Hi:
I’m extremely new to metal as I mostly work with beads. I am trying
to create a new design and was looking for some advice. I have made
several “beaded beads” (glass beads covered over with tiny sterling
plated beads woven together in a netted fasion). I would like to
thread the beaded bead onto a 1 mm sterling cable wire along with
some semiprecious beads and some sterling or fine silver bead caps
that I have made. I would them like to use low temp silver solder
from Rio Grande and a soldering iron to secure a sterling bead to the
cable wire on either side of the design. On my first attempt I got
some black spotting on the sterling beads which I intended to clean
off (I think it may have been fire scale?). I put the whole thing in
a ziplock to store, but, when I came back to finish, the whole thing
was black and the beaded bead was ruined. Any ideas on what I did
wrong? Thanks in advance…I would experiment more but those darn
beaded beads take 2 hours to make under a magnifier
Kim Starbard
Cove Beads