I am a new member to the online area. I am a gemologist and a bench
jeweler with heavy experience in repair as well as casting and some stone
setting. I went to school at GIA in Santa Monica and was raised in a
retail jewelry store.
I am very interested in granulation techniques as well as metal marriage as
in mokume gane.
If any one has any on techniques in these areas please forward.
Thanks, Jay
I am a new member to the online area. I am a gemologist and a bench
jeweler with heavy experience in repair as well as casting and some stone
setting. I went to school at GIA in Santa Monica and was raised in a
retail jewelry store.
I am very interested in granulation techniques as well as metal marriage as
in mokume gane.
If any one has any on techniques in these areas please forward.
Thanks, Jay
Jay & Tiahni Mead wrote:
I am a new member to the online area. I am a gemologist and a bench
jeweler with heavy experience in repair as well as casting and some stone
setting. I went to school at GIA in Santa Monica and was raised in a
retail jewelry store.
I am very interested in granulation techniques as well as metal marriage as
in mokume gane.
If any one has any on techniques in these areas please forward.
Thanks, Jay
Hi Jay, I would recommend Steve Midgett’s new book/video on Mokume Gane -
it’s great. Even if you don’t make your own Mokume, you can still
benefit from it. I found his address, but no phone number:
504 Newman Rd.
Franklin, NC 28734
I’ll look for the phone as well as an article I have stashed somewhere on
granulation. Oh yeah, also, the Hoover & Strong Metals catalog has a 2-3
pager on a soldered mokume project.
Good Luck, Mike Rogers
Hi Jay, I cannot find anything on the web about granulation and I have been
looking for sometime but there is a great workshop on mokume-gane at
http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/edu/arts/metal/TOC/proces/forge/mokume01.html
This is realy a great workshop enjoy. Lloyd
I think that the understanding of the simple chemical and physical processes
involved in granulation might help practically, so here’s my 0.05¢ worth:-
The process has been used for thousands of years. The ancient master
goldsmiths produced beautiful and intricate work using the principle. One
mixes a copper compound with animal glue (some ancients even used finely
ground turquoise) and paints the mix where granulation is required on the
piece. Before the glue dries the tiny spheres or granules are carefully placed
on it. The piece is carefully fired under non-oxidising conditions - the
ancients did it on a bed of red hot charcoal. When the glue decomposes and
chars, the carbon produced combines with the copper compound and reduces it to
pure copper, giving off various gasses and decomposition products. As the
temperature rises, the copper film diffuses and alloys with the fine silver or
high carat gold, reducing the melting point at the interface between granules
and the piece, so that when cooled and pickled, the copper has disappeared
into the metal and the granules are strongly but delicately welded in place.
Thus it would seem that sterling or low carat gold would be more difficult to
granulate.
Cheers, johnb@ts.co.nz
Hi there, I am trying to find a granulation sieve. Any ideas? I
know they are sold but I cannot find a supplier. I would
appreciate a shove in the right direction.
Sincerely, Cindy Irwin
@Joseph_Cindy_Irwin
Hi there, I am trying to find a granulation sieve. Any ideas? I know they are sold but I cannot find a supplier. I would appreciate a shove in the right direction.
Check your hardware store, or even a gourmet kitchen supply
store, they should have screening (metal and fiberglass) in
various sizes and/or sieves in various sizes. (assuming that the
granulation is small diameter . . .)
Hi there, I am trying to find a granulation sieve. Any ideas? I
know they are sold but I cannot find a supplier. I would
appreciate a shove in the right direction.
You should look for a pearl sieve. There are some inexpensive
imported ones.
Rick
Richard D. Hamilton
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography
Hi there, I am trying to find a granulation sieve. Any ideas? I know they are sold but I cannot find a supplier. I would appreciate a shove in the right direction.
Check your hardware store, or even a gourmet kitchen supply
store, they should have screening (metal and fiberglass) in
various sizes and/or sieves in various sizes. (assuming that the
granulation is small diameter . . .)
Hi there, I am trying to find a granulation sieve. Any ideas? I know they are sold but I cannot find a supplier. I would appreciate a shove in the right direction.
Hi Cindy, I was looking for those myself a while back. I
couldn’t find any so I resorted to something recommended by
people in this forum and by a teacher, John Cogswell. Buy some
mesh of various sizes (e.g. 10, 20, 30, 40) from a jewelry supply
store such as Metalliferous in NYC or Small Parts Inc in Miami
Lakes Florida. Get those stackable rubbermaid containers (used
for leftovers, they’re small). Cut out the bottom. Heat a
piece of copper sheet with your torch. Place the mesh over it,
then press down the bottom of the rubbermaid over that. The heat
will sink the mesh into the rubber. Trim away excess mesh and
voila, a sieve. Stack them so the largest mesh is on top, dump
in granules, and sizes will sort themselves.
Swest sells them they are used for sizing Diamonds. Their number
is.
1-800-527-5057
Swest Inc.,
11090 N Stemmons Fry.,
P.O. Box 59389, Dallas, Texas,
75229-1389.
Granulation sieve? I would appreciate someone telling me what
it is! A sieve fine enough to separate the really fine
granulation balls from those a little larger? Did the Etruscans
have one? Is that how they did it? Best modern reference on the
subject is ____________?
Hi there, I am trying to find a granulation sieve. Any ideas? I
know they are sold but I cannot find a supplier. I would
appreciate a shove in the right direction.
I’m not sure what you mean by “granulation”, but …
Rio sells polyvinl screens (for separating tumbling media from
finished pieces). Each 15" diameter screen has square holes in
one of five sizes – 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4" and 1". Price is
$21 each or $119 for all five plus matching bucket. (The bucket
is $21 by itself.) Found at page 218 of the tools catalog,
1-800-545-6566.
Maybe one of these would work?
Tom LaRussa
Probably be great if you were granulating some jewelry for the
Statue of Liberty
The granules for regular granulation are often much less than a
mm in diameter.
Rick
Richard D. Hamilton
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography
Check your hardware store, or even a gourmet kitchen supply
store, they should have screening (metal and fiberglass) in
various sizes and/or sieves in various sizes. (assuming that the
granulation is small diameter . . .)
Pearl sieves work well- most of the supply houses carry them.
They have quite a few disks with accurately sized holes to
separate the granule sizes.
Rick
Richard D. Hamilton
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography
Check your hardware store, or even a gourmet kitchen supply store, they should have screening (metal and fiberglass) in various sizes and/or sieves in various sizes. (assuming that the granulation is small diameter . . .) Pearl sieves work well- most of the supply houses carry them. They have quite a few disks with accurately sized holes to separate the granule sizes.
I imagine that diamond sieves work just as well, but both are
much more expensive than the sieves found at the gourmet store!
I imagine that diamond sieves work just as well, but both are
much more expensive than the sieves found at the gourmet store!
The idea behind granulation is having the granules be perfectly
matched in size. You can acchieve this by accurately cutting fine
wire to make the granules out of, or sieving the product of a
less careful granule making process. I bought a pearl sieve set
because I had a granulation project that needed it- handmade
rather than SPM granules were specified- it really is again the
matter of having the right tool to do the job in a reasonable
amount of time. Whatever works for you…
Rick
Richard D. Hamilton
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography
I’ve been casually following this thread and I’m curious, why
don’t people just drill holes in brass sheet and make their own
sieves for the size granules that you need for a project? Size
the plates to fit into a small box that you cut most of the
bottom out of and you can just pour your granules into the box.
Is there some reason this won’t work?
Curious,
Sharon
I’ve been casually following this thread and I’m curious, why
don’t people just drill holes in brass sheet and make their own
sieves for the size granules that you need for a project? Size
the plates to fit into a small box that you cut most of the
bottom out of and you can just pour your granules into the box.
Is there some reason this won’t work?
It would work well- even a series of jar lids drilled with same
size holes would work.
Rick
Richard D. Hamilton
Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography
Sharon, you hit the nail right on the head. But, the size of the
granules makes it difficult to make your own granulation sieve.
In the Oppi bigbbook, page 360 there is a picture of a
"ten-tiered sieve" made by Carl Fischer, Pforzeim ( I assume
Germany).
Oppi speaks about granules between 0.008 inches (0.205 mm) and up
to 0.032 inches (0.762 mm).
My calculator says 1.000 divided by .008 would allow 125 granules
to the linear inch or 15625 granules to the square inch.
Please, don’t sneeze.
For the masters in granulation see some pictures (library?) of
Etruscan jewelry. They did such fine work that it looks like a
surface finish rather than an add-on.
Bill
Ginkgo Designs