Tree earrings - work in progress

To quote one of my favourite books: "attention span of a teabag". From what I read and hear, many creative people share that problem. I was supposed to finish one necklace, and come back to work on a pendant, so of course I decided I just need to solder something, because it was sooo long since I've done anything using that technique...

Here it is just after I've finished all soldering. It was, quite possibly, still hot when I took  that picture.
I don't have that much experience with soldering yet, but work on this one went surprisingly easy. Sure, I've spent ridiculous amount of time on it, but I had to re-soldered joints in only to places. Actually, the most difficult part was probably soldering on that jump ring.

And this is how it looked just after I removed it from pickle - a lot of solder overspill. I wonder if I will ever manage to solder something nice and neatly, without those huge swatches to file or polish off. It comes with the practice, I suppose.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what is in that little plastic container - it's my solder paste. And yes, it does come in syringes, and it is supposed to stay there. And it usually does - until, that is, someone forgets to clean the needle after using it, and leaves it for several months... and then that someone tries to squeeze a little bit out and... creates a solder volcano, with the whole needle being launched into the ceiling, and syringe contents spilling all over the place. I was a bit worried it may not work as well as it did before all that happened... but it works equally well as that part that actually stayed in the syringe. I'm just glad I tend to collect different containers "just in case" and I had something to put that solder in ;)

It varies from the project, but most of my finished pieces do. I didn't feel like adding another tiny pieces, and I like the way it looks now.

And here it's after partial sanding to remove the excess solder. When I have both earrings soldered, I will probably copper-plate the solder that's left over.

I also plan to oxidise those earrings and then polish to create highlights.
And now I should go to work on the other one - which, at this time, is just hammered copper circle, and not even soldered one ;)

I hope I will finish it today, so I can finish that necklace...
And did I mentioned I'm really happy with how it turned out? ;)

Till the next time!
Kasia