Pure Comfort On A Rainy Day

For today, another post about my trip to my sisters.

This was too good to not post, so I'm hoping you feel the same!!

My last day in Paradise was wet, wet wet. But, no fear. We made it into a fabulous day by soldering and cooking. What could be better?

This is my sister's work space. It's located in the pool house, which I take over when I come and visit. Each one in our family says it's "their pool house" but really it's mine. 

It is so fun to be in someone else's creative space. My middle sister has a KILLER stamp collection that I enjoy looking through. It's like being at your own personal stamp show.

So, we set up all the soldering items and went to work.

It was fairly frustrating and we both realize it takes HOURS of practice to even begin to master soldering.

One thing I realized is that having a block of salicylic ammoniac to rub the tip of your soldering iron on is essential. It keeps the tip smooth and the solder clean. It's that little white block next to the blue pliers.

We practiced on broken pottery, and dominoes. We also realized that having a really good soldering iron is beyond essential. This one that my sister is using was one from Lowe's Hardware store. Do not get one of these, even if the price is only $14.99. The tips disintegrate as you use it. Very frustrating. My soldering iron is from Simply Swank Soldering. I bought it at a show and got the whole package for beginning soldering. And while I have been very happy with it, my next soldering iron will be a REAL one. Not one with a pink or orange handle. I think the temperatures stay more even with a heavy duty iron. All though, you can buy temperature regulators.

This is a great way to hold the piece you are soldering. Clothespins will not crack the glass if you are using the small glass slides. 

This is what I ended up with. My sister said she would never, ever solder again. 

Thankfully, she changed her mind and said she would be willing to give it another try.

There really is something magical to it.

I think these would be fun as gift tags or hung on a little tree.

Backside:

I had begun these little- bitties last summer and finished them during the time at my sister's:

I really vacillate with whether or not to use original images with these. I ended up using the original pages from a dictionary printed in 1943. The pages are as fine as tissue. Is it really sacrilege to tear up an old book? Once these images are set in the solder, that's it. No more left. Unless I find another dictionary.

Yeah, that's it! Really, though, there's nothing quite like the original.

Well. I have pattered on about soldering so much, I'll have to show you our foray into cooking next time. But here is a little teaser:

Hoping your day is spectacular!