Melting things

Saturday was a perfectly boring day at work.

It was also rainy, so I didn't feel like taking a ride somewhere afterward.

I stayed home and tried out my new torch.



I've used this little roll-top desk in the patio for soldering.

(This desk belonged to my uncle Ramon and it is oak but not antique.

He bought it in 1990. The receipt is still in the drawer.)



I have some left-over patio tiles covering the surface of the table.

Also the patio is very well ventilated.




(My betta fish that I briefly had at the office is my muse on the shelf:)

I was happy to see that the torch had a very small and concentrated flame.

It did not set fire to anything, like the desk itself.

Also, the amount of butane in the handle was enough for ALL the things I wanted to try.

I didn't run it continuously, but I used it for a good hour and a half.

This was good, because you can't refill it until it is very well cooled off.




Nothing came out right, but I learned things.



The first thing I tried was dripping melted solder into the molds, (again)

It melted faster, but hotter than using a soldering iron.

The silicone is only good up to 400 degrees, so it began to smoke a little.


I don't know why, but I'm determined to make these candy molds work!





Next I tried to see if the torch was hot enough to melt glass.

I got a thin piece of sea glass (vase filler) and heated it.



It did not change color, but the surface got shiny.

I was able to make marks on the surface with a tweezer.

This took a LOT of heat for very little result.





I decided one ceramic tile wasn't protecting the table enough from the heat.

I put a second tile on top but it had a shiny surface...





Next I got a small bead, (not the smallest size but the next size up) About 2 mm.


This did glow orange right away, like I imagined glass would do.

The hole disappeared.

The heated bead is on the left. It was red, and turned brown.




I heated it up again and mashed it flat with a tweezer.

It is now permanently stuck to the ceramic tile...






Next, I tried using solder with the copper tape.

I learned a few things after much failure.

The torch is not as good as a soldering iron because it gets too hot.

Also the glass surfaces have to be extremely clean or else the tape won't stick.



The copper tape is for best for making mosaics.

It should wrap around the edges of thin sheets of glass, which I did not do.



The glass heart is also now permanently stuck to the tile.

It seems that glass blends with the glaze on the tile.

I noticed the people in the tutorials use a white, porous brick-like block to torch upon.




Next I used the solder to successfully solder a loop to the back of an old penny.

It's like a figure 8 wire, it looked crude but it stuck very well.



Before I started, I looked up to see if coins can be melted with a torch.

I learned I should only use pennies made before 1982, because after that they used zinc instead of copper, and it is extremely toxic when you heat it up.




Another thing I tried was a jewelry idea I got from a picture I saw.

I had to guess how they were made, because I didn't see the tutorial.


The idea was that the solder would span the gap between the wires.

Instead the solder balled up, which was even cooler!



But then it stuck to the ceramic tile.

This blob effect is something that I will investigate further.




Another thing I noticed is that a lot of people use a "third hand."

This is like a stand with little lobster claws to hold up a project.

It would help to use this instead of aiming the torch down onto the table top.




At the end of the day I had to melt an army man, too.

It didn't make anything but it bubbled and smoked and caught fire.


It was toxic and therapeutic at the same time.