Patterning sheet silver with rolling mill

Jewelry Discussion
1

How do you put a pattern on sheet silver (sterling or argentium
silver)? I want to be able to use standard patterns repeatedly to
make coordinated jewelry pieces.

I have a new rolling mill that I bought for flattening silver. Can I
use it to press a design on sheet metal? How? Are there templates
available somewhere? Also interested in acid etching designs in sheet
metal (silver, etc). Where can I find out how to do it in a home
studio?

Thank you.
Diane M. Vastine

2

Google “rolling mill texture” - this article came up.

Goss Design Studio Jewelry - Site Moved This will get you
started on texturing - what you can do with a little imagination and
a rolling mill is rather amazing. There is much more information
available.

Brass texture plates can be found from a variety of vendors - can
google “brass texture plates”

Not familiar or pushing this vendor, just showing you what they look
like.

Louise

3

Diane,

I’ve been making rolling plates for over 35 years for use with my
own work. It is a very effective method for embossing fine detail
patterns on metal which can then be formed by a number of other
techniques such as puffing in a silhouette die. Several lines of
jewelry were produced in quantities by first applying 24k to sterling
(keum-bo), then rolling through the mill with a pattern plate to
emboss, then forming into a silhouette die, trim, and solder two
halves together for beads or solder to a back plate for pendants,
bracelets, and earrings. You can make your own pattern plates or buy
them with many different patterns. I would highly recommend you try
to attend one of Jack Berry’s workshops for all the details of this
technique.

See this link for a series of rolling pattern plates that we make
and are available through Rio:

http://bonnydoonengineering.com/Products/PatternPlates/PatternPlates.html

Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Phil

4 
How do you put a pattern on sheet silver (sterling or argentium
silver)? I want to be able to use standard patterns repeatedly to
make coordinated jewelry pieces.

Any of several ways are (reasonably) safe:

  1. Etching. Create an etch resist pattern using Press-N-Peel and a
    laser printer. Apply the pattern to the silver. Etch the silver with
    a ferric nitrate solution.

  2. Machine engraving. Find someone with a tabletop CNC router or CNC
    milling machine to engrave the pattern for you in the silver.

  3. Templating. Create a master pattern out of steel, then use the
    template in a hydraulic press to transfer your pattern to the silver.
    If no hydraulic press is available, then lightly hammer a sheet of
    silver over your template.

  4. Lace pattern in a rolling mill. I’ve heard some people having
    success transferring a lace pattern to sheet silver by placing both
    into the rolling mill.

  5. Customized roller. Purchase a spare roller for your rolling mill,
    and then have the pattern that you want carved into it, probably
    with the help of a CNC milling machine operator with a 4-axis
    machine.

I think I might be up to the challenge of machining a custom roller
if you want me to try, please contact me offline if you do.

Thanks,
Andrew Jonathan Fine

5

You can roll the silver with other materials on one or both sides.
For example, you could use an old dishcloth - the material will
usually be destroyed, so don’t use anything sentimental! Cut some
small pieces of sheet, and experiment with things you have around
your house or workshop, just be careful not to use anything that
will scratch the rollers