The ones in a bag are the Turquoise. I don’t have any more of the silver ones.
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Thank you. I was spoiled living in AZ and having access to nice materials.
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Here are some close photos of the beads showing solder areas and holes. The necklace is strung pretty tight.
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Thank you, Fernwood. The halves definitely look die punched.
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Thank you. The soldering is messy. Some of the beads have small gaps between the sides.
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Looks like paste solder was used, probably #56 from the color. Things can move around a bit when the flux bubbles up during heating to melting temp.
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@mmrogers So, this prompts a question. I’ve seen some beads like this in necklaces that are set askew, the halves are not aligned. Is this an outcome of what you described in your comment about soldering? Thanks for your help!
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Hi Patina. Misalignment can occur mechanically (things just get put together a bit crooked) or can occur during the soldering process. As the pieces heat up to the boiling point of the water or oily binders in the flux, bubbling can occur and this can physically move pieces around. Also, flux gets slippery when it gets close to the melting temp of the solder, and the pieces being soldered can slip around a bit within the molten flux. This is why you almost always see a silversmith working with a torch in one hand and a long solder pic in the other. The solder pic is used to keep parts in alignment, and wrangle them back into alignment when they start slipping around at 1,200 degrees.
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Hi @mmrogers ~ Thanks so much for taking time to explain this process. I appreciate your clear and concise explanation. It helped me to understand how beads can sometimes end up misaligned. I had no idea such high temps are invloved in jewelry making! I also learned new words like flux & solder picks. Learning is a good thing.
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uh…be careful how you pronounce the new vocabulary 
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