These 3 Lessons are why you are here; Learning the actual FUSING.

Fusing is scary at first. It IS controlled melting. It is very important to your learning to do the test fusing, and then going back and taking it all the way to full melt! If you do this very early, you can use this test glob of Argentium to make the rest of your silver dust.

If you are really unsure if the dust is really fused, let it cool, and take it to a clean sheet of paper and see if you can scrape any of the dust off. Use a solder pick or exacto to give a bit of a scrape. If more than a granule or 3 lets loose, you have not heated it enough, but can easily go back and reheat it to fusing. If you pickle an unfused piece, you will dissolve off your flux, which is the only thing holding on your dust, and you will lose your dust in the pickle and will be unable to salvage the dust.