From a couple of weeks ago:

• I zentangled little 1" squares of paper
• colored them
• put them between two pieces of glass
• added a little bit of lace to the back side
• copper taped them
• soldered them
• and at the end I noticed.....I used a lot of Dr. Seuss colors.  

 

Soldering

I took a workshop that was mostly soldering, but it did have resin involved too (which was the reason I signed up for it).  This is the sample I made in class.

Maggie

On the one side of the table she draws, on the other I solder.  And that's how she can be my daughter and best friend.

P.S. Forgot about Baby Duck, she is hanging out with us too.

Solder, instead of resin

I've had a busy week at work on a early morning shift.  I haven't worked a morning shift in many years, so it's a bit of an adjustment to my daily routine.  It's not a permanent change, so I am trying not to get too used to it.

Here is something I did last week on my day off.  I drew and colored some zentangle designs.  I tried to keep a desert-in-bloom theme.  I would have liked to work with some resin, but I haven't had the time to devote to it to learn or mess with it.  Therefore I solder.  I used glass gems again, that are used usually for floral decorations.  They are great in that they distort the image somewhat, making it larger than it is.  The hard part for me has been that I've had to use two glass gems to sandwich my images in between so I can copper tape them together, then solder them.  This makes them a bit bulky.  But guess what, I found out that you can buy copper sheets.  This may work better, as I can tape my image on to the sheet, then leave extra edge to wrap/tape around the gem. 

Friday is craftday

I seem to get most crafty work done on Friday.  My day off, so it makes sense.  Last week I ran out of glass that I need for soldering, so I tried those large glass stones that you can find in floral section at the craft store.  I loved the results because they are so beautifully imperfect, and they distort whatever image you put underneath it.  It's almost like resin, which I've been a bit uncomfortable to mess with at the moment.

I made this Eiffel tour charm first, but realized because of the oval shape, my clamp wasn't holding it well while soldering.  It was a hazard, and I stopped to go get a better clamp.

I used my husband's old comics.  He's got a lot, so he let me use them.  So these are getting soldered soon.

On a side note, last night I made a promise to my little girl that I will crochet a blanket for her.  She has a little one that I made when she was a baby.  She told me it doesn't cover her.  And it really doesn't.  I will be crocheting a while.  I finished one square, and have no idea how many more I need.  She's picked 10 colors from my stash and we started with purple.

Soldering, it's been a while

Early day today, got up at 5am, worked a little overtime at my job, then took the kids to school and came home to a quiet house.  Wasn't sure what to make next.  I needed a change of pace, something I haven't done in some time.  So I soldered. 
First I cleaned up the table of fabric scraps and whatever else was laying around and set up shop for soldering.

Then I realized I didn't have enough cut glass, so I went to the workshop in the back yard to cut some glass.  Until a bee scared me.  Ironically I had already pre-cut and stamped some paper that had bees on it. 

I also ran out of glass too, so I did what I could with what I had on hand.  Soldered until I had to get the kids from school.
And here are the results.