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Had a great Making Your Own Findings Class! Wow, all the ladies really knew their stuff and really benefited instantly from the simple tricks and skills to make their lives easier, making faster, funner (is that a word?), and more creative using their own findings instead of buy store bought things or waiting for the mail for something they can make themselves in minutes. It was a great class.

I attached some photos of my torch setup. There is a lot of arguments about using propane and I cannot disagree with the arguments. That being said I love to use propane. I am going to buy a smaller propane tank. This is a 10lb tank and I should have just a 5lb tank. Besides the regulators I have a ‘Y’ Splitter attached to the tanks so two torches can be used and you are not switching them out. There are also flash back arrestors on my hose lines. This is new the the industry standards. Talking with my Airgas person they don’t think this step is necessary because your tanks are under pressure the flame will always blow out of the hose or hole in the hose and jewelry hoses hold very little pressure. I kinda thought ‘Why not have one more safety meausure?’  The danger with propane is that it is heavier than air. It will sink to the bottom of the room in a pool and can explode if ignited. Well, I check my tanks regularly with leak test. I ventilate my room steady. I keep a carbon monoxide tester near the floor by the tanks which will go off if there is a leak. I empty my hoses and turn off the tanks when not in use. If I were really smart I would take my propane tank out into the garage when I was finished using it. Which maybe I will start to do.

The torches I love too. They are The Little Smith torch and the Versa torch both by Smith. Love them both. I used the little torch for about 5 years alone and now love the versa torch and use both of them daily.

Other pics are of a flower in my garden – my son took the picture. Nice color. The flower almost looks fake it’s so bright. The mermaid – poor gal broke her tail off. I ordered this mermaid from an Etsy seller. She is cast iron and was packaged very well with bubble wrap and in a big box. She was broken anyway!!!! What do they do? Do they drive over the mail? Was she at the bottom of a truck full of refrigerators stacked on top of her? Well, the etsy seller “Beautiful Details” out of North Carolina is replacing her. A thank you to them for their excellent customer service: www.beautifuldetailswed.etsy.com  “Thanks Carol.”

Next Class is Sept 22, 23,24 at Peninsula School of Art      Making detailed chain

Will have a PMC class at Rocks of Ages Jewelry and Beads in Luxemburg this fall (Nov – ish) It will be 2 days.

Hope summer is going great for everyone. Gotta go make stuff now……..