Can you use pottery clay to hold small pieces together for soldering?

I can’t comment on jettbalistic but Thermo-Loc is a friendly plastic that melts in hot water used for securing pieces while engraving or polishing. Don’t attempt to solder with this product.


Here are a few that I have done over time,. The trick I use is to push your loops and other shapes in as firm as you can in each section so the bits stay in. Also I don’t have solder flying off as soon as the torch hit’s the solder. If you come close to your work slowly and as soon as you see the flux go white you can then hit it with more heat. I tell my students to creep up on their work.
I am not a trained teacher, just been doing this for a very long time.
Good luck. ;-))

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Hi David I’m in Southport uk and as a retired lecturer in fine metalwork can help you as a gellow jeweller with your question.
alanphillips@metaldesign.plus.com

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Those pieces should be in so tight that you can easily lift the whole piece without any of the little bits moving or falling out! They should be held in place by pressure. If anything falls out when you lift the piece, it means you need to put a lot more of those little filler curlicues in. Doing filigree for over 40 years-- you can see my work in the big Oppi Untracht book.


Janet in Jerusalem

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Janet…These are wonderful. Thanks for sharing them…Rob

Beautiful work - thanks for sharing with us