More Argentium Sterling Experiments

Jewelry Discussion
1

Greetings all.

I managed to find time for a couple more experiments the other day.

  1. Tried fusing 14k granules to Argentium sheet. Did not work! Used
    flux/glue and spit to fix the granules. When the Argentium surfaced
    flashed, the granules almost instantly flowed into the sheet. Same
    for wire. Can we say green gold? I thought the melting point of the
    14k and Argentium were too close but wonder if it is a case of once
    the fusion starts a eutectic alloy forms that drops the temperature
    faster than one can respond to and everything just flows together.
    Three tries, all reduced to smudges.

Comments?

  1. Did a fold formed piece, crossing line folds, ala Harold
    O’Connor. Set 18k granules along the ridges and as clusters. Fused
    perfectly at all points. I was quite pleased with the piece. Kind of
    melted the bail but fused a larger granule into the slump. Perfect!
    Like it was planned! Raise the price! Full speed ahead!

  2. I think the charcoal fired granules may be off white because of
    the reducing atmosphere created. Not so with a solderite board which
    would let the germanium oxide generate better. Just a thought.

  3. I have not had any trouble with Argentium granules collapsing.

Now to try 22k.

Bill Churlik
www.earthspeakarts.com

2

Hello Bill Churlik,

Did a fold formed piece, crossing line folds, ala Harold O'Connor.
Set 18k granules along the ridges and as clusters. Fused perfectly
at all points.

Thanks for sharing your results. It gives courage to try something
new! For clarification, you were fusing the 18K (yellow, I’m
assuming) to Argentium - is that correct?

BTW, I very much enjoyed your “Snails thumb-wrestling” - what fun!

Judy in Kansas

3

Hi Bill,

I have fused 14K granules to Argentium Sterling successfully, but I
also did have a melt-down with one granule. The temperature range is
very small, I think, and easy to overheat. 18K and higher seem more
forgiving, with their higher melting temperatures. I haven’t tried
spit yet–maybe tomorrow?–so far, my favorite flux to use with AS is
Rio’s My-T-Flux.

Cynthia Eid

4

Judy,

I am using 18k yellow on the Argentium. After Cynthia’s input, I
need to revisit the 14k yellow to see what I missed.

There are two more snails in the series: The Two Bit Toss and the
Cross Country Skiing. They have not been photographed yet. Just
finished the skis (?)yesterday.

Bill Churlik
www.earthspeakarts.com