Hinged Box

This is one of the projects from Stage 5 of the Silver program at Jewellery Training Solutions. This is one of the projects that, when I was looking through the apprentice projects, I thought to myself, “There’s no way I can make that!” Well, I can’t say enough positive things about this program and Peter’s way of teaching. Not only did I make this, but I had a lot of fun doing it! I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve taken this apart and put it together just because it’s cool!

What were the challenges?

The biggest challenge for me in this project was soldering the tubing on to the sheet without the soldering running where it isn’t supposed to. Let’s just say I got lots of practice at cleaning up! Obviously, another challenge is getting each of the sides lined up so it all fits together.

Where could I improve?

I definitely need to improve my heat control so that the solder doesn’t flow where it’s not welcome. Some of the areas where I cleaned up are obvious. I had trouble getting some of the rivets nice and smooth, too - I had trouble finding the right tool to get into the very tight spaces to clean it up.

What did I learn?

As with every one of these projects, I learned so much. I got much more comfortable with making hinges. The way he shows us in this project is different from how I’ve done it in the past, and I like this method much better. I learned more about heat control when soldering (obviously haven’t mastered that one yet).