Why We Go Green: Part 2
Why Figs&Ginger goes green: The Sipacapa gold mine in Guatemala and ethical metalsmithing.
Posts from the ‘Eco-friendly’ Category
Sep 1
this guy knows his stuff.
i was just learning about other non-toxic flux alternatives and came across this post from someone who knows more about alcohol than anyone i will ever come across again. it seems to make sense, but i have no idea… see for yourself!
Hello Karen,
Good question, long answer. You might also want to search the Orchid
archives as this has been discussed in various forms on Orchid
before.
> … The recipe that I have seen calls for a 50/50 mix of borax with
> denatured alcohol.
I use this stuff all the time and I think you’ll find that the 50/50
thing is totally arbitrary. Use whatever ratio you like to get a
paste that suits your purposes. The alcohol is long gone before the
borax begins to melt so the ratio you mix it to has no effect on
it’s fluxing function.
> … when I ask for denatured alcohol people look at me like I’m
> nuts!
As someone else pointed out the “denatured” part of denatured alcohol
simply means that they’ve added something to it to make it poisonous,
ie. so you won’t drink it. In other words if you ask them for alcohol
(like folks have said, paint stores, pharmacy, etc) and you look at
the ingredients and it says “95% ethanol, 5% (whatever)” and the label
indicates that it’s poisonous then you’ve got denatured alcohol
whether the label says it or not.
> Is there another name it might be known by?
Yes, many. If you have access to a decent hardware store or paint
shop ask them for shellac thinner and then read the ingredients. If
it says “ethanol” or “ethyl alcohol” then you’ve got what you need.
Ethanol is the traditional thinner for shellac and works like a
charm. It’s best if the percentage of ethanol in the “thinner” is
high, say 90 or 95%. That means that it’s relatively unadulterated and
therefore likely to give better results. It also means that when you
burn it you won’t be burning additives and releasing nasty by-products
into your air supply.
> I have no problem finding isopropyl alcohol, but I think that has a
> different chemical makeup?
Absolutely! And it doesn’t work worth a tinker’s damn. You’ll find
that it makes your flux clump up into nasty balls and you’ll have an
opportunity to learn some new swear words. Go ahead and try it, it’s
not going to cost you much to find out that it isn’t what you want to
be using.
The main reason that isopropyl is so useless is that it is almost
always liberally cut with water and water makes borax clump (try
adding a little water to powdered borax and you’ll see what I mean).
FWIW, there are three main types of alcohol: ethanol, methanol and
isopropanol.
It has been suggested that wood alcohol (aka methanol) is the best
thing for your needs. Given that it is poisonous, both in liquid and
vapour form, I’d suggest you might want to think twice before you go
there. Methanol is what some people drink when they want to go blind,
induce a coma or kill themselves.
I don’t know if this helps any but ethyl alcohol is what we humans
like to drink, we call it booze. It doesn’t matter whether it’s vodka
or tequila, beer or wine or anything else: the feel-good part of the
mix is ethyl alcohol. It also happens to be great in the shop because
it’s not, in itself, poisonous and it functions almost as well as
methanol in most applications.
Isopropyl alcohol is what you doctor might use to disinfect a spot
on your skin before he gives you a needle. It’s also widely used in
industry as a degreaser and cleaner. The industrial grade is usually
around 75% pure. Pharmacy grade stuff is usually around 30% pure
and may have any number of pesky things in it including methanol and
ethylene glycol, both of which are poisonous. It also includes a lot
of water which makes it useless as a mixing agent for borax flux.
Finally, there are much more effective flux mixtures that you can
brew up at home. Pripp’s is the oft-mentioned one on Orchid. But if
you’re having trouble finding simple stuff like alcohol this approach
might be more hassle than it’s worth to you. As someone suggested you
might just be better off going to a welding shop or good hardware
store and buying a pre-mixed silver solder flux.
Cheers,
Trevor F.
in The City of Light
Apr 17
Earth Day Giveaway!
Hey folks,
You may have already heard from our twitter posts, facebook group, or feature on TreeHugger.com that we’re giving away jewelry to people who plant a tree, take a picture or photo, and send it to us. You can e-mail it to Earthday (@) FigsandGinger.com, twitpic it @FigsandGinger, or upload a picture/video to your blog, youtube, or vimeo account.
-
- The first 50 people get these limited edition necklaces along with studs or a tie tack!
The first 50 pictures that come in get a free necklace and either stud earrings or a tie tack. After that we’re giving away up to 300 pairs of studs/tie tacks. The point here is to get as many trees planted as possible. We’re just trying to incentivise it a little bit, so don’t be bashful about reposting this, tweeting about it, or feel free to join the facebook group. It’s called Plant a Tree & Get Free Jewelry From Figs & Ginger. Some people have already started sending pictures in! We’re excited.
Here’s a link with all the information you’ll need.
Mar 24
Is My Scooter Obsolete?
With car's MPG's raising and cost lowering are scooters a thing of the past?
Mar 20
New Designs & Custom Work…
Hey there! So Stephanies first week went great. We are almost on schedule with our shipments (hooray!) and I think we may even get ahead of schedule by the end of the month!
Today I (rhonda) am working on some designs for Farm Sanctuary. We aren’t sure if we’ll be able to work with them for sure yet, but we’ll be sending them some designs soon. I think, if all goes well, we would be making pins and maybe necklaces for them based on their logos. Here is a rough metal-sketch of what i have so far:
i really love the cow and chicken
I have also done a couple custom pieces. Here is a gold cockatiel:
14K yellow Gold Custom Piece
And here is a Circle Lovebird Necklace with a heart soldered at the top.
Custom order: Added a heart to the circle
Although we are still behind, the mere idea of having a studio manager has helped me relax a little and do a bit of fiddling at my bench here:
At our River Arts studio in the Phil Mechanic Studios
This is what I’ve come up with today. These are shapes I was making/selling about 4 years ago but eventually stopped. I’m revisiting them now for our wedding line. I think they will be super sweet and a little less narrative than my normal work. This is also a metal-sketch…
I think I'll call them "Leaflings"
Elijah is leaving for a week but he’ll be posting from the road. He’ll be recording some music up in MA. I’ll miss him! Have a great weekend!
Mar 4
