soldering iron dilemma figured out
i don’ think I ever posted the ending of the iron saga.
It wasn’t staying hot, just to remind you. And the flux was popping and splattering all over the place. I purchased new flux, gel flux, and I LOVE it. it still pops a bit if I use too much, but overall i am super dooper happy with it. I think the old stuff was just old and dirty. it was about 20 yr old flux, maybe even older. i purchased it with a huge lot of glass and stuff, from a lady out in French Gulch.
Turns out I had the temp set wrong. I was setting it at F, when it was a C number. Reset the iron, and all is well. Also realized that whent he AC comes on, the iron cools down. I have a fan, as well, that blows the solder fumes away from me, and that cools the air around the iron and causes problems. I used to have the fan in front of me, with the back to me, pulling the air away, but moved it. Needless to say, I will be moving it back, lol.
I took a bit of a break to do some other art stuff, but turns out that project is a warm weather project. and the weather is no longer warm. So… back to glass. Finished another small commision, to go with the modern rose window i did a couple months ago. A lovely client purchased that and asked for another, with different colors so they could be gifts for sisters-in-law for Xmas. Today I finally photgraphed them and packaged them for airplane travel. I am sending out an email to a select few, offering my misc glass pieces for sale. Stuff that I am no longer in love with, or isn’t being hung and enjoyed, stuff that needs a new home.
ok, time to do other stuff.
love affair with stained glass 
Yeah, AC and fans really aren’t your friend when soldering. You may need to adjust your temperature to keep up with the rate of cooling the fan creates.