[Jewelry making - Article 00072] - [Orchid] Puzzling Wire Behavior

[gemznbeadz]

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    I am soldering 18 gauge half-round sterling wire to the edge of a
    bracelet that I'm making out of sterling sheet, and the wire is
    behaving in a very odd way. 

    The idea was to tack a part of the wire down along the edge at a
    particular point in the design and then use the long edge to
    smoothly pull the wire into position along the next edge to be
    soldered. 

    What's happening is, while soldering the wire, the part that isn't
    being soldered - the long piece that will be used to pull the wire
    around the edge - is shattering.  It's not slumping or melting, it's
    suddenly breaking into two or more pieces about two inches from the
    part that is being soldered.  (I'm using medium solder.) 

    As a result, it's taking me about twenty times longer to do this
    than I had envisioned.  Does anybody have any ideas why the wire is
    shattering and what I can do to prevent it from happening? 

Thanks in advance.
Linda


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