Soldering

This is just more of an informational one. When I took metalsmithing for the first time, we learned the 3 basic types of soldering. There's a Sweat Solder which is usually just used for a decorative quality, a Butt Joint for making containers and for stone setting, and a Post Solder for earrings mostly. You really need to have access to specific tools and things before trying to attempt these...but it's still pretty easy none the less.

What to Get:
Piece of copper, nickel or brass (your choice)
Jewelers solder (easy, medium, hard)
Wire cutters
Jewelers saw (like a little coping saw)
Piece of tubing or rod in copper or brass
Flux
Torch (oxygen and acetylene)

**THOROUGHLY clean the metal after you cut it the way you want it with your jewelers saw**

How-To (Sweat Solder):
1. Take a little piece of metal and a large piece
2. Paint flux on the little piece
3. Cut pieces of solder about the size of a pencil point and place them evenly around
4. Lightly heat with the torch until the flux turns clean and the solder is just about to melt
**it'll look like sunny side up eggs**
5. Paint flux to the larger piece
6. Lay the small piece face down and heat until you see the small piece "drop"
7. Last step! Quench in a bucket of water and you have your two stuck together pieces.

http://jewelrybydave.tripod.com/fabricat.htm

How-To (Butt Joint):
1. Position the two pieces of metal perpendicular to each other like an "L" with a very small overhang on one side
**the more left at the more you have to file off later for the finished project**
2. Paint flux on both edges
3. Place the solder on the outside edge
4. Heat from the opposite side until the flux bubbles and the solder even flows
5. Last Step! Quench in a bucket of water. File away the edge make the corner nice and smooth.

http://www.conniefoxvideos.com/blog/page/9/

How-To (Post Solder):
1. Make sure the piece of post or tubing is straight
2. Put flux all around the base and use one small piece of solder
**use pliers to stand it on the flat piece of metal**
3. Place the whole set up on a metal screen and heat from the bottom with the torch until the solder completely melts
4, Last step! Quench (again) in a bucket of water.

http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/yellow-gold-nd-palladium.htm

Monotype and Embossing

Again this is something really easy. All it takes is some imagination to be quite honest. For those who don't know, a monotype is a print that can not be repeated. You can just use ink or use found objects like flowers, lace, tin foil, or whatever you think would give you a neat texture. Embossing is almost the same except you can make multiples if you'd like and there is no ink. It's just making imprints in the paper using your objects. One girl who took the class with me did embossing using mostly different pastas in ways to make it look like something else as her final product when she ran it through the printing press. It's cheap and fun to do on a big scale or a small one.

What to Get:
Brayer
2 pieces of Plexy glass (one for the ink and one for what you will be printing with)
tape
Ink
Whatever you'd like to print (foil, lace, string, etc) or emboss (pasta, cardboard, coffee straws, etc)
Glue
Paper

How-To (monotype):
1. Evenly spread the ink onto the 1st piece of plexy glass
2. Tape off the size that you want so that you have a clean edge
3. Either apply the ink directly to the 2nd piece of plexy glass and take something like a piece of matte board or card board to draw in the ink (reductive monotype), or apply the ink to the objects (additive monotype)and arrange them on the plexy glass.
4. Take the tape off and lay the paper centered on top
5. Last Step! Either run it through a printing press if available, or use a rolling pin and go across it a few times. Peel off carefully and let dry and you have yourself a monotype!

Reductive Monotype
http://www.pinterest.com/themeganj/art-to-inspire/

Additive Monotype
http://www.akuainks.com/additive-monotype

How-To (Embossing):
1. Evenly spread the ink on the 1st piece of plexy glass
2. Take your objects and glue them to the 2nd piece of plexy glass
**make sure the glue isn't permanent so that you are able to use it again**
3. Center the paper on top
4. Last Step! Run the whole thing through a printing press and you will have yourself an embossed image!

Embossing
http://www.studioembossed.com/

Homemade Paper

This hack is actually one of the easiest and, in my opinion, one of the more entertaining. It's a really inventive way to recycle and at the same time, you can get fun results. You can even use material like lint and sheds of cotton to do this. One of the girls in my class tried it using both of those and they turned out really well. They are great for the crafty projects like making cards and scrap books projects




What to Get:
paper
water
food processor
big rectangle Tupperware container or plastic foot bath
piece of metal screen (you can get it at any home improvement store)
dyes or found objects (optional)




How-To:
1. Shred paper into little bits
**newspaper, lint, cotton, old assignments from teachers you didn't like**
2. Feed water and paper into the food processor
3. After everything is all blended into what's called paper pulp, scoop it out and put it into the container with water until it is almost full and a soupy texture
**you can add things like string, other objects, or dye if you want**
4. Take the piece of screen and sift the paper out of the water to make even sheets
5. Gently peel the new paper sheet off the screen so that you don't tear the corners
6. Last step! Let it dry and do whatever you want with it!

http://sciencemadefun.net/blog/making-recycling-paper-at-home/
Sorry this post was a little late!