Soldering Argentium Silver Posts to Earrings

It’s interesting how the human mind works. As I was walking my dog today, I was pondering the issues involved with soldering Argentium Silver posts. The difficulty is that Argentium Silver is fragile when it is red-hot. So, it can be difficult to solder the end of the post without pinching and breaking the post. As I walked, I had one of those “Eureka!” moments. I think that the solution is to slip a piece of copper, brass, or steel tubing over the top half of the post, and hold the tube with tweezers. I am so excited about the idea, that I had to share, even though I haven’t had a chance to try it in the studio. I think that students in the workshop that I am teaching August 3-7 at Metalwerx, in Waltham, MA will be pleased. By the way, there is room for two more people in the class. Here’s a link to an interview about it:http://userblogs.ganoksin.com/metalwerx/2011/07/01/argentium-silver-microfolding-fusing-and-mithril/