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Sandra
07-11-2013, 03:45 PM
A few years ago I was on holiday up in Shetland and found jewellery I really loved. A bit later I decided to purchase a piece and discovered unfortunately this jewellery maker had stopped making jewellery. Since I am so new at jewellery making I'm till trying to form my own style and looking at others for inspiration! I found an old picture in my email of the piece I had wanted to buy and now trying to decide what techniques might have been used to make it. It's hard to tell by the picture but the piece had a very un-smooth surface, almost a bit rippled if I remember right. Does this look like it may have been fused?

5341

Wallace
07-11-2013, 04:12 PM
almost hard for me to tell (must sort out some new glasses!). Rippled effect could mean it has been reticulated... heated to the point where the silver comes to the surface without balling up. Reticulation needs repeating of melting to bring the silver up pickling and re-melting. Essentially you are bringing most of the silver to the top over a period of time.

Looking at it, I cannot tell if it is fused, someone else might though. I would imagine, it would be difficult, but could be added at that last time. But the added silver looks quite formed and not dipped. So it could have been sweat soldered as an alternative possibility, or paste soldered.

a great bit of info courtesy of Ganoskin (http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/ajm-reticulation.htm)on reticulation

Truffle & Podge
07-11-2013, 04:24 PM
I would guess at reticulation then piercing then sweat soldering the small wires and shot, i am very probably wrong though lol x

Dennis
07-11-2013, 05:13 PM
I agree with Wallace and Tasha, that you are looking at reticulation. That is heating, pickling and rising repeatedly, four or five times, until the surface is covered with fine silver. This part is called depletion gilding. Now when you heat the surface it will begin to shimmer, while the metal underneath actually melts. Remove the torch and on cooling the surface will wrinkle. This is the reticulation.

The holes were probably made first and have become distorted during the process. The thin wires and jump rings either fused on during heating, or were helped by addition of a little solder.

Unfortunately you really have to use silver for this, some sheet about 0.8mm thick and wires about 0.6mm in diameter. However there is no reason why you might not get something you like at the first attempt. To finish it, just brush with a wet and soapy brass brush and burnish the edges with any smooth steel tool. Dennis.

Sandra
07-11-2013, 05:49 PM
Thanks all, that's interesting reading about reticulation. I discovered I have a fused pendant project in a jewellery making book (Getting Started Making Metal Jewellery). The picture also looks like it has a textured surface but all they do is heat it once till it melts? They just use sterling silver too. I'd like to practice with a small piece and see what happens....? Though I'm interested to try the reticulation too when I can afford some fine silver.

lorraineflee
07-11-2013, 06:39 PM
Reticulation is done with sterling silver so you could have a go!

caroleallen
07-11-2013, 06:45 PM
The advice given is good. I've made similar things in the past. I didn't use any solder, just fused it all together and then reticulated. You can't really control the process though so each one will be different.

Sandra
08-11-2013, 04:49 PM
Ok I've been experimenting on some scraps of silver. (It was just sterling silver because I didnt want to practice using fine silver) The pieces fused together pretty nicely and quickly. I then tried heating and pickling a few times. It was going well and looking quite interesting until I burned a hole in the middle it ! I am unsure as to how you know when you've heated and pickled enough? Obviously I let it get a bit too hot too soon.. I am finding various articles and videos about it but not sure what to look for to know the reticulation process is complete!

Thanks,
Sandra

Dennis
08-11-2013, 08:45 PM
Sandra, you have misread the advice and several people have tried to put you right:

Reticulation is done with Sterling silver. The results are partly accidental and difficult to control.

So getting a hole is all part of the experience.

Each piece will be different and you stop when you like the look of it. Dennis

Sandra
08-11-2013, 09:09 PM
I guess I am mixing fusing and reticulation instructions since I am wanting to do both together on the same piece. I had read fusing should be done with fine silver but it seemed to work out just fine with sterling silver. I also did read today reticulation needs to be done with sterling. The reticulation process is the part I'm unsure about but plan on more experiments this weekend.

ps_bond
08-11-2013, 09:11 PM
Fusing works fine with sterling, you just have to be aware of the probability of firestain.

Sandra
10-11-2013, 10:58 PM
Well 2nd attempt at doing a piece with fusing and reticulation. This time I used a piece of 1 mm thick sterling. I did the process of heating and pickling 4 times until the silver was white after pickling. When it was ready for reticulation I added the pieces I wanted to fuse. I heated the piece, the pieces fused, but except for a bit of melting around the corners and burning a small hole the piece never textured. The strange part is the reverse side does have a nice texture. I don't understand what went wrong? I'm wondering if 1mm was too thick? After the first reticulation attempt and pickling the piece I decided to try heating again to see if I could bring out the texture. All it did was make the hole get a little bigger and the edges a bit rougher, but still no texture. I doubt I will waste another piece of lovely silver on this technique anytime soon.

The first sample I did was .6 mm thick and textured nicely. It was really quite exciting watching the textures form, that is until I burned a huge hole right in the middle.

Dennis
11-11-2013, 05:43 AM
Well Emma, you've got it out of your system, for now at least and so did I many years back.

But I am not destructive by nature, so when I see a finished piece, that has had the hell heated out of it and is the result of a series of accidents, I can only think of the care that went into producing a rolled and perfect sheet in the first place.

As for what went 'wrong', I think with the thicker/larger sheet your torch was too small to heat the silver underlying the surface sufficiently.

Regards, Dennis.

Sandra
11-11-2013, 10:35 AM
But I am not destructive by nature, so when I see a finished piece, that has had the hell heated out of it and is the result of a series of accidents, I can only think of the care that went into producing a rolled and perfect sheet in the first place.
Yes I think the abuse I put that poor defenceless piece of silver through should be considered a crime. :'(