My turn for a stupid question :)

[lesley]

In jewellery making terms what exactly does reticulated mean?
Is it simply where two things are connected in some way or is there an "engineering" element to it?

[bustagasket]

gla you asked that i have heard it once to often to think its a typo

[lesley]

gla you asked that i have heard it once to often to think its a typo

Happy to oblige. I've learnt almost everything I know from dumb bum questions.

[mizgeorge]

Reticulation is a surface treatment for silver or gold. In the case of silver, sterling works, but silvers with a higher copper content (up to 20%) can work even better)

In simple terms, the piece of sheet is first depletion gilded (anneal, pickle, rinse multiple times). This brings a layer of pure silver to the surface.

Then a torch is used to heat the surface. Because the pure metal on the surface melts at a higher temperature than the remaining alloy underneath it, it will make ripples and ridges. The end results can be very beautiful, very hard to repeat (every piece looks different) and sadly rather brittle compared to other surface treatments.

There are some lovely reticulated pieces in Bridget (Rustic Charm)'s gallery: http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/mem...e-my-work.html

Historically, Finnish silversmith's have done amazing things with reticulation - much of it for Tsarist Russia. I saw an exhibition in St Petersburg which was amazing.

Hope that makes sense!

(edited to add that whilst I can explain the process reasonably well, I'm actually rubbish at doing it! I lose the will to live somewhere around the third annealing cycle.....)

[lesley]

Yes, perfect sense thanks, George.
I was under the misapprehension that it concerned the way two pieces were joined together.

I've seen Bridget's Gallery - beautiful organic pieces.

[Emerald]

i bought some silver once and it reticlated almost on contact with the heat it was dodgy silver i had to get it cast so that i could finish what i was doing as it was a run of earrings for and order

[Rustic Charm]

Thankyou for the compliments Lesley & George, and you explained it better than i could've done !lol
i love reticulation. i discovered how to do it by accident by over heating a piece!!