New experiments - new beginnings

I'm still on holidays until end of this week, so after having spent a LOT of money buying silver wire today, I've decided to try out a few new things which I long wanted but never got a chance to.
I can now tick off the not-yet-done list the following:
- making round headpins
- soldering
- oxidizing

Ok, oxidizing I've done before but today is the first time I've actually liked the result. Will post tomorrow pictures of the earrings I've made today and oxidized as there's no longer day light to take good pics.

Making round headpins - yes, finally I took out my little handtorch, the flux and pickle and made a few headpins. Made only about 8 or so, and the results are not yet perfect, but I see from piece to piece that the blobs at the ends are getting round and centered. Now this openes a bunch of new possibilities for me in wrapping tiny beads, as I hate making loops at the end of the beads, it looks so unprofessional.

Soldering - my first stand-alone attempt (I went to a few silversmithing classes a while ago, but I didn't get much out of it, so I've left the course in the middle of it). As I had the soldering stuff out already to make the headpins, I've decided to try my hands at soldering. Cut a tiny piece of solder (which I still have from the above mentioned class) and went ahead and made this little triangle. Well ok, it's not the best piece ever, but hey, it stays in place *grins*, and I know I'll get better and better at it, now that my fear (?) of soldering is gone. I have plenty of silver wire scraps to practice on.

So all on all a good beginning of the week.