Rolling mill help!

[Homa]

Hi,
I have problem making leaf using rolling mill can anyone please help me!!

I put a leaf and silver sheet 0.3 and roll but does not work :(

Thanks

[LittleGem]

Hi Homa,

How many times did you anneal the sheet beforehand?

[Homa]

just once!

[LittleGem]

You need to anneal it 3 times in order for it to be soft enough to take the leaf impression. Hope this helps!

[mizgeorge]

I don't really agree. It will take an impression just fine annealed once - the extra times simply raise a layer of fine silver to the surface, which can improve the depth of the impression, but isn't critical.

The most important thing is having the right leaf - skeleton leaves (from craft supply places) work the best. If you want to use a 'real' leaf, you need to make sure it's really, really, really dry - ask those of us with leaf mush stuck in our rollers how we know that!!

It works best to sandwich the leaf between two pieces of metal (either both silver or one silver and the other copper or gilding metal). If you aren't using two pieces, use a piece of paper over the leaf.

[andrew_berry]

MizzGeorge, I wouldn't use another piece of metal to sandwich the leaf. This will lead to an imprint being only half imprinted, both in the top and bottom pieces of metal.

As the leaf is very soft, I would simply roll it through with the silver to get tyhe best imprint. Also, make sure the rolling mill rollers are set to the same thickness as the silver or very slightly thinner as you only get one chance at rolling the leaf.

I hope this helps

Andrew

[mizgeorge]

Andrew, I bow to your experience, but I've been successfully passing sandwiches of metal with skeleton leaves (of the bought in variety, which are extremely tough) for some years, and have yet to have a bad imprint. I wouldn't try it with a 'real' leaf, however.

[caroleallen]

I'm with George on this one. A skeleton leaf is definitely the best option.

[Dennis]

Following a challenge from Andrew Berry, I thought it best to apply the old American motto, and put the methods to the test. Using copper for economy, I annealed the pieces to be imprinted, but left the counter pieces hard. The artificial leaves were from Creative Crafts, Wembley. I tried to use a pressure that was similar for all three experiments, and inserted the samples sideways, so that any serious distortion of the pattern would show more easily.

Pictured Results:
Top Left. Metal and leaf only. Leaf had direct contact with rollers.
Bottom. A sandwich of annealed copper, the leaf, and hard copper.
Top Right. A club sandwich of hard copper annealed copper, the leaf and hard copper.

Conclusion:
No discernible difference in the imprinting, but in the club sandwich (one of my hobby horses)the printed metal was almost perfectly flat, whereas the others were curved from rolling. Dennis.

[mizgeorge]

Thank you Dennis! I'm now going to try adding those extra ingredients to my sandwiches - that flatness is very appealing.

[Dennis]

Oh and I forgot the Branston. D.

[andrew_berry]

I annealed the pieces to be imprinted, but left the counter pieces hard.

You are right Dennis, if one of the pieces is not annealed then it will not receive an imprint of the leaf (skeleton) as readilly as the annealed piece.

Andrew

[Dennis]

Thank you Andrew, you are still a highly valued member, and you got me off my backside to do the experiment. I hope you'll join us more often. Regards, Dennis.