Lead Free Solder Heart Brooch

It all started when my old soldering iron stopped working and I decided to purchase a new one. The problem was that my soldering iron was no longer melting the solder. It was not melting the lead-free solder properly even when it was new. I did a Google search and discovered that you need a 60 W soldering iron to melt lead-free solder. My old soldering iron was only 25 W, which can only melt solder that contains lead. I did an additional search and some sources stated that you need a 70 W soldering iron to melt solder. I could not find a 70 W soldering iron in local shops so I purchased an 80 W soldering iron. When I went to the electronics shop to pick it up I was shocked because it was bigger than I thought. It looked like an average soldering iron in the photo. I was not sure if I should pick it up. I wanted to refund the soldering iron but the shop assistant said that because it was purchased with PayPal it would take many days. I thought that I urgently needed a soldering iron for the weekend project because the following week I would be working on another project. Because I did not have the money to buy another iron (the 60 W soldering iron) I decided to take the big 80 W iron. Later I changed my mind about using this 80 W iron for electronics because it did not have a stand (the shop was not selling the stand). The following week I purchased the 60 W soldering iron, which melts the lead-free solder with no problems. I decided to use the 80 W soldering iron to melt solder to make shapes from clay molds. Then I received an email from the Contemporary Art Society of Victoria. They said that this year you can submit brooches for brooch exhibition free of charge. The only problem was that the exhibition was only one month and a half away. I quickly went to the hardware shop and purchased air-drying clay. Because I did not squash the air-drying clay many times the air pockets inside caused it to crack when it was drying. I went back to the hardware shop and purchased two more 500-gram packs (you only need one pack to make two small molds). It is important to leave the clay to dry for two weeks so that it does not stick to solder as it did with my brooches. I had to use sandpaper to remove the clay from the brooches. I attached the safety pins by melting the top brooch with an 80 W soldering iron. Melting additional solder with 60 W soldering iron did not work and the safety pin would fall off. I had to melt the top of the brooch with an 80 W soldering iron to attach the safety pin properly to the brooch. When I opened the 80 W soldering iron packet I noticed that it was a small foldable stand. You can watch the one-minute video of the project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dk6AEeLojY