A Good Day With Argentium Silver

Well, I had a good production day this week. I managed to solder several pieces without melting the whole thing. Soldering is a tricky bit. I'm still trying to get the hang of it. Too cold and the solder won't flow. Too hot. . . and you know what happens. Like ice cubes on the hot sidewalk. So I did complete three necklaces with my Argentium Sterling Silver. You can check my Necklaces - Metal section for that. I'm happy with them. They look great. Yesterday was not so good of a day. Worked all day on one piece, and am not happy with it. It may go in the trash. So much work, and a loss. Well, that happens when I get "creative" and try something new. I was making a bezel setting for Montana Moss Agate,

Montana Moss Agate

and my backplate was too thin. I managed to burn several holes in over the day. I hope to finally get this setting made, the stone is lovely.

I mentioned above, Argentium Silver. I use that exclusively. You may or may not have heard of it. It's a new silver, since 1996, invented in England. It's being called the silver of the 21st century.What is does, is not tarnish as much as regular sterling silver. And who likes tarnish to clean? Not me. All sterling silver has 7.5% alloy in it for strength. Usually, that has some copper. So with Argentium silver, they left out the copper (with attributes to tarnishing) and replaced it with an alloy call Germanium. One characteristic of Argentium Silver is that it melts at a lower temperature than regular silver. Thus, my over-heating problem. But I will get the hang of it in time.

So included here are some pictures of this weeks new creations.



Note: I am publicly sharing my frustration with this Blogger. I cannot place items where I want them, and spaces are added every time I log in and view it.  I will be happy when I get my "official" website up and www.lajeannedesign.com, but I don't have time to create it right now. I will post it when it is up. Thanks.