I Got My MoJo Back!!

My soldering nightmare seems to have ended!!! I can't express how thrillllllled I am!

I mean, LOOK at this! the solder globs up, which would indicate not enough heat to melt it, and it would spike into sharp points-again, not enough heat so the solder would cling to the tip...and yet,
if I tapped it just a wee bit harder or hold it a smidge longer, the solder would melt and run like water!

I'm not sure why or what happened or what I'm doing different...maybe it was just buying a new soldering iron (and eating the tip up in 30 minutes of use!!!) and maybe that just scared my little irons to pieces thinking they were about to be replaced?

I don't know but as soon as I unplugged that new, cheapie iron and heated up my old one, things were suddenly A-OK.

AND SO---



here are my 2 irons-the 50-watt one on the right was my dad's and is probably decades old--and i've put more use on it in one month than he did in all the years he's had it...the other one is my 100 watt iron that I bought when I started.


I've got 6 dozen pieces soldered, cleaned, polished, and on chains-giving me a total of *12* dozen pieces!! ready for Saturday's shows-yes, that's plural, as in 2 shows in one day.

They probably won't be big selling days, as the arts are more for display and inspiration, but there will be some sales, I'm sure...and then, next week, I can start uploading new merchandise to my UrbanArtifaks etsy shop!

And YES, I've started carrying my calendar around with me all the time again.