When we are reaching, stretching, pushing our limits, we make mistakes, have problems, and stuff happens. I don’t like this anymore than anyone else, but I know that if I never experience problems and mistakes then I am playing it way too safe, relying far too much on what I already know. And so, I push ahead.
This necklace is an example. The small black glass cab with a bit of red was the smallest thing I had bezel set at the time. And I wanted to do it. I saw the complete pendant in my mind - the wire-wrapped porcelain drop, the black and red cab set properly, and I wanted to do it.
So, I set out to make the bezel setting for the small black and red piece and ran into trouble. I made rings out of bezel wire, tried to solder them closed, and either solder would run up one side or I toasted the bezel with too much heat and part of it melted. After destroying a few of them, I stepped back to analyze the situation. Solder running to one side was a symptom of uneven heating. This bezel was small so there wasn’t much mass. I was using the pick to hold the solder beside the seam. Maybe the pick was drawing too much heat for this small bezel?? I tried it without the pick, and success. The photo below – the toasted and melted pieces created while learning. And isn’t learning what it is all about?
