How to Make Soldered Pendants

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I have wanted to learn to solder for years.  I sold some handmade necklaces in the past, and had issues with the jumprings opening and the pendant falling off the chain.  The best solution I could find was soldering the rings closed, so I picked up a soldering iron and it sat in the closet for 2 years.  I made a resolution to learn the technique in 2013, and ended up with the three finished pieces you see.  This project is great to encase and keep special pictures or sentiments to wear as jewelry or to embellish scrapbook pages and artwork.

I was going to create a video, but there is already one out there that covers everything.  Here it is, straight from The Frugal Crafter.  I was lucky and happened to have the exact “third hand” jeweler’s tool that is used in the video.  I picked it up for next to nothing at one of those “As Seen on TV” stores.  You can pick it up at amazon for about $5.  So worth it, and essential for holding the pieces in place and still having a free hand for the soldering iron!  I picked up the square 1.5 in Ranger Glass slides at Michael’s.  The oval slides came in the soldering kit I purchased by Beads Landing (at Michael’s too).