I heart Sally Jean! Back in January, mom and I signed up for Sally Jean Alexander’s Soldering for Virgins class. I am telling you, it was ALL that I hoped for and more! Dusty Rose didn’t make it, which made me extremely sad for a day or so, but I got over myself and showed up to have a fun playdate with my friend DEBBIE!
We arrived late at the Best Western and Sally Jean was already sharing her precious humor with all. Then, she told us that we would have 15 minutes to do our artwork. Let me tell you…I started to sweat bullets and my anxiety went to stratospheric levels. I couldn’t believe it. ONLY 15 minutes??? I started talking to myself…Okay, Okay, you can do this. You CAN do this. Breathe, breathe. Sherry, the lady sitting next to me, said, “I used to feel like that, but then you just learn not to think and just do it” as she grabbed a sheet of various Twilight images.
‘I can do this, I can do this,’ I chant as my body riddles with energy. I glance over at Debbie and she looks like she came prepared with a box of baubles and other items that I don’t have because I’m forever a strategic and I don’t like to read instructions. I only read the one email Debbie forwarded to me that told me where to go this morning.
I only brought three of mom’s magazines – and only because my intuition told me to – at the last minute. Good thing since I didn’t have anything to put inside of the little charms we were making for our bracelets.
Around that time, Sally Jean comes over to our table and she says, “Oh, you are cutting up your Somersets! Good for you!” Instantly, I’m aware that cutting up these magazines is probably something my mother would never do. I didn’t think of that. I quip, “These are my mother’s, I have no attachment!” The truth is that I am instantly keenly aware that I have no attachment to the magazines, but I do have attachment to upsetting my mother. I tell myself I can always order a new one to replace the issues that now have prominent holes on various pages. Release any guilt and remind myself that I MUST stay on task – I only have 5 MINUTES LEFT.
Fortunately, the magazine I picked up had a bunch of whimsical queens and I decided I would make a Queen of Dreams bracelet for myself.
The rest of the day, I came to adore Sally Jean’s humor even more. I could see how much she cared about us little virgins. We were all beginners in this class – it didn’t matter if you were the Queen of Sheba, in soldering world you were a NOVICE, BeGinNer, NEWbie. Still, there was value in seeing how an expert does something. Yes, we will all have our own way of soldering. My way, it seems, is to do it without flux as I kept forgetting to flux! “Flux is your friend,” said Sally Jean. As I watched the solder fry to a french fry brown on the copper backing without it, I repeated, “Flux is my friend.”
I thought it was so funny how my achiever mindset kicked in to ‘get mine done.’ I wanted to finish it. In nearly every craft or art project I’ve ever done, I’ve enjoyed doing something I could finish quickly and permanently. A month ago, I talked to our accountant, she said the same thing. I don’t like to start unless I know I can finish. I told her I understood, even said, “I’m like that.” But that wasn’t really the truth. The truth is that I know sometimes I’m not in the mood to be crafty for a very long time, and if I don’t finish, I may not ever finish. Somehow not finishing bothers me. I will finish, I vow to myself.
The vibes in that workshop got so twirked up that I felt like I could chisel diamonds. The ladies were frustrated because theirs weren’t super smooth like Sally Jean’s. Now, I am the FIRST to say I totally LOVE Sally Jean’s impressive style of silky smooth solder, but come on… we are lovely beginner virgins here! Let’s cut ourselves a break and admire our creations. That’s what I did. I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect, but I have to say, I’m proud of mine.
Sally Jean’s class was worth so much more than it cost. All the tips and tricks – at least five years of learning the ‘hard way’ as she put it – allowed me to really feel like, “I can do this!” And I did!
P.S. Sally’s book is so much fun… even if you don’t solder!
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Hello
I would like to give this workshop to my wife as a present. We are going to the portland area, could you give me the workshop location.
Thanks Joe