Rings and a New (Inexpensive) Torch

In a flurry of creativity I am making jewelry before I leave for Bead & Button. I KNOW! I seem to be packed and mostly ready. (Note to self...print those handouts...you do NOT want to be wrestling with the printer in the office center at the hotel. Ask me how I know.)

Anyway. I was so excited to actually have some time to create that I bounded merrily over to my worktable and picked up my torch. Wait. Where is my torch? Torch?

Drat. I packed every single micro torch I owned and sent them on their way to the show for class. I was crestfallen. As I pawed through my storage baskets willing one of my torches to spontaneously appear something caught my eye.

Bernzomatic Micro Torch

This guy.

I had bought this torch a while back to try out, turned it on once and promptly forgot all about it. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I fired it up.

It did not have a built in lighter so I used my fireplace starter to fire it up. The torch is filled from the bottom and pushing up on that red button starts the butane flowing. There is a little switch underneath (opposite of the red button) that regulates the butane flow. The flame kept blowing out when I tried to light it, but a quick adjustment to that switch made the fuel flow more slowly and the torch lit right up.

So far so good. I tried the torch out and I like it. It certainly does not take the place of my Blazer or Max Flame micro torches, but since it was the only torch I could quickly lay my hands on, I made it work.

So, in a nutshell, these are my pros and cons:

PRO:

• I already had it.
• The flame is tapered and precise.
• Long burn time. 
• Easy to manipulate.
• Great for soldering jump rings and drawing a ball on the end of a wire. 
• Inexpensive and easy to find. $15.95 at most hardware stores.

CON:

• If you hold the torch at a 90° angle to your work it can sometimes blow out. Once I adjusted it to a little higher than 45° over my project it worked perfectly.
• No automatic ignition switch.
• The flame cannot solder projects larger than a quarter in size (1 inch or 24 mm).

Since the flame was small and could only solder small projects, I had to get creative. Here are the rings I made.

I used the torch to anneal the metal and to solder the bezel on the ring on the right. It wasn't powerful enough to solder the settings to the ring bands, so those are riveted together.

Now back to the workbench and my little torch. If you are coming to Bead & Button, make sure and stop by and see me at meet the teachers. I'll have rings for sale!

Maker Faire 2012 Recap! Now with Video!

Hoooowheee.

What a weekend. We taught hundreds (300? 400?) of people how to solder, shape and polish a ring and it was all FREE! Going into this project, I thought "Well, how busy are we gonna be? People will just stroll up to the booth and we will chat, coach them on making a ring and then we will relax, greet another person and make another ring."

What was I thinking? Good thing a had a lot of supplies and a great team to help.

I guess people really, REALLY like playing with fire. Seriously. We were SLAMMED all weekend. We had all ages jumping in and trying out the torches. (Good thing I DID have the foresight to make a safety plan. Not one burn. Well, Not one burn on any of the participants...a couple of us got singed just a little.)

If you have never been to Maker Faire, it is just an awesome experience. Makers from all over the country come and share what they do: Robotics, beekeeping, knitting, driving a tiny motorized cupcake, welding, making things out of wood, metal and fire. You name it. And this year tens of thousands of people came to see it.

JUST IN! My super talented cousin Zoe made a great video to commemorate the weekend. Thanks Zoe for making this. I think it's awesome. (Makes me want to do it all over again this weekend!) Thought you might like to see it.

And here are some snaps from the weekend. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Soldering for all ages!

Jess and Kris teaching the masses.

This couple made matching rings.

Look at that concentration.

Safety first!

Our nice booth sign.

And we got a blue ribbon from the MAKE editors for an outstanding activity.

 So much fun! Will I do it again next year? YOU BET!

My new tool belt.

So sometimes in class or demo-ing or even just working at my bench I feel like I need a better way to keep a handle on my tools that are in constant use. I wanted a tool belt, but not one that made me look like I was going to a construction site.

One day while trolling the aisles at my local Harbor Freight store, I found this cool leather pouch and thought it would be the perfect thing for my tools. It was just the pouch, though. I needed to add a belt.

No problem! To make the belt for the pouch, I went to my local Tandy Leather and found a 1 1/4" belt blank and dyed it to to match the pouch. (They also sell leather dye and it was easy to paint right on to the unfinished leather.) My sweetheart added the buckle for me since he is handy that way. I bought a few establishments (also from Tandy) and got to work putting my personal style on the whole thing.

Here is the pouch and belt, pre-embellish.

The conchos and harware I bought at Tandy.

I turned one of the conchos into a belt tip. I added a Vintaj brass blank behind it to make a nice, hefty tip for the end of the belt. Kinda has a steampunk vibe which is okay by me. I'd love to pilot an airship.

To add the hanging hardware (for my safety glasses and keys and such) I riveted strips of leather to the belt.

I used a drill to make the holes...

and then I riveted everything together. And I added a key to the pouch for added flair.

See the key on the pocket? And ta dah, here is the finished belt and pouch...

...and here I am striking a pose in my new toolbelt. I love it. Now bring on the tools!