Care and feeding of my vice

Hi all-

Not the clamp thing, but my bad habit. Rhinestone tiaras. Make 'em,
(Cold techniques) buy 'em, love 'em!

The problem is with repair/ restoration. My soldering technique is
wretched from no practice, as I’m a painter and like to saw and
rivet when I do hobby time on these guys I make… The old vintage/
antique tiaras sit in a glass case in my front hall and bedroom,
cases which are now locked because people want to dive in and and
try on all the good crowns >D. I have a lot of popped solder joints
from bad handling that threaten the frame integrity on some unusual
and lovely peices. The big ones everybody goes straight for ;D.

I know that there’s something called “spelter” that’s low
temperature and I’ve seen excellent repairs done with it. What is
this stuff? How do you use it? I don’t mind taking the stones out of
an area to fix a peice, but a whole tiara is a nightmare of work.
Isn’t there some sort of putty that dissipates heat ouside of the
work zone? And a lot of these guys are rhodium plated. I’m just
worried about blowing up an old glass stone and having to troll Ebay
for forever to replace it.

Y’alls input is appreciated.

Lizzy

Lizzy,

there is a product called KOOLJOOL (contenti link below)

http://www.contenti.com/products/soldering/510-808.html

there is also a heat shield and another type of paste that protects
stones while heating a metal.

I have used the kooljool on gold and on silver to keep heat from
transfering to the stone and have been extremely pleased with the
results. Now, I probably think that it is best, even if you use the
heat shield to get in and get out of the area with your heat. (the
shield does not mean you can sit and heat the area all day) But it
really does help!

julia potts
julia potts studios

I know that there's something called "spelter" that's low
temperature and I've seen excellent repairs done with it. 

Lizzy, I don’t know if this would be of any help, but I just got
around to experimenting with Tix, a low-temp. solder available from
Rio and other places (for flux, I buy the cheap stuff for
soft-soldering, available in hardware stores). You can literally
solder things (I do it on pinbacks) using a heat gun (or a candle).
I can’t testify yet to the lasting strength of the join, but it’s
probably better than glue.

Peace,
Judy Bjorkman

Stuller as well as Rio and gesswein sell a product called
thero-guard. A clear paste. Works great and is water soluble

Andy " The Tool Guy" Kroungold
Tool Sales / Technical
Stuller Inc
Phone 800-877-7777 ext. 94194
Fax 337-262-7791