Excellent teaching, great Santa Claus, totally a riot, Fresh, Inspiring, HONEST, and just plain old fabulous! LOVE this channel, always learn something new! Thanks guys!
You're very welcome. Glad you enjoyed the video. Remember, silver is generally not used for granulation. Gold is the preferred metal for this process. Thanks for your support! : )
why is it that you don't need solder to fuse the sterling silver granulation balls to the sterling back? This goes against all that I've understood so far in metal smithing.
+Joanne Forman Hi Joanne, There are two other videos in the OJA playlist that utilize fusing: "Spookey Spider Web Earrings" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tfU1LoldNw.html and "Fuse Your Scrap To Create An Artistic Pendant" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rT8ikm-_1Xs.html Fusing is merely a controlled melting of the surface of objects that utilizes flux. Practice with some scrap. I'm sure you'll find the results rewarding. Thanks for your support! : )
Thank you very much for this video. Really interesting! So the granulationballs are 100% silver if I understood well? Can I do this with 925 silver or do I have to use solder then? 2e question. This flat piece of silver is "easy" to fuse the balls onto, they don't fall off, but my problem is making granulation onto a ring. Do you have a video of that kind of soldering? Thank you in advance for your answer. Mieke Manders
Hi Mieke, You can buy bead wire to make a ring that will look like it was made using granulation techniques. You can fuse .925 silver as well as fine silver. I just presented what works best for me in the video. Experiment with your torch to see what works best for you. If you avoid using solder, the piece will look better for a longer period of time. The solder alloy(s) will tarnish quickly. : )
Hello! Great videos! Question: are you fusing the fine silver balls to fine silver plate? Or can you fuse fine silver balls to sterling silver plate? THANKS! :)
+Barb Mallon Hi Barb, I demonstrate with materials that I believe most viewers will have on hand; which in most cases is sterling silver. Neither the balls nor the backing in the video was fine silver. You can substitute fine silver if you like. And, that will eliminate any firescale issue. Thanks for your support! : )
+Dharlee Minter Hi Dharlee, Yes! Fusing is amazing. You can pile pieces of scrap on your charcoal block and fuse them together to make interesting shapes. Have fun exploring. Thanks for your support! : )
+Zeus DaShaman Hi Zeus, Unfortunately, copper doesn't want to cooperate and easily melt into little spheres. It's a cranky metal that doesn't like to flow. So, you can't easily cast with it either. Great question. Thanks for your support! : )
+OnlineJewelryAcademy thanks for the reply. i tried it with copper since then. i used propane gas on a red brick. they came out domed than round which helped with placing them on the copper plate. i only tried joining once, but i have made a granulation 'domes'.
There's a technique where they use copper acetate (iirc), so the temperature raises just on the surface of the granules and fuses on a tiny spot of contact, without changing the rest of the surface (you stay just below the "wet" temp). Never tried it, but it seems to take a very fine temperature control. They use it to make those granulation structures with no back plates. I've always been very intrigued by that technique.
+Joyce Lucht Hi Joyce, Yes! I demonstrate with materials that I believe most viewers will have on hand. But, you are correct about using fine silver to eliminate fire scale. Good luck with your projects. Thanks for your support! : )
Hi, I've heard only to use fine silver? Why is that? I've tried sterling, and it worked. The fine silver demo said that an old world technique was to use saliva.... and I've heard of some kind of product. But I've never seen using only flux. Why is flux good? Just for fired scale, and as a sticking agent?? Cuz nothing is flowing.
Hi huskyfluffy, You basically answered your own questions. Fine silver is better than sterling for this process because it is pure silver and won't produce fire scale. The traditional material used to hold the spheres in place is a glue made from fish stomachs. It's kind of like gum arabic. I used flux with the sterling silver to help hold the spheres in place and reduce oxidation. This isn't a perfect technique. But, it's fun to experiment with. Have fun. And, good luck with your projects. Thanks for your support! : )