Hi all here is a reticulated ring http://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/P1030588.jpg
That is not reticulation. True reticulation does not melt the
surface of the metal because the annealing and quenching raises the
melting point of thesurface metal. It is pretty obvious from the
pitting etc that all you have done is melt metal not reticulate.
Don’t be to disheartened it’s extremely common for people to call
that effect reticulation. Ben
Calling it reticulation does not make it the same technique, as it is not.
Calling it something may not make it the same technique, but if
you’re doing the right things and getting the result you wish with
the similar process, then it IS the same technique. While the exact
texture achieved may differ with the different alloys, I’d suggest
it differs more with the individual technique, type of torch, flame
settings, how it’s used, the degree to which surface depletion was
done, and more. But all these are variations between individual
artists of the same technique. And it’s all reticulation. The term
does not indicate only one single look any more than the terms
“enamelling” or “engraving” indicate a specific look or skill level.
Peter
That is a challenge, I would love to be shown how to achieve the same results with sterling.
Richard, you can indeed reticulate with standard sterling silver. As
you no doubt know, reticulation depends on depletion gilding the
surface of the sheet metal to eliminate the copper content of the
surface, while developing a deep layer of copper oxide (fire stain,
but this time, deliberate), over the main mass of the metal. That
surface layer has a higher melting point than the main mass, so
reticulation happens when one is able to get the interior of the
sheet to melt, while the surface skin does not, and movement of the
interior metal, often flowed and manipulated with the gas
flow/pressure of the torch flame, creates the texture. With so-called
reticulation alloys, the difference between the interior melting
point and that of the surface skin is much more than with standard
sterling, so it’s much easier to do without accidentally melting the
surface, and it may be that the texture might be slightly different
or more controllable. But if you’ve done a good job of depletion
gilding the surface, standard sterling will reticulate. When I did
it, I always made sure to use a larger piece of metal than I actually
needed, so small areas where I might have burned through the surface
layer (the pattern doesn’t look so good there), can be avoided in
the final piece. I never bothered with the special alloys until a few
years back when I bought some specialized sheet metal from shining
wave metals that’s intended for this, in that it’s a laminate of
reticulation silver over a fine silver backing. Gives you a
reticulated texture on one side, flat on the back.
Kind of a neat trick.
Peter Rowe
Hi all here is a reticulated ring http://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/P1030588.jpg
Richard Hopkins, I’d agree with another posters description of
someone elses piece, that your example here, doesn’t really look like
reticulation, even if the basic method, or attempted method, may have
been similar. There is clear indication that in your photo, the metal
at the surface melted. In reticulation, it’s the metal under the
surface that melts and moves, carrying the surface with it and
wrinkling it up. In good reticulation, the actual surface moves
around and wrinkles, but never actually melts.
Peter
Richard,
Thank you for the photo. Not the fine detailed structure created
when youuse 80% silver.
If you want to call that reticulation, fine.
Using 80%, with five heat and pickle, there is a fine silver skin
that has a higher melt temp than the core of 80% silver, which gets
liquid while the skin does not, and the surface wrinkles. Not blobs.
Indeed, reticulate on is a very specific thing. It has become an
umbrella term for many heat induced surfaces. I refer to heat
generated non-reticulated specific processes/surfaces as “torch
textured” or "torch-ered ". Fusing, spot melting etc.
Jeffrey, your reticulation is nothing like the fine detailed structure that is achieved by 80% silver. I had mentioned Harold O'Connors work.
Denver, I’d agree that Jeffrey’s patterns here are not quite the
classic look one expects of good reticulation, but if you look
carefully, you’ll see that for the most part, the surface did not
melt, and it is at least slightly showing the wrinkles and surface
textures that indicate it’s reticulation as a technique.
Whether you like the results or not is up to you, and I agree it’s
not the classic look such as fine Faberge reticulation, but it’s
still an interesting texture, used as such, and the method remains
reticulation. Same technique, same name, possibly a different skill
level or different desired results. While getting the results you
like may be easier with 80 percent silver (or lower in some cases),
the technique is not dependent on the alloy. I’ve reticulated
standard sterling, and both 14K and 18K yellow golds as well as the
so-called reticulation alloys of silver.
I'd agree that Jeffrey's patterns here are not quite the classic look one expects of good reticulation, but if you look carefully, you'll see that for the most part, the surface did not melt, and it is at least slightly showing the wrinkles and surface textures that indicate it's reticulation as a technique.
As I recall, I depleted the copper in the surface through annealing
and pickling about 10 times.
Jeff Herman
Doesn’t look like reticulation to me. It looks like silver when
you’ve almost melted it. I have reticulated sterling by heating,
quenching in pickle, scrubbing, and repeating a dozen or so times. I
believe I got that from Oppi Untracht’s book “Jewelry Concepts and
Technology”, although I did stumbleon to the same effect by accident
once when I first started working with silver maybe forty years ago.
Jerry in Kodiak
From our archives…
…
Reticulation - Ridges & Ripples
by Sharon Elaine Thompson
…
Reticulation Notes
by Charles Lewton-Brain
Hi all
sorry the first picture I posted was from memory NOT RETICULATED
Sterling Silver.
I from memory think it was silver filings fused to a base plate. So
I have posted a second photo that was reticulated. Here it is again
Hey everyone,
Could we try to change the topic line when we are no longer on that
topic? All the ‘Come on Australia’ comments today are about
reticulation. Who would know?
BTW, the teacher was Ed Stanley at Cheltenham High School in
Cheltenham, PA. The best!
Esta Jo Schifter
shiftingmetal.com
Attached is a picture of the only reticulated piece that I have ever
made. As I recall, it was made from 26 gauge reticulation metal
(80/20) from Hoover and Strong using the reticulation directions
that they had in their catalog. They now sell reticulation metal
that has already been prepared to reticulate. As I recall the
project was fun, but apparently not enough to keep doing it.
Thanks. Rob
Rob Meixner
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To my knowledge and experience you don’t need a reticulation alloy
(80%) to reticulate. It is the process of creating a differential of
melting points between the surface envelope of fine metal and the
bulk of the mass within by building up a layer of fine metal through
depletion guilding. (Which is why sterling appears white after
repeated picklings and yellow and rose gold alloys yellower. Not sure
about how white gold alloys work in this regard.)
As an aside to the conversation, I learned several years ago that
Heikki Seppa, professor of metalsmithing at Washington University in
St. Louis, famous for opening the field up to anticlastic/ synclastic
forming (spiculums, etc.) also brought reticulation to this country.
He was a Finn.
Andy
