Hi folks. I have been working on some designs that I want to do in
contrasting color metals and decided to give Kum Boo a try. I
called Allcraft (recommended by someone on this list) told them I was
looking for kum boo foil and ordered some 24K gold foil. It is to be
delivered and their email said it is .005 MM thick. When I ordered
it on the phone I wasn’t paying close enough attention because when I
again looked this up in some books; I fear I may have ordered the
wrong stuff. Charles Codinas book doesn’t mention a specific
thickness but Metals Technic is pretty clear about it being between
.03 and .05 MM thick 24K gold foil. I’m off by a whole decimal
point. I cannot find mention of the technique in Oppi Unttacht’s or
Brephol’s books which is odd… I thought Oppi covered just about
everything under the sun. Anyway do ya’ll think? I can use this
stuff or not. Did I just buy some enameling foil that they renamed
as kum boo foil but is really way to thin?
Thanks as always…
Mark Kaplan
You can layer thin foil. This is not as good as having the heavy
foil if you have the foil, you might as well use it. I have been
told to use three layers.
Marilyn Smith
The summer 2003 issue of Studio PMC has very good instructions by
Celie Fago on keum boo. Here’s the link to the magazine:
http://www.pmcguild.com/newsframes.html
Click back issues, then a list of issues will come up, each with
articles. Click on the one by Celie.
The gold foil from AllCraft is the right stuff, I just bought some
from them and it works great.
Say, I have a question – what are the limits on polishing keum boo
foil once it’s in place?
Thanks,
Elaine Luther
Chicago area, Illinois, USA
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor
Studio 925; established 1992
@E_Luther
Hi Mark I believe that unfortunately you did order the wrong type of
gold foil. I believe that 0.005 mm will be too thin to work with.
I roll my kumboo gold from 24kt gold coins (Canadian Maple Leaf
Coins, 0.9999 gold). I roll the coins as thin as possible on my
mill. I measured my kumboo gold with a digital calliper and it ranges
between 0.04 and 0.06 mm. I have found this gold to work very well
(been doing kumboo for about 10 yrs) and it is a very economical way
to obtain kumboo gold.
Regards
Milt Fischbein
Calgary Canada
Mark,
Allcraft worked with some jewelry artists who use Keum Boo
extensively before they settled on the foil thickness, and it is
specifically designed for Keum Boo work, so I would think it should
work for you. Perhaps there is a typo in their e-mail to you… I’d
give them another call and chat about it before you rule out using
it.
Suzanne
Suzanne Wade
Writer/Editor
Phone: (508) 339-7366
Fax: (928) 563-8255
@Suzanne_Wade1
http://www.rswade.net