Gold onto silver

[ruth3007]

Hello all,

I would like some advice on soldering gold onto silver - I'd like to put a very thin layer of gold onto thicker silver sheet (about 1mm) - almost like a keum boo effect (although my knowledge of keum boo is minimal!). What thickness would you suggest is best for this? I have very little experience of soldering gold onto silver and to be honest it scares me so any advice you have would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

Ruth

[ps_bond]

Hiya Ruth - by "almost like a keum boo effect", in what way were you thinking of it being "almost"? Are you looking to laminate the entire piece of silver, or just patterns?

[Dennis]

For a start, I would suggest you use about 0.8mm silver sheet, well-scrubbed and then warmed to flux it evenly. Dot it with small pallions of hard solder, about 0.3 mm apart. Melt the pallions, but only just. Leave to cool on your block so it does not buckle. Do not pickle, but reflux when cool enough. Flux the bottom of some 18ct gold sheet, between 0.3 and 0.4 mm thick. Sit it on top and heat gently until you see the solder flow and shimmer all round the edges and there you are.

If you have access to a rolling mill you can now roll it thinner and bigger, or you can texture it with the ball end of a ball peen hammer as I did for my Dawg Brooch below. I suggest you experiment with texturing on some waste copper first to see the result.

Alternatively you can solder on some thin wires or shapes and roll them in as I did for my bugs. Have fun, Dennis.

[ruth3007]

Hi,

I'm ideally like to cover the entire piece. My idea is to cover a 25mm sterling silver disc with a thin layer of gold sheet and then to dome the disc so the gold is on the inside and silver is on the outside.

Ruth

[ruth3007]

Thanks for the advice Dennis - love the examples you have there! I will practise first and when I'm feeling brave enough I'll give it ago!

Ruth

[Cathy]

Hi Ruth

I have done this with 0.5mm -1.5mm 18kt gold, but found it very unpredictable in terms of the solder "breaking through". I find it works better if you heat from below and watch carefully. I have used 18kt gold solder. Smaller pieces have worked fine, and as Dennis says you can then put the whole thing through a rollong mill.

Good luck!
Cathy

[Dennis]

Here is a pea pod I made when I was just beginning. It does not look so good to me now. At the time it seemed reasonable to use gold solder with silver, for instance to highlight some areas, but when I tried to fix the peas to their pod using 18ct solder I could not make it flow. Once bitten, so now when soldering onto silver, even gold, I use I use silver solder. Dennis.