New Skills
There is always something new to learn and being a jeweller is no exception. After making jewellery for several years I decided it was time to test myself and my skills. Studying silversmithing many years ago at a local art college was great and taught me the skills I currently use everyday, but I wanted to expand my knowledge. As a lifetime member of the the Jewellers Academy, I have access to oodles of fab courses, many of which I have done. But I wanted something even more challenging and so I embarked on the Diploma in Fine Jewellery, a year long on line course being taught fine jewellery making from amazing jewellers from all around the world. I’m so excited and I want to share my journey. So lets start at the beginning…
Week 1: Reticulation and Keum Boo, two amazing techniques applied to one piece of jewellery. What are they?
Reticulation is a very organic process and is sometimes called The Black Art of Silversmithing. Now this is right up my street, as I love organic patterns and shapes. Quick science bit…silver is an alloy metal - 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper (hence the phrase 925 silver!) To reticulate it you have to heat it and cool it multiple times until you get the effect you want. Copper and silver have different melting points, and so when heated to a certain point the silver will melt and come to the surface leaving a core of copper under the silver ‘skin’. Altering the direction and angle of the flame patterns are created as the silver moves. Cooled quickly the silver will set. This process is repeated several times until the desired effect is created. I loved this technique, no two pieces will turn out the same, and the patterns created are just gorgeous.
Once reticulated I then had to create a couple of jewellery pieces. After some thought and studying the patterns on the silver I decided on a ring with a contoured edge, following the patterns and shapes created, and a pendant in the same style. Once the pieces had been made I moved on to Keum Boo.
Ok so what is Keum Boo - this is another beautiful organic process. It is a traditional Korean metal work method of adding gold foil to silver. Simple? How hard can it be?? Turns out harder than you think! I spent many hours trying to get it right and rewatching the videos by the fab instructor Barbara Yarde of @barbarajewels. To get the gold leaf to stick to the metal, the silver has to be heated to between 260ºC and 370ºC, in other words very hot! To heat the metal you need a hot plate. There are specific ones made for the job but I decided to go off piste and do my own thing! The pancake griddle came out on the hob, heated as hot as it could get. After several failed attempts, some very useful tips from my fellow students and a few burns along the way, I finally got it! And it is soooo satisfying. I still need lots of practice but I was really pleased with the outcome. The pendant was the easiest one to attach the gold foil to. I think because it was flat the whole piece heated up evenly and the foil stuck quickly. And because the piece was flat it was easier to hold in place while rubbing the gold in.
The ring was much harder. Even trying to hold it between some honeycomb soldering block wasn’t working. After a cry for help on the facebook group, I tried again. This time I used my gas torch to heat the ring and then use the.hot plate to retain the heat. This worked a treat and finally I had cracked it.
I love the appearance the gold foil adds to the jewellery and this is a technique I will be using again.
Finally pleased with the results of week 1, it was time to move onto week 2…..
