Soldered Art Happiness

I've been dabbling in soldered art.... I actually took the Joggles class online, but only got to complete one lesson so far. However, I did make 4 soldered charms on commission and sold them. Just goes to show that if you wear the things you make, others want them! I've got 2 slide charms done, plus the photo charm I wear of my family.... and one of my girlfriends' daughter, which will be a birthday present. (NO PEEKING, JEN!)
    Anyway, there are a few books I've gotten for inspiration that I thought I'd mention. The first is Sally Jeans'  Pretty Little Things. (There are two links here, one to her site, and another to Amazon to see the book. )She's like the Martha Stewart of soldered goodies. All of her work has a consistent look and feel.... like her affinity for robin's egg blue. The book is eye candy, and there really are some great aspects- like her basic collage techniques to get you started, so that you HAVE something to solder. And by the time you get to the soldered crown....well, if you are like me, you'll be fairly faint.
    The second book is just a good, but very different projects are offered. Simple Soldered Art Jewelry is a offers projects that are a little more "folk-y" and unrefined. In some respects, this is really more of my aesthetic- not so fussy and precious. Like the Sally Jean book, pendants, boxes, home decor, and object de'art are illustrated. This one, though, gives you some other ideas for soldering things like mica and sandwiching your favorite fabric in glass....or working up a glass pebble into earrings or a ring. Lots of ideas to keeping me busy.
    I did discover that you CANNOT solder faux-dichro pieces.... the heat causes the topcoat to bubble and cloud up. This was quite a disappointment, as I thought I'd found another way to mount some of the pieces I'd made into jewelry. Alas, I must keep looking. However, I am posting some of the 'raw' pieces, as well as the wire-wrapped ones, in the Miscellaneous photo album. Anyone else doing faux-dichro??