Fusing - Eighth Technique Learnt This Year!

I am at number eight with my pledge (remember ?) - I took class to learn fusing silver. Again in my local bead shop Fusion Beads.
This was far the most expensive class I have done yet - not because of the tuition fees, but the cost of material. Fusing can be done only with pure silver (sterling doesn't work well, sometimes at all) so the wires I have purchased for this class totaled at almost $50! But I did learn to work with pure silver, how to handle a torch and lots of other tricks.

The easiest to start with is a simple chain and that's what was the objective of the class. I chose to make my links oval in shape and textured them with hammed (which you should be able to see on the second picture) before tumbling it. Have a look at the chain, I still need to purchase a clasp for it, but otherwise I am happy with the outcome. And I still have some wire left from the class, so when I buy a torch, I might make some more fused elements.