January 22, 2002: Amber and gold spider pin.

A nice long weekend means time to clean the studio, and to make new ahtverke.

I have been thinking about this spider pin design for a long time, so... I finally gave it a shot. It's simple, but I like it.

I used gold-filled wire for the spider, and an amber cabochon for the abdomen. Unfortunately (as I discovered), I can't use silver solder for this since the high temperature melts the gold-filled wire... plus, amber burns/melts very easily.

So, I just used a very tiny drop of low-temperature (non-precious) solder for this. The way it's wrapped, you can't really see it anyway.

I went and reread my silversmithing class lessons, and sure enough, he recommends that you NOT use silver solder for mixed metal projects. Oh well. I guess I should break down and order some extra-shiny "Tix" solder, for those projects where I can't use silver solder.

Oh and, in closing -- Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He's one of the people I have always admired. *sigh*