Fusing the edge does not guaranty design conformance. Since, one
must account for shrinkage, the strips cut with allowance. So to be
precise, it is probably a hybrid of both technics.
It’s simple enough to describe whether it’s traditional reticulation
or not. In forming that organic edge shape to specs, does the edge
actually melt at the surface, or are you treating the metal so that
the surface layer does NOT melt, and metal movement is under the
surface, which then gets pulled along by the molten metal underneath.
If the answer to this is yes, then what you were doing is indeed
reticulation. If the surface itself melts, then the final shape is
the result of normal melting behavior, including the surface tension
of the liquid metal. You’re right, of course, that in doing
reticulation, it’s possible to get some shaping via reticulation
while other areas at least partially melt at the surface and are
better described as simply melting. Normally, in reticulation work,
one tries to prevent that from happening, since when the surface
melts, the resulting surface textures are not as interesting. I’m
not sure there’s really a middle ground where what happens is a
combination of the two in the same location. And with that bracelet,
as I said, the surfaces do not seem to have the sorts of textures
that are characteristic of a reticulated surface. However, many gold
alloys, when you go to fuse or melt them, go through a slushy or
pasty phase where the metal is starting to melt, but not fully
liquid. At that point, while it pulls into itself, starting to ball
up or melt, it’s moving slowly, and with good torch control and not
too large a torch, controlling how much to let it deform is relativly
achievable.
It would have been interesting to watch you make these pieces.
Normal reticulation methods are not exactly highly controllable, with
part of the appeal being the accidental nature of the generated
patterns. Personally, I’ve found fusing of edges to get an organic
shape to be fairly well controllable in gold, especially higher karat
like 18K. But it’s not totally fool proof. And the precision you
describe in manufacturing these is not a simple thing I think. So it
would have been interesting to watch you get that repeatability in
the result. As always, it’s fun to watch an accomplished craftman at
work. No matter how many years or decades I do metals and jewelry
work, there are always things left to learn, and watching a fine
craftman often shows me things, maybe just minor tweaks to a
technique, but things I hadn’t realized I didn’t know before…
Peter Rowe