A New Year, A New Project

As a creator of mosaics, I am drawn to the patterns and colors of china and pottery. In my studio, there are stacks of plates, bowls, and teacups, that are waiting to be incorporated into a mosaic. There are also several bins full of leftover shards from the pieces of dishes that didn’t make it into a mosaic. 

Recently, I have been experimenting with utilizing leftover shards to make shard pendants, with a soldered edging.  

To learn the process, I purchased a book called Simple Soldered Jewelry & Accessories, written by Lisa Bluhm.  This book gives instructions on tools and supplies that are needed, and provides easy to follow visual instructions on the process of soldering.

I bought the most essential supplies first, to give myself time to decide if this is a project that I wanted to pursue.  I purchased a soldering kit from Michaels, which included a soldering iron, a roll of copper foil, and a container of solder.

My most used tool, a tile nipper is what I used to cut a particular design out of a dish, or to even out the sharp edges of an existing china shard.

Copper foil, which has one sticky side, is wrapped around the edges of the shard, pressed down, and smoothed. Then using the soldering iron, solder is melted over the foil, and pulled around the front, side and back edges, with the tip of the soldering iron; sort of like painting with the solder.  The copper foil should be covered completely with solder.  A jump ring is soldered in place.

There is so much more to learn about different metals, melting temperatures, and materials  that can be used.  Now, I am ready to purchase more supplies and tools, and with more practice, I may be able to refine, and perfect my technique.

Jenny - Reclaimed Designs