Reticulation Silver Experimentation

Carol Dekle-Foss

Rain has finally come to California. Hallelujah! The weather has been BEAUTIFUL. The rain has been coming down is soft sheets, and it's comforting knowing it's filling the empty lakes and reservoirs. I made a visual for you guys, so you can see just how bad the drought was. Look for the arrows showing a rock as a landmark. This is a park near my house that has a walking path along the South Fork American River. This river is one of the major rivers in California and flows from Lake Tahoe.

We are on the right path to putting a big dent in this drought. Thank god! It was heartbreaking watching its effects on the landscape and animals.

Okay, on to jewelry making! I wanted to give reticulation silver a try because I just LOVE the look. 

The texture reminds me of ridges and valleys of the earth's landscape. So beautiful! 

 I bought this 3" x 1.5" piece from Rio. It cost me about $3.80 per square inch. Not too bad considering sterling silver sheet in the same gauge is about $3.50 per square inch right now. They have another type called Crinkle silver. The texture is smaller, and it looks amazing, but it's so expensive! I guess it all depends on what you are making and how much you are willing to charge.

It's simple and fun to do. Here are some instructions from Rio on how it's done and what you will need. 

I only used half of the piece I purchased. It didn't shrink all that much like I thought it would, so you still get almost the same size metal to work with after its reticulated.

Here's a close up video of me doing the reticulation. I sped it up so it's less than a minute and plays one of my all time favorite songs by Katie Melua. Pretty cool watching the silver follow the torch flame! 

So yesterday, while I was getting ready to try reticulation for the first time, a video came through on my Youtube feed from Nancy T Hamilton. The title was "Fusing Silver and Reticulation on Copper". I thought, what perfect timing! I tried the reticulation on copper part so I could show you guys the results and do a mini comparison! 

I cut a piece of 20 gauge copper about 1.5" square and added little scraps of sterling silver. I also had to use a larger tip on my torch to get the silver to melt. Below is a short, less than a minute video of the melting process!

Here's how it turned out.

VERY cool texture. Its more wavy , sorta looks like tree branches to me. Here's a side by side comparison.

You can really see the difference in color. Also the one with the copper backplate has a bunch of teeny pitted holes. I think next time I will flux the backplate to see if that will help. Still, not a bad texture for metal that's already lying around the studio!

I've yet to create jewelry with these beauties because I've been busy opening a brand new Etsy shop for our ceramic pieces! 

I'm offering a 25% off discount through the end of January. Just use coupon code winter25. Etsy has a 'bug' right now, so my shop isn't offering Paypal as a payment option as of yet. If you would like to pay that way, all products are on my website, and the same discount code will apply.

Thank you for reading!

"Marriage of Metals" technique & tutorial

Carol Dekle-Foss

I learned this cool technique a couple months ago in my intermediate metalsmith class. I just LOVE it! I have always been attracted to geometric patterns and also mixing different metals. This technique was perfect for me to explore in my jewelry designs. These earrings are my latest creation, and for my first Boot Camp post, I'm going to show the readers of LMAJ how I made them. Tools & Materials on the bottom of the page.

Step one

Create the shapes you want on a computer software program such as Photoshop and print on regular paper.

Step two

Select your sheet metals, making sure they are all the same gauge. For the earrings I used sterling silver, copper and brass.

Step three

With a triangle, sharpie and a ruler, mark your shapes on the metal using the printout as a guide. Make sure your lines are a bit larger due to loss when cutting out and sanding. You will only need the basic geometric shapes for now.

Step four

 Cut out the sheet metal. I prefer a metal shear for the most accurate cuts. Here is my throatless shear from harbor freight. It's great for cutting accurate lines, and saves me tons of time in the studio.

Step five

Place sandpaper on a flat surface and run metal edges over it lightly to remove burs and even out the metals edges. 

Step six

Place metal pieces on flat surface and line up making sure every piece touches with no gaps for best results. Also for earrings, position pieces to form a mirror image.

Next, flux and then with the flux brush pick up solder pieces and place where joins meet. In the pic below you can see the solder pieces positioned. I cut them in thin rectangle shapes to try and prevent solder from flowing all over the metal, and hopefully to only go in the cracks of the joins. Keep in mind, solder flows wherever the heck it wants too anyway.

Step seven

Solder the pieces with a fairly large flame. Copper and brass have a higher melting temperature so you want to focus your flame on those pieces and avoid the sterling silver so you don't melt it. I use the Smith torch purchased from Cyberweld. This is where my teacher referred me to purchase mine in case you are in the market for one. NOTE: Soldering is a technique you have to practice to master. It takes time and patience, so don't be too hard on yourself if you are having difficulty. I know I struggled for a long time. If you want to learn I recommend taking a metalsmith class, or find a mentor to teach you the basics. If you have specific questions feel free to contact me and I will try to help! Also if you haven't discovered Nancy Hamilton you are in for a treat! She is so much fun to learn from. Here is a youtube video from her on soldering basics.

Here is the front of the pieces after pickling. You can see the solder flowed through in some areas. The back is a hot mess, as you can see in the below pics.

Step eight

Place paper shape onto metal and mark with sharpie. Then cut out with jewelers saw.

Step nine

 Sand edges with a belt sander or a bastard file.
Here is my sander from Harbor Freight. Again, a major time saver, and you can't beat the price. I hate filing and will avoid it at all costs.

Next, place the piece on top of the other and line up. Mark with sharpie and then saw out with jewelers saw.

Final finishing techniques

Ok, here are the two pieces. One is the front, and one the back. Yucky solder flow right? The next steps are all finishing techniques. So for my next post, which is scheduled for this Wednesday, I will show how I got the pieces to look like the above earrings! Plus some awesome techniques to speed up your finishing.

Here are some other designs utilizing the above technique.

My first pair of earrings finished in class.

For this necklace I used a lentil bead from Heather Powers of Humblebeads. I fell in love when I first saw it! 

 She was inspired by the Vincent Van Gogh Sunflower painting below. 

I used the "marriage of metals" technique and combined brass and bronze to form the vase. I then soldered it to a solid copper backing.

I love this technique and feel the design options are endless. So what do you think? Is it something that you might want to try? I would love to hear your thoughts!

TOOLS & MATERIALS
Torch                                                            
pickle pot
solder, medium
flux
different sheet metals
geometric shapes on paper
sandpaper, various grits
permanent sharpie, fine tip
jewelers saw
Photoshop or similiar program
paper
Sheet metals
triangle
metal ruler
sander or bastard file
metal shear
flat soldering surface
safety goggles
dust mask