldering process, two elements are used: heat and solder. A solder is a metal alloy that has a lower melting point than the metals do that are to be joined together.  When the heat from a soldering torch comes into contact with the solder and metals, the solder will melt before the metals do, causing the melted solder to flow and connect the separate pieces together.

Solders are categorized into hard, medium, and easy (soft).  The categories indicate their melting points.  For example, soft solders have lower melting points than medium and hard solders.  It is the hard solders that are typically used in jewelry making or for precious metals.  If a piece needs to be soldered more than once, start with a hard solder, and then move to a medium (or a medium and move to a soft).  This way the first solder will not remelt.

Recommended Materials
Solder
Flux
Flux brush
Tweezers
Torch
Soldering Block
Safety glasses/eye protection

Steps in Soldering

1.    Fitting
2.    Cleaning
3.    Fluxing
4.    Solder Placement
5.    Heating

Note:   It is important to take safety precautions when soldering.  Wear protective clothing, eye protection, make sure the area is well ventilated, and don’t touch the tip or element of a soldering iron.  The three major hazards of soldering are heat, fumes, and the lead content of the solder.  When possible, substitute lead free solder for leaded solder.

Now you’re in the jewelry business, making lovely pieces and you need to figure out how to price them so that they will actually sell!  Below are some tips on how to set prices.

First of all, as a jewelry artist you need to decide what flavor of wire wrapped designer/jewelry artist you are.  Are you inclined to attract the value shopper who wants something low cost but still attractive or would you rather sell to the middle tier customer who considers jewelry an expression of who they are?  Or maybe your desired customer is the investment type who believes that buying a “brand” is as important as the jewelry itself?  Once you decide which type you are creating for, then you can begin to determine your prices.

The best way to start is to assess the pricing levels of your competitors.  Again, your competitors will fall in the three categories defined already – budget jewelry, quality costume jewelry, and designer jewelry.  Within each category there are various subcategories such as ethnic or regional, artist, handcrafted, semi-precious stones, precious metals, etc.  Search online for the products that are similar to what you craft.  Identify a number of different manufacturers and ask them for pricing.  If you don’t feel comfortable asking, persuade a friend to help you because if you don’t know what the competition is doing you can’t effectively price your product.

Another rule of thumb in manufacturing is to charge five times the cost of production.  Jewelry however usually has an additional 40 – 200% markup beyond this because often there are middle-persons who need to get paid for merchandising the product.  If you don’t have this layer in your sales process then you can compete to garner more sales for a similar product found in boutiques or department stores.

You may choose to sell direct to a retail store but you will see yourself getting paid 20-40% of the actual sales price because of this markup.  Selling online is an effective way to merchandise your jewelry also; however you will need some lessons in building a store and then marketing it.  It will require that you build a recognizable brand, build business and consumer relationships, and pay for advertising and marketing that utilize online tools.

Finally, you can always change the price if it’s not working for you, adjusting it up or down until you find the sweet spot that covers your cost of production, your overhead and a profit.  Also, don’t forget to enjoy this pricing process.  Lowering prices does not necessarily increase sales; sometimes the opposite is true because your jewelry will be seen as more valuable, more in demand, and more compelling to own.

For more on Pricing Your Jewelry make sure to read our How to Price Your Wire Jewelry (Article).