Hey folks!
Thanks for answering questions, De! I appreciate it!
Sorry to have been MIA this evening. My daughter is here visiting for just a few more days. I guess I've been trying to spend as much time with her as possible...
The kits are $20, plus $7 parcel post shipping. I had listed them here in the classifieds and sold one, but it didn't add the shipping on...I'm not sure how to fix it. I have enough tiles to make up 5 more kits and then I'll need to buy more supplies, but I'll order them tomorrow. If you'd like to PM me with your email address, I'll be happy to send you an invoice. Pat, I'll send your invoice out this evening and will have it ready to ship tomorrow.
As far as soldering irons go, I've used stained glass irons, with a narrow tip. Most come with wide tips, so unless you swap the tip out, or have it on a rheostat, it might be a bit of overkill in terms of heat. I think you could use just about any iron with a narrow tip (1/16" -3/16") as long as it will go to 850-900 degrees F. Most all of them will, I think. If you are planning on doing a lot of soldering, you can opt for a more expensive iron, but a good basic iron that's not too expensive($18-19) is the 40 watt Weller iron that I mention in the tutorial, shown here:
40 Watt Weller Kit I used it successfully at Glass Stock along with a stained glass iron that my dad loaned me for birds and mice. Kay used it to complete her mouse when testing the tutorial and she said it worked just fine.
I need to pick up another inexpensive iron(not the cold one...I'm skeptical about it) and give it a test run. I won't get to Harbor Freight until Monday, but will pick up an cheap iron and post my results. I don't have a lot of experience with too many other other soldering irons. My regular wirework iron is an older Weller electronic soldering station that is sadly out of production. I'd give my eye teeth for parts for it, but have been unsuccessful at finding any anywhere...
Anyhow, I hope that answers a question or two...let me know if you have any others...