How to use SOLDERING IRON for Jewelry Making - STEP BY STEP | Tool | Supplies and Tips

Is this too bright? Let's see if it's too bright. How about now? I haven't had my coffee, that's why I can't properly start this video, so let me fix this right now. In today's video, I'm going to be showing you how to use a soldering iron for jewelry. I've had a video on my channel, like a few of them, you guys seem to be interested. There are, I received a few comments of me maybe not very properly explaining all the steps, so this is going to be like a take two, version two of a video that I posted earlier, so if you would like to learn how to make jewelry using a soldering iron, not the torch, but the soldering iron, this video is for you. If you want to see a fuller collection of the latest pieces that I made, continue watching till the end and I'll give you like a better look. Let's go over soldering iron and soldering technique, so you will be able to make something similar. Okay, so let's talk about soldering iron first, because that's the main thing you would need. This is soldering iron. In the last video, I talked about it, but I got a comment saying that I didn't explain how to change tips, so let's just start from the beginning. This soldering iron, I really recommend, because it has a temperature adjusting knob. It has a switch, which knob right here, and you can switch between, you can toggle between Fahrenheit and Celsius, and what's great about this iron is also it has a tip cleaner here, and it's brass tip cleaner with rose and flux reservoir. Every time you're doing soldering, you have to clean your tip, and right now, the iron is not turned on, so it's safe for me to touch, but the moment I turn it on, the moment I plug it into the outlet, it's going to get super hot, so whenever you're soldering, just be mindful and don't touch anything passing, like this rubber part. This would be already getting pretty warm here, so let's talk about soldering tips, which are the main reason why you might be succeeding or failing at soldering. It's because this tip, it can get oxidized, so we will go through this step when I'm demonstrating how to actually solder, how to pick up solder, and how to apply it to a piece that you're working with, but it's really important to remember that if this tip will get rusted, oxidized, it will no longer be picking up solder, so this iron is great because it has replacement tips, and I'll show you in a minute how to replace tips in case you need to, but I've been using the same tip over and over for a year now, and it's still in a good condition, and the reason it's in a good condition is because I'm conditioning it every time I'm done soldering. By conditioning, I mean I just apply a little bit of solder, and I'll show you what solder is. It's the soft metal alloy that is melting at much lower temperature than, for instance, a base of the ring that you're working with. Okay, great. So, as you can see here, it has a little bit of residue here, and that is from that solder that I applied after I was done soldering last time. So, to replace the tip, all you have to do is just loosen this part up like that, and then it becomes loose. There you go. You just pull it up, push the tip through, and then, and there you go. Here's how it comes out. Okay, this iron comes with five tips, six total with that one. To change it, you're just gonna push this tip through, screw this thing on top of your base, and that's it, and you're done, and it's very secure, and this is how you change tips, and that's it, and now my old tip is back. So, the second thing you would need is soldering wire. Very important. If you're going to be soldering jewelry, please use lead-free solder. I use JFlow Safe. This is the brand. I'll link everything down below for you guys. It's great. It's around $40 to raise the price a little bit, but it lasted me for a year. Like, I've been, I made over 60 pieces using this, so it's not too bad, and that's the one that we use to condition the tip with. That soldering tip that we just talked about, that's the soft solder that I use to condition. I work with that solder. It's the one that melts and joins all the pieces together, and that's the one we condition once we're done soldering with. Okay, so the next thing you would need, you won't be able to solder without, is conductive copper tape. I've been liking to use a wider one because it feels like I can cover larger surfaces faster, but sometimes you do need little delicate strips of conductive tape, so it depends what you want. In order to use it, you just have, you just need to tear it. It tears, tears really easily, and then you would just peel a little bit of that conductive tape, like so. You'll just peel it like that, and this part of the tape is sticky, so you would be able to apply it to whatever surface you would like to solder, and be it a rock, maybe like a sea glass, a crystal, or porcelain, like in this case. You just wrap pieces with that conductive tape, and then you would apply flux on top of this, and I'm going to talk about flux in a minute. Before we talking about flux, I just want to reiterate that whenever you apply this conductive tape on any surface, you just need to make sure it's very snug, and there's no gaps or bubbles between the surface you're applying the conductive tape onto, and the conductive tape. The one that I'm using is for stained glass, but I've been loving it because it doesn't really leave that much residue. There's different type of flux. I'll link the picture right here. I used it in the past, and it burns, it has smell, it has a lot of like smoke whenever you work with it. It's the paste, like I don't like the paste version. I like the liquid version, and I've been using it for a year, and I still have almost like a full bottle. I think I used up to here, so it's very efficient, and I just make sure you keep it like tight, you make sure it's tight, and obviously don't drink it, you know, make sure that no one's around you who can swallow it, because it's very dangerous, it's swollen, but you need just a little bit, and it's very liquid consistency, if you can hear, it's really like water consistency, so you definitely would need that. Okay, another important thing you would need is this heat insulation soldering mat that I got off Amazon as well, and it's been really helpful, because you don't want to burn through your desk that you're working on. So let's talk about the mask. Very important, whenever you solder, you have to have a mask on. I would suggest you guys getting more like a professional mask. This is 3M 5101 mask that has filters, and I will link it down below again. It has filters, and it's important to change them, I don't know, every two times you solder, every three times. Here I'll show you how it looks on me. It basically, you just put it right here, it has the strap, it goes over your head, and then the one that kind of locks behind your neck right here. You can adjust it, it's not too terrible, but it's a pretty, you know, it's a mask, so it's not very comfortable to work with, but you have to sacrifice the comfort for safety. And here I'll just show you, so these things, you can just open them up, and they have filters, and basically here are the filters that I use, I'll link them down below as well, and they sell them in packs of 20-25, and you just dispose this filter, and I'll show you a pack of brand new filters. Okay, so here's the pack of brand new filters, they come in those plastic bags, and this is a brand new filter that you will basically install it back, and it's super easy to install, you just place it right here, and then you cover this with this lid, and it's done, it's ready to go. Another super important thing to wear to protect yourself is protective eyewear, protective goggles, so definitely wear protective eyewear. I know this is like very in-depth soldering tutorial, so it's a lot of things that I am covering today, but I wish someone told me all those things when I started soldering, so this is the latest addition to my soldering kit, and it's basically a fan that sucks all the bad fumes that happened during soldering. This fan comes with two carbon filters, you have two of them in case you need to replace it, and in the back is just a fan, you plug it in, it has a little switching knob right here, and it's amazing guys, whenever I solder, I have, I can just see all the smoke being sucked in, and I don't even smell fumes at all, but still have your windows open, because even though you're going to be using it, if you're going to buy it, you still need to have your windows open and a mask on, but this is much better, because it really helps you to get all the fumes out of your face, and that was $30, and it's 100% worth the investment, because it's your health, and I wish I've gotten it sooner, and it's great. Okay, so now that we've gone over all the equipment, and all the safety tips, let's actually solder something. I plugged my soldering iron into the outlet, I'm gonna turn it on, and I usually solder around 700, 700, 750 is fine for me. So now that it's hot, I'm now cautious about the tip, and I make sure obviously the wire is not touching the tip, because it can burn through it, so make sure it's completely like out of the way. Okay guys, I hope you're excited, we're gonna be working on this piece. So this is basically a plate that I broke, and I like this flower detail, as you can see here, it's just ceramics. Let's use conductive copper tape to cover this piece, so we can attach our solder. This is pretty much what I need, I don't need more than that, you can just tear it, and I'm using the widest one I have, I think it's a quarter inch, or maybe it's a half an inch actually, I'm not sure, it's pretty wide. Whenever I'm peeling, as you can see, I'm not touching this part of the tape, because if you touch it too many times, it becomes less adhesive, and your pieces won't adhere the right way. Whenever I'm working with copper tape, I'm mindful of how wide my soldering border would be, I'll explain in a minute. So basically, when I'm placing the tape around the shape, I want to be consistent, I want this border to be consistent, I don't want it to be too thick here, and then too thin over here, I want it to be consistent, so if decided to go with this thick of a border, I will try to match it around the whole shape. I don't like how thick it is, it is okay to reapply it, not too many times, because it will eventually not stick, but I want it to be a little less solder, because it's a beautiful design, and I don't want to cover it too much. So you see, I went in and I readjusted it, and I wanted to have less of the copper tape showing, and let's try to make it here as well. Same width, I'm standing right now, so I'm not in too comfortable position to wrap it, but it's fine. Okay, so we can just tear it excess, and we have come all the way to the end, and you can just tear this piece, it's fine. So let's make sure it's all snug, and now you can flip the piece and work on the back. First, just use your finger to press it against the surface, okay, so now it's nice and beautiful. So now, we're not done, because this is not snug yet, so I'm going to use my tweezers to get this tape as close to the surface of the piece as possible, and I'm using the back of my tweezers, you guys can use anything you want, but this is basically, we're varnishing the piece. I'll give you a closer look, let me zoom in, so I'm varnishing the piece, so it has no wrinkles, and I suggest you guys placing it on the surface, and then holding it, and just be careful not to tear the copper tape, because you can damage it if you apply too much pressure. Okay, don't forget about the sides, you have to do the same thing with the side, there is a varnishing tool, people use like natural stone to do that, or agate, I believe, but I don't have that, and I use this, and it's fine. You can use the back of your nails, but be careful not to cut yourself, because if you're working with like porcelain, you can cut yourself, and you can damage your nails over time. Okay, so, okay, now it's snug, and it's pretty much ready for us to apply flux, and then solder. I'm going to place my heat resistant mat onto my desk, and I'm going to start applying flux. Let's prepare our station, let's use, so this is, I have my flux handy, I'm going to need my tweezers, and I'm going to need a brush to apply flux onto the piece. I'm going to put my mask, and I'm going to put my safety glasses, and I'm going to turn on my fan. I'm going to place my fan right here, so it's close to the spot where I'm going to be soldering, and I'm going to keep my soldering next to the fan. This is not hot, obviously, so you can still hold it in your hands, just wash your hands after you're done applying flux, when you're done soldering. Flux is, again, its consistency is pretty much water, as you can see. I'm going to apply this to the copper tape to make sure my solder flows. This is enough. Once you're done using this, close it and put it away. Here's your solder, right? In order for you to work with it, and it be handy for you, just kind of shape it in this way, like that. That way, it's easy to access, and you don't have to have anyone hold it for you. This is very convenient. Let's make sure our window is open, and I'm going to clean my tip. I'll show you what I'm doing. I'm cleaning my tip right here, like that, and I'm kind of rotating when I'm cleaning my tip. That's what I've been doing. I don't know if it's the proper way, but it's been working for me. Okay, and let's start soldering. Okay, I did put my mask, so I know how much you can hear me. If you can't hear me, I'm going to do a voiceover until it gets really hot. So, I'm holding my piece in one hand, and I'm applying solder using my other hand, and all you do, you just grab a little bit of solder, and you apply it, and you spread it all over your copper, all over the copper tape. Then, you're going to rotate it and work in the back. I was wearing a mask, so hopefully, I don't have any imprint on my face, but sometimes this happens after wearing a mask. So, forgive me if I do. So, basically, we are at this stage where we covered our piece in solder. So, I placed it in the fridge to cool it off, but usually, it's better to leave it just in the room temperature, because it can crack if it's too cold, and you shock it with cold temperature, it can crack. So, don't put it in the fridge, but I did. Anyway, so I placed it in the fridge, so I can handle it, and now, I'm going to be attaching a strip of copper tape in the back, so I can set it on top of my ring base. So, I have almost flipped you off. Sorry, I love to use these ring bases. I have them on my Etsy store. If you guys want them, you can check it out. I'll link it down below, but basically, it's the copper ring covered in sterling silver, and it's perfect, because the copper, we know how copper and solder, they're best friends. It just sticks to it perfectly. This is the ring that I made. It's the cutest ring ever. I wear it every day, and this is how I handle the back. As you can see, it has... So, what I do, I place a strip. You'll see right now in a minute. Okay, so the way I attach the ring, I place a strip of copper tape in the back, and then, I add solder onto it, and then, I secure a ring base on top. I'll show you how I do this right now. Now, let's work on the back of the ring. So, this is the front. It looks super cute. I love it. It's cute. It's actually better than I thought. It turned out to be a cute ring. Now, we have to think about orientation of the ring. Like, this is the ring, right? Do you want it to wear this way? Do you want to wear it this way, this way? Like, this and this way would be the same, because you can rotate it, but what if we want to wear it this way? Like, let me think. I kind of like it this way. You know, I kind of like it this way. This would be my orientation, the vertical orientation I'm choosing instead of this, okay? So, then, if that's my orientation of the flower, I don't know what to do. What do we like? I think this is better. So, since the orientation is vertical, I'm going to place my strip of copper horizontally, like that, across the shape. So, let me show you how. Why every time I film, there are crazy sounds outside. Like, it's just ridiculous. We're going to use a thicker copper tape. We're actually going to use the leftovers that we have from the one that we used when we were wrapping the shape. The way you do it, you place copper, and don't be afraid to go over the border a little bit, and even if you're going to go further here, it's fine, because you're going to cover it in solder. And then, you're going to make sure the same happens to the other side, and just tear the rest, okay? And make sure it's all snug, and any excess you want to get rid of, you can. And after you're, this is what you're going to be, end up with. So, make sure it's super snug. So, now it's snug. I like to kind of dig in here, and get into all the crevices, to make sure it's 100% snug. So, let's add some flux. Okay, I have my mask on, and we're just going to, this is where you can use third-hand tool, but I'm not using it today. I've been kind of liking tweezers lately. Anyway, I'm grabbing some of my solder. So, sometimes, here, let me show you. I don't know if you've dealt with that in the past, but let me show you. Sometimes, like, I'm trying to pick solder right now, and it won't do it, okay? You see, it's not picking it up. It's because the tip needs to be cleaned more. It probably picked up some oxidation while we were chatting. So, I'm going to go and clean it again. Sometimes, it's not enough, and you need to shock it with some wet sponge, which I don't have it here, but I rarely need to. But, let's see now. Let's see if it's going to pick it up now. And, see? It picked up solder. So, every time you have trouble, try to clean it right away. Let's just cover this whole thing in solder. Now, we created the base. We're going to attach the ring onto this. The trick that I have, I don't attach my pieces onto the base. I attach my base onto the piece. It's laying flat and beautiful, and it's much easier to work on this this way, especially because it's hot, than trying to keep this in place, and then having the hot piece being attached on top. You know what I mean? So, again, the trick is to use some flux to cover the base of the ring. And again, these things work, because this ring actually works, because the base is copper, and it's covered in silver. So, it's perfect, like it has a conduction inside of it, I guess. And now, I'm going to place this on top, like so. I'm going to hold it in my hands, because it's not going to be hot for a few seconds, but then I'll have to let it go. I'm holding it in my hands, because I wanted to angle it at the right way, because if I'm going to leave it as this, you see how it's not straight? It needs to be straight, like that, you see? So, I'm going to be really focused right now, and I'm not talking to you, because it's going to be complicated. I'm going to be placing drops of solder on at least one edge of the piece. If I'm going to put it at least in one corner, it will already secure the ring, and I'll be able to rotate it. Okay, let's do it. Let's find a center. We used flux. We used flux. Now, I'm going to pick up some solder. Wish me luck. It has to be centered. Okay. Ouch! Oh, it's getting really hot. Okay, see? I failed from the first attempt. That's okay. It happens. Let's hold it with something else. Sometimes, you get lucky, and you can just secure it right away, but sometimes you don't, and that's why you kind of have to come up with other solutions, which is like holding it with a paper towel. There you go. It's secured. You see how it's secured on one end? I'm going to be carefully rotating it. I put it in a way that, where you see how it doesn't, it's not enough of surface for me to attach the other part. Let me show you. I placed it too far from the edge. You see how it is not sitting straight? I'm going to quickly remelt it. I'll show you how. We have an opportunity to do this. It's good that it happened to me, because now you guys know that it is possible to get rid of something if you don't like it. Okay, I have my glove on, so I'm going to hold it with my glove. It's not a heat-resistant glove, but it's still better than having a towel. Okay, so we're going to place it a little bit closer to... Now, I have to melt this part off a little bit, because it's now in my way, you know? This is the hardest part of making a ring is attaching this. I'm going to grab another bead. Okay, I'm going to place my ring. Okay, now it's attached. Now, I'm going to rotate it and pour solder in here by melting it at a higher temperature and just dropping it in here. It's a little bit complicated, but you'll be able to do it. Here, it's getting too hot, so I'm going to hold it with my tweezers like so. We could use resin and attach rings using resin. I haven't done that, but this is the way I do this usually. Be careful not to put solder all over the place. Okay, here's the last gap that I closed. So, our ring is pretty much ready. It just needs to cool off a little bit, so I'll show you how it looks on me in a minute once it's chilled. So, now we're going to take care of our soldering iron and make sure it lasts for a long time. So, what I usually do is I turn off my iron completely, and then it starts to cool, and then all I have to do is just add a little bit of solder onto the tip, so it is conditioned properly. So, what I have to do is to add a little bit of solder onto the tip. Sometimes, it drips, and that's fine. You can pick it up from where it fell, and basically, this is enough. It is conditioned enough. You can just now, as long as it has a little bit of solder on it, it's fine. So, now you just have to place this back into the docking station, and you're good for the next time. So, now we made a ring, and this is how it looks. Look how cute. It's super cute. It's very anthropology, I feel like, and this will never tarnish. I have these rings on me all the time. I wash dishes in them. I wash my hands in them. I even go to the sauna wearing them or shower. They don't tarnish at all. They're great, and this looks super cute, in my opinion. This is how it looks in the back. It's pretty clean. I maybe didn't do the best job of centering it because I was filming, and when you're filming, you're a little bit stressed. So, I usually would center it a little bit better, but it still looks super cute, and it's super sturdy, and you guys can make something similar. As promised, let me show you a few of the latest pieces that I made so you can get inspired and make something similar as well. Okay, so let's look at a few pieces that I made recently. So, the first thing I want to show you is this piece made out of vintage porcelain. It's pretty cute. It has a little boat here. It's Asian, Japanese porcelain used. So, it's really cute. It has this beautiful boat detail. Then, I have this ring, which is actually, if you guys can see, the part of the same set. It's the same that we just worked with. It's a cute ring, and I like how clean the back of the ring is because I'm not putting any solder on the inside. It's super cute. Then, this is like one of the, I think it was the second or third ring I've ever made using different soldering iron. It was a struggle, oh my gosh, and I managed to put all those little rhinestones on it, and it's really rough on the inside. I used a different base. I do love this ring still. It's pretty cute, and it's natural amethyst, but you can tell it's like so much rougher than the latest designs. Okay, this was a good experiment because I used a sea glass beads, and this actually has a hole, but I covered it with solder, so you can't really see hole in the middle of the shape of this ball, this bead actually, and I like the way it turned out. It's a very cool ring. It's like, it's super burning, man. I'll put it on to show you. I feel like it could, anyone could look good in it like it's a unisex, you know, anyone can pull it off. I really like that ring, so that's something, and again, it's the base that I used that has silver. It's silver plated. It has 925 stamp. I don't know, it just looks really cool, and it's not too heavy, actually. Okay, this was my first porcelain ring that I made, and I fell in love with porcelain, as you can see. Now we're doing porcelain pieces. It's just a plate that I broke, and I soldered, and it's super cute. This is another porcelain piece that I broke. It was like a vintage plate, and there's a detail of this gentleman riding a cart, and it has also the same base, and I used to be covering the whole back with solder, as you can see. I'm not doing it anymore, as I showed you. I'm just doing the strip. The wild ring is this one. I think it's one of my favorite, too. It's definitely a statement piece. It has this detail of an oak, and I decided to add some acorns because of the oak theme, and it's very Japanese. It's Japanese porcelain, and I covered the whole back in silver, and it's very rustic and giant, and I love wearing it. Every time I wear it, people always comment. And, of course, the ring that we made together today. It's adding to my collection. As you can see, it has a little bit of solder here because I was filming and standing in an awkward position. I usually try not to get solder onto the base, but that's okay. I'm going to polish it with my sanding paper and Dremel, and this is how it looks in the back. Not too bad for me sitting in an awkward position. So, now it's another addition to my collection. Yeah, I hope this video was helpful. I hope you guys learned something new. I hope you got inspired by my crazy, wild designs. They're very Pinterest. They're definitely not for everyone. Not everyone want to wear crazy, giant rings, but I love wearing them. I sew. I do other arts, and whenever I would make myself a kimono, I try to match it with my ring, and it's just such a vibe. I saw Erykah Badu. I'll insert a photo here wearing one of the giant porcelain rings. A little bit different style, even more raw than this, and some people get it. Some people don't, but yeah, I like some giant rings, but it doesn't have to be a ring. If you want, you can make a beautiful charm. You can make earrings. I have a video on my channel. I'll insert it here how I made porcelain earrings. If you guys want to make those, you're more than welcome to watch the tutorial and learn how to make porcelain earrings. Anyway, I hope this was helpful. I'll see you in my next video, and go make something beautiful, and I'll see you next time. Bye!