Safer Studio - Borax Flux

I've been using commercial paste flux for years because it was what I learned to use in college. While the flux I had been using wasn't particularly dangerous, It seemed to aggravate my lungs, and I was concerned about long-term exposure so I decided to look for a safer substitute. I have been using Firescoff flux occasionally for a while, but it is fairly expensive so I like to save it for soldering operations that tend to cause the most firescale, like soldering pin findings onto the back of a brooch.
I read that plain borax has been used as a flux historically, so I decided to give it a try. I started by mixing borax powder (the laundry kind) with water to make a paste, but the grains were too big, making a gritty mixture that was hard to apply to the metal. After some experimentation, I figured out that the trick is to use a mortar and pestle to grind up the borax and water to make a finer, more "paintable" paste.
You can also use denatured alcohol instead of water, which has the advantage of burning off quickly when the torch is applied, instead of boiling off like water does. Denatured alcohol is kind of nasty stuff though, so I decided to try water first.
So how does it work? Well, not as well as good old trusty handy flux, but well enough. It doesn't stick to the metal the way paste flux does, so it helps to get the metal nice and clean first so the borax and water mixture doesn't bead up on the metal surface. The borax also kind of puffs up when heated, before it melts down to a clear coating. It takes a little getting used to. I think I will keep working with it for a little while and see how it goes.

Safer Studio - Citric Acid Pickle

As my next step in making my studio a healthier place, I replaced my Sparex pickle solution with citric acid. I have to say I'm extremely pleased with how well it works. This is one of those things I can't believe I didn't know about before. I got a great big five pound jar of citric acid powder for about twenty bucks. I've heard that you can get it at the grocery store because people use it for canning fruits, but I couldn't find any here so I ordered it from Amazon.

To use citric acid for pickle, you just mix one part powder to ten parts water and keep it warm in a little crock pot. I've also read that you can use it cold if you mix a stronger solution (1:3) but I haven't tried it. The hot solution works really well. It seems to work almost as well as Sparex- well enough that it won't really slow me down at all. I can already tell that the fumes from the citric acid pickle aren't as irritating to my lungs.

Of course citric acid is still acid, so a certain amount of care is still in order. Remember to "do what you aughta, add acid to wata," and neutralize with baking soda. Don't drink it or put it in your eyes or anything like that.

Overall I'm very happy with the results, and I would definitely recommend citric acid to anybody looking for a safer alternative to commercial pickle chemicals.

Safer Studio: Ventilation

Now that we have a baby in the house I've decided to make some changes in the way I do things in the studio to keep everybody safe and healthy. I already posted about my new electrolytic copper etching method, which allowed me to still make etched pieces during my pregnancy. Now that the baby is here, I'm continuing to revamp my studio.
One of the main things I had to do before I could solder or enamel was to arrange some better ventilation for my studio. My studio is in a pantry, so it's a very small space, but It was already outfitted with a window and a vent fan in the ceiling. What I still needed was some ventilation at the bench level so I wouldn't be breathing in soldering and kiln fumes before they were removed from the space.
My uncle rigged up a nice little ventilation fan for me by building a box around a bathroom vent fan, and hooking it up to a switch and power cord so I can plug it into a regular outlet and switch it on and off. I set it right next to my soldering station so it will remove the fumes as close to the source as possible. I was very fortunate in that a previous tenant had a washer and dryer in the room, so there was a dryer exhaust hole already in the wall. I just got some dryer vent hose stuff to attach the fan to the opening.
I should probably add that I should have done all this a long time ago. It shouldn't take a baby to make me finally care about my health and safety!
Coming soon: safer flux and pickle alternatives!

Electrolytic Copper Etching

As part one of my mission to make my studio practice healthier for me and any future babies, I decided to give electrolytic copper etching a try. It turns out it's so easy to do I am surprised more people haven't tried it. I downloaded an article from Art Jewelry about how to do it, but you can also find lots of good information floating around the internet.
Basically, all you need to do is hook up a D battery to two pieces of copper suspended in a saltwater bath. One is the piece you are etching, the other can be any piece of scrap copper. The current draws copper from the etching piece to the scrap copper. You can use the same kinds of resists you would use for acid etching, but you don't need the etching chemicals. Neat huh?
Here's what you need:

• D battery
• D battery holder
• Alligator clips
• Heavy copper wire (14g. is good)
• Copper to be etched
• Scrap copper
• Pure salt (kosher or canning and pickling salt)
• Plastic or glass container
• Resist (pnp film, stop-out varnish, asphaltum, etc)
  

To get set up, you need to attach your alligator clips to the lead wires on your battery holder. My friend Paul helped me out (thanks Paul!) because even though I know all about silver soldering I know nothing about soldering electrical components. Then you make a saturated salt solution by dissolving as much salt as you possibly can in water.

To get your metal ready, you need to get the piece you will be etching really nice and clean by scouring it with a scrub pad or heating and pickling it, then draw your design on with whatever resist you are using. I was surprised when I first started experimenting with this technique to find that the salt water is just as hard on the resist as the ferric chloride was. Permanent marker didn't work at all, and the sharpie paint pen I used to use for beads works ok but doesn't last long enough to get a good deep etch, so I am back to using the stop-out varnish (check out my acid etching tutorial for more info on different resists) The scrap copper just needs to be cleaned off with a scrub pad or brass brush to remove any residue, then it's ready to go.

Once your metals are ready, fill a plastic or glass container with the salt solution, then attach your two pieces of copper to copper wires and hang them from the sides of the container so they are submerged in the solution. Attach the positive alligator clip to the piece you want to etch and the negative clip to the scrap copper. You will immediately see little bubbles rising from the scrap copper, and within minutes the water will start to get cloudy and reddish brown with copper (Note: Don't pour this water down the drain! collect it and talk to your local waste management people about how to dispose of it. It's not hazardous to handle but it's not good to put copper into the water supply!)

It takes about an hour or more to get a really nice deep etch. Depending on what effect you are looking for, you can get a visible etch in about a half hour. I need to do some more experimentation, but my first piece has a visible etch so I consider it a success.

Overall I am very pleased with this project. It was easy to do and safe, without the mess of ferric chloride and it cost about seven dollars for all the supplies to get started. I am planning on doing a lot more copper etching with this technique, so I should have lots of new etched copper jewelry and beads coming soon!