My First Big Girl Torch: A Studio Story

Every jeweler has a moment they never forget. For me, it was the first time I fired up my Smith® Little Torch.

Before that, I had been using a butane torch—specifically a Blazer Big Shot. It did the trick for basic soldering and was perfect for annealing, but it had its limits. The flame wasn’t hot enough for larger pieces, and it was too big for more delicate jobs like attaching posts to dainty earrings. I needed a torch that could handle both power and precision.

So I bought a Smith® Little Torch.

Don’t let the name fool you—this thing is mighty. It runs on both propane and oxygen, and because my studio is inside my house, I was terrified to use it at first. It sat there for a full week, intimidating the hell out of me while I worked around it.

Eventually, I worked up the courage to light it.

My world (and thankfully not my studio) exploded—in the best way possible. That little torch changed everything. It gave me control, power, and the ability to work on a wider range of pieces. I guess it was my first “big girl” tool—the one that really leveled me up as a metalsmith.

Funny enough, I still use my old Blazer torch for quick annealing jobs when I don’t need to haul out the full setup. But nothing beats the precision of the Smith® when I’m in full creative mode.

If you’re a fellow maker or just curious about how things come together in the studio, this was a turning point for me—and it’s part of what makes every Divella Designs piece possible today.