I don't think the Orchid list people understand poverty at all
or disabilities. I have trouble learning since my brain injury.
I certainly do. I bet you’re making more on SSI than I’m making
working - currently $100 a week, due to drop to $60 a week this
summer. I’ve got a son in college, too. I live in a 14x7 camper
with no running water and only an oil-filled radiant heater for heat.
As for trouble learning, I understand that, too. I am hypothyroid,
but it took 20 years for our highly-payed professional well-educated
doctors to figure that out. So until I finally got some thyroid
meds, I suffered a continued and unexplained loss of intellectual
ability, memory, concentration, ability to focus, all out the window.
Now I’m a member of the working poor, that health care that our
wonderful president claims everyone has access to is out of reach for
me - in order to get my thyroid meds renewed, I’d have to pay the doc
$100 for an office visit and $300 to $400 for tests he wants to run.
That’s more than a month’s salary for me - I haven’t got it, hence
I’m on half-rations and about to run out. When I DO run out, and the
fatigue and confusion hit me again full force, I expect I will lose
the crummy part time job I have. There’s not a thing I can do about
it.
I also think there were some pretty snotty responces to my
correspondance school question. I know it is over priced but then
it is $40 a month I could spend $40 a month buying one pice of
equipt at a time with no idea what I truly needed.
That’s what we’re here for. These correspondence courses are a
waste of money, don’t buy into them! You can get a pair of lindstrom
cutters for $14 from Alien Spirit Aviation. These are “used”, but
in good condition, I know someone who has used them for years.
They’re model #8148. The e-mail address is alienspirit@att.net
Rio Grande has a good assortment of moderately priced tools.
I would strongly recommend that you save your $800 for tools.
THere’s a guy who gives lessons online, he’s kind of a guerilla
silversmith, he teaches his students to solder with a $10 propane
torch you can buy at the hardware store. His website is at:
http://silversmithing.homestead.com/SilverClasses1.html
He charges $120 for his classes. Save your money to invest in tools
instead of wasting it on expensive correspondence “lessons”, ask us
when you don’t know, get some books through the library (for free),
try this guy’s online classes. If you have difficulty learning,
you’ll do better hands-on anyway.
Start out with wirebending, which doesn’t take much in the way of
tool investment, build up slowly, try the guerilla silversmith route
above. Nobody’s trying to dissuade you from learning, only to use
your resources to get the greatest possible benefits.
I’ve seen these courses and they are NOT worth the money. Please
reconsider and try some of these other resources.
Sojourner
