Today I set about finishing off the bases for all three brooches, which meant soldering the bezels of the two larger brooches onto copper bases. Things get trickier the larger the area requiring to be soldered and the largest base took three attempts to get it complete. Luckily the medium sized brooch was an absolute doddle to solder and worked first time, so I didn’t need to stress too much this morning.
Pre soldering:
Post sodering – I love the colours and patterns on the base of the copper after soldering:
I then spent an hour or so sanding and filing and sanding and filing until I was happy with the shape and size of the bases. Here are some pics. I’ve inserted the domes just so you can get a better idea of the form of the finished brooch [before the electronics go in]:
At the moment they look like watering can heads to me, but not for long.
Yesterday I did a test with the soldering iron and lead free solder to see if I could solder the electronics in place using this technique, but couldn’t get it to work at all. I think it would also end up being far too fiddly if I approached it this way too. So I’ve opted to use some air dry clay instead and have ordered some that’s terracotta in colour. Using clay I can simply stick the electronics where I want them to go and then leave it all to air dry. Hopefully the clay will shrink a little in the drying process which will help to hold things in place even more.
Whilst everything is drying out, I can work on adding brooch pins to the back. It’s all coming together nicely.
You know I’m really liking those little tea strainers – ooooh I think you have something there – there’s something utilitarian and yet earthy about it. And you are so right about the soldering impact on the copper – one of those lovely happy accidents, where something happens as part of the process and you think – mmmm that’s nice ….
can’t wait to see your finished piece …