adularescence
Things that are obvious in hindsight:
- Aluminum really doesn't want to be soldered. Really not.
- If you want high polish, 600 grit isn't quite high enough; that's what tripoli is for. (I've said "My kingdom for a $shop_tool" about twelve times today, but I'll say it again: my kingdom for a flex shaft. I have NOT had to say "my kingdom for a torch". *firm*)
- Soldering small parts will also quite effectively anneal them. (Not fatal, just entertaining.)
- Pickle, the whole point of which is to remove oxides, will remove LoS-treated areas. Also, if one isn't careful, fingerprints.
I finished the first piece. I wanted it done badly enough to forgo redoing the oxidized bits on the modded component. It's done now, curled quietly. When it was out its stones shimmered occasionally in the sun: pale shell-like moonstone.
I think I need to start the poetry series next. Thoughts on that...
-"The Artist of the Beautiful"
-Something from Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada
-"Wild Geese"
-Jarchas
-The Rubáiyát
-"La biblioteca de Babel"
-The summer garden from "The Snow Queen"
-Ariel's elegy from The Tempest
-That mystery fragment I keep wanting to think is by Sappho, but probably isn't? ("kisses that tether our mouths / in a mesh of raw veins")
los besos que nos atan a las bocas / en una maza de venas abiertas? if the sole Google hit is right about it being García Lorca, which I doubt...
Between this and my other project queue, I should probably just give in now. Wouldn't be the first time that my resolve changed.
- Aluminum really doesn't want to be soldered. Really not.
- If you want high polish, 600 grit isn't quite high enough; that's what tripoli is for. (I've said "My kingdom for a $shop_tool" about twelve times today, but I'll say it again: my kingdom for a flex shaft. I have NOT had to say "my kingdom for a torch". *firm*)
- Soldering small parts will also quite effectively anneal them. (Not fatal, just entertaining.)
- Pickle, the whole point of which is to remove oxides, will remove LoS-treated areas. Also, if one isn't careful, fingerprints.
I finished the first piece. I wanted it done badly enough to forgo redoing the oxidized bits on the modded component. It's done now, curled quietly. When it was out its stones shimmered occasionally in the sun: pale shell-like moonstone.
I think I need to start the poetry series next. Thoughts on that...
-"The Artist of the Beautiful"
-Something from Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada
-"Wild Geese"
-Jarchas
-The Rubáiyát
-"La biblioteca de Babel"
-The summer garden from "The Snow Queen"
-Ariel's elegy from The Tempest
-That mystery fragment I keep wanting to think is by Sappho, but probably isn't? ("kisses that tether our mouths / in a mesh of raw veins")
los besos que nos atan a las bocas / en una maza de venas abiertas? if the sole Google hit is right about it being García Lorca, which I doubt...
Between this and my other project queue, I should probably just give in now. Wouldn't be the first time that my resolve changed.