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Photo charms in various states of completion.
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How to Make Soldered
Photo Charms
By Christine Cox
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The key
to this kind of soldering is practice and understanding how the solder
should flow. If it flows too slowly (kind of blobby) the heat is too
low. If it just burns off or runs away quickly, it's too hot.
Be sure to read
the
primer on soldering, "How
to Solder Like a Pro." It's the one I learned from and I
think it's very good. |
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Cut-up
photos or other ephemera to the same size as the glass. Consider this
either a photo charm or a collage charm and be sure to make it look
good on the reverse as there's glass there too.
-
Make a
sandwich of 2 glass pieces with the photos/ephemera between.
-
Pull out
a few inches of
copper foil tape (width depends on thickness of
glass). Lay out the copper foil tape and then place your glass
sandwich onto it, centered right and left.
-
Very
tightly pull the tape around the glass, being sure that it stays
centered.
-
Cut the
tape so that it overlaps about 1/4"
-
Use a
bone folder
or wooden fid to make sure the tape is stuck to the
glass all the way around and is secure on the front and back.
-
-
Place the
glass sandwich in a vise or use a clothespin, or something else. The
idea is to hold the charm on it's side so that the solder will flow
along the top edge. It's too hot to hold in your hand so I use a little
mini bench vise
to hold the charm.
-
Use a
Q-tip to put flux all over the top edge and the front and back of the
tape along the top edge (try not to get any on the other sides yet or
the solder will have a high probability of dripping over the edge and
then you'll get into an endless loop of chasing the drop of solder).
-
Some
people like to 'paint' their solder on. Some like to melt it directly
onto the tape. Either works, though 'painting' it on usually leaves a
smaller bead and is usually called 'tinning.'
Touch the
tip of your soldering iron onto the solder. The idea is to transfer a
little solder onto the tip of the iron. Then use the iron tip to
transfer the solder onto the charm. Repeat if you didn't get enough
solder.
To Melt
Directly:
Place the
tip of the solder (still on the roll) onto the tape and then sort of
'chase' it down the tape with the iron. If the iron is at the right
temperature the solder will melt instantly and you'll have a nice
thick bead all the way down the tape in one pass.
- Repeat on
the other 3 edges.
-
When
you're done, fix up any areas than didn't get completely covered
(usually the front and back of the charm) by just pulling a little
solder over from the sides. This takes a little practice. You'll find
yourself messing up the sides to fix the front until you get better at
it. Try to keep your iron directly off the sides.
-
Solder a
jump ring to the top and that's your bale. I like to
install my jump ring by holding it
in a pair of flatnose pliers in my left hand and then just quickly
re-melting the solder and placing the ring instantly. It takes practice.
-
You can
clean up your charms by using rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip (to get rid
of the flux) and then
steel wool (0000 grit or so) to remove the oxidized solder (the crumbly black stuff).
When you are done seal the edges with Carnauba wax (a hard automobile
wax).
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