When soldering, there are many aspects to consider. The metal being used, shape and weight of the piece, the join that is to be soldered, what type of solder, what type of torch, etc. It gets easier the longer you're in practice. Problems don't take as long to solve.
The other day, I was getting ready to solder all the jump rings onto my charms for the Etsy Metal Charm Swap II, and I realized that I might have to do some tricky soldering, as these pieces wouldn't just sit nicely on my soldering block. I also didn't want to solder 22 charms one at a time. So I thought..."how can I get the jump rings to sit flat on the block?"...and remembered the lovely thing that is in my spinning soldering station--pumice! Pumice, that wonderful material that pieces can be pushed into, buried in, propped up on, or stabilized with.
This was the result...wedge the shapes into the pumice, as close to the soldering block as possible so the jump ring sat flat on the block. I was able to solder all 22 pieces in 2 groups, and only had to re-solder two that the jump rings deformed on. Not too shabby :)
great post catherine!
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