Rolling Sheet silver for bangles

[Dennis]

Hi Christine, I have had the smallest Durston rolling mill with reduction gears for about fourteen years, and have tried to look after it by wiping it down with a clean cloth and a trace of lubricant after use and keeping it covered. Even so it now has a few small pits on the rollers. The big enemy is moisture from annealing and small specks of grit.
The Cook Book says you can pass 6mm of sheet through the smallest of these mills, but that could be quite tedious with pauses for annealing. Also the repeated annealing is likely to build up firescale on sterling. The thickest I have rolled down was 4mm. I try not to close the rollers too much at one time as this results in wavy or curved metal which is difficult to manage. I aim to turn the mill with just one hand. If you take too big a bite you can in fact get completely stuck and need a stronger person to rescue you.
There will also be hours of fun experimenting with the grooves for wire.
Hope this starts you off, Dennis.

[CDW Designs]

Thanks Dennis
I will have to get going. Its been a big investment and I want to make sure I look after it.. It is well greased and I have covered it too. How strong are the rollers themselves to not getting marked or scratched????
Thanks for you help though that does help.

[Dennis]

Some clever clogs at the college I attend started a craze for roll-texturing silver sheet with sandpaper. It's never been the same since. Most of these problems arise with multiple users,when the tutor is busy. Care for it as you would care for £600 in crisp new notes. Roll only base metals which will not contaminate silver or gold. Briefly this means copper or brass. Avoid stainless steel and hardened steel.
If in doubt do nout. Dennis.

[CDW Designs]

I've been told you can only use 'soft' metals so as you say, copper or brass. The trouble with texturing I dont wont to use up an excess of silver but will experiment.....thanks again.

[Dennis]

Hi, I now use fabrics almost entirely, partly because they give me a quick result and partly because if you put them all the way round the metal, so that they cover the top and bottom, the metal comes out flat. Favourites are lace curtains and net curtains, the kind the neigbours twiitch when you go out. Also the squared fabrics for embroidery, because you can cut out random squares in the metal afterwards. Sometimes you get even better effects if you do it a second time with a new piece of material. Hope you are still pleased with your mill, kind regards, D.

[Tabby66]

Hi!

Dennis - you are a font of knowledge! I always read your posts with interest.

A rolling mill is on my wish list, I'm hoping for one for my birthday . . . . . in October :-(

So got to use college one until then. I've been collecting leaf skeletons whilst gardening this week. Do you have any advice regarding texturing some silver with them? What thickness of silver works best, leaves are a bit irregular and broken, can I do anything to improve regularity of pattern? Should I texture both sides (for earrings/charms on a bracelet, for example)?

Any help appreciated.

Tabby

[Dennis]

Thanks for your confidence, but I have not done much with leaves as they are brittle when dry and break up under pressure.Your best chance is to put the veins on the under side next to the metal and then wrap right round with paper. A metal thickness of 0.7mm is about right. One thing to note is that when you heat and pickle silver a fine layer of pure silver forms on the surface. Do that about three times in a row and you have a softer surface for roll printing. The down side is that with each subsequent soldering operation you loose a little sharpness. The way to finish is either with a largish glass brush, a cm or so unpealed, and lots of soap(satin effect), or a brass brush and lots of soap(more shiny). Brass brushes for cleaning suade are ok at a pinch.
When you get fed up with this, send some leaves and other fragile items to an electroforming company and they will come back fabulous. Kind regards, Dennis.

[mizgeorge]

I've never had a good result with 'real' leaves. If they're not completely dried out they leave a horrible gunky mess on your rollers, and when they are completely dry they just crumble.

However, craft packs of skeleton leaves (sold mainly for papercrafters) are excellent and give a very good, clear impression on both copper and silver.

This was done on 0.5mm sterling sheet, and has been oxidised and polished back to highlight the texture. The T bar was printed onto 1mm sheet.

[Dennis]

Good morning, thats beautifully done,George . Also we have not yet mentioned the silver leaf pendant shown recently by a new member. This was made by pressing a leaf into silver clay. Dennis.

[emroyjewels]

George - that's gorgeous!

I have to stop reading this forum - every time I do, I get serious tool envy and I don't know if hubby will let me fill my studio with any more stuff!!! Rolling mill now definitely added to the list