Can anyone help me find a written account on how to do silver
granulation work. Even better, if any of you silversmiths know the
technique, please pass it on. Thanks, Jim
There is an article in Metals Technic (compilation book) from
Brynmorgan Press by John Cogswell solely for sterling granulation.
Hoover and strong have an article on 22k in their Metals catalogue,
and Codina has info in his book, who’s title eludes me now, but it
has been discussed several times here. Hope it helps.
Jim The book “Metals Technic” A collections of techniques for
metalsmiths, has a chapter on sterling granulation by John Cogswell.
I have yet to try this myself but reading through the chapter the
instructions sound detailed , simple to follow,with good
illistrations of the process. I have successfully learned a couple
other techniques from this book. I would like to learn the
granulation process as well. My question to any of you who do
granulation, gold or silver, is can the granules be purchased all
ready made? Or is the making of these part of the whole experience of
granulation??? It seems as though that might be cheating! but I’m
just not too confident of how to make the granules with my limited
equipment and knowlege. I am unable to take a class at this time, so
any sugestions? Jim, I’d be interested in finding out your results if
you attempt the process on your own. Nancy
If you live in the New York Metropolitan area I would suggest taking
courses from Cecelia Bauer Studios. She is wonderful, and maybe she
has written a publication. Her phone number is (212) 643-8913.
Granulation is one of her specialties.
Sincerely,
Diane Sadel
http://www.sweetgemstones.com
brand new- botryoidal blue chalcedony to be up on web soon
Jim, your question read: “Can anyone help me find a written account
on how to do silver granulation work. Even better, if any of you
silversmiths know the technique, please pass it on.” You might try
Lapidary Journal for the technique.
http://lapidaryjournal.com/jj/jun01granjj.cfm
Good Luck, Laurie
The book “Metals Technic” contains an articly by John Cogswell on
sterling granulation, as well as articles on many other metalsmithing
techniques.
Lee Einer
http://www.members.home.net/appealsman
Jim I have been experimenting with Silver Granulation too. The
following list of articles may help.
1.Oppi Untracht,(big book) granulation, pg. 348-363
2.Rever’s Metal Technic, John Cogswell article, Sterling Granulation
- Hoover and Strong Catalog
(Hoover & Strong) article by Ceclia
Bauer.
4.Lewton-Brain, Some notes on Granulation,
(Granulation Method - Ganoksin Jewelry Making Community)
-
LapidaryJournal,(Lapidary Journal - Jewelry Making, Jewelry Arts, Gems, Beads, B&B, Minerals and More)
article by Sandra Bucholz -
Codina, The complete Book of Jewelry Making,pg 70-73, (excellent
book)
Hope this helps.
Jim, A silver granulation technique can be found in the book Metals
Technic published by Brynmorgen. I have tried this and it works very
well.
Hope this helps
Carree
Sterling and gold granules can be purchased from SCM corporation in
three different sizes that are about as perfectly formed and uniform
as they can be. They are, however, quite expensive. I do not have
the telephone number handy but can provide it if you are interested.
For those of you who may not know, Jean Stark is the granulation
godmother who not only revived this lost art but taught most of the
instructors who are teaching the technique today. There is no one
more knowledgable about this subject (well, at least no one more
knowledgable who is willing to share the secrets!). She does
conduct workshops and perhaps can be coerced into giving us her
upcoming schedule. Better still, if we deluge her with pleas,
perhaps she would consider writing a text.
Hi All! Just to alert you to the fact that the article I did for
Lapidary Journal about a year or so ago on Fine Silver Granulation
was edited so that several important steps were eliminated.
Unfortunately they never told me they would edit it, or let me read
it to see if the final version was correct. As you can imagine, I
was Very distressed. However, I did offer then, and will offer
again to send you, via email- a copy of the original article (my
copy) and answer any questions you may have. I think I sent out at
least 30 or 40 copies last fall. I would appreciate it if you
request it only if you are going to try granulation now, since it
does take a considerable amount of time to respond to requests. You
can email me directly at Elegantbee@aol.com. Sincerely Sandra
My question to any of you who do granulation, gold or silver, is can the granules be purchased all ready made? Or is the making of these part of the whole experience of granulation??? It seems as though that might be cheating!
As far as cheating goes, many of granulators (charging mucho bucks)
do not make most of their own granules. It is very time consuming,
and apparently just as cost effective for them to purchase them ready
made. That said, until recently, the only place I knew of that made
them was a company names SPM in Armonk, NY. They are not cheap. Off
the top of my head, I believe their fabrication charge was around
$350 - $400 an ounce, NOT including the price of the metal (for gold
that is, silver is included in the price). Someone else on this list
said they had gotten them more cheaply, but had to buy a large
quantity of them, and did not divulge her source. SPM’s web address
was www. goldgranules.com, but when I checked just now, a different
site popped up. I think the parent company SEMX Corp. is revamping
their web site.
When I last took classes at C. Bauer Studio a year ago, Tevel
Herbstman of Allcraft was developing a line of 22k gold products
(sheet wire and granules) that should be a bit easier on the
pocketbook to acquire. He told me he would probably not be charging
as much as SPM does. In the current issue of Metalsmith (I saw it at
Barnes & Noble) Allcraft has an ad (one of two Allcraft ads, so keep
looking for it) that states he has 22k granulation sheet, wire and
granules. I know what I want for Christmas…
Gail Middleton
Hi Gail,. I don’t want you to get your hopes set too high for Xmas.
Unless there was a recent change, Allcraft sells " sheet, tube and
wire for granulation" but not the granules themselves. By the way,
the material fuses beautifully. However, because of the high cost,
Cecelia has stopped buying the wire and has been making her own.
Hope this helps.
Hi SPCATLANTA; I noticed you give credit to Jean Stark for
re-introducing granulation technique to todays craftspeople.
For those of you who may not know, Jean Stark is the granulation godmother who not only revived this lost art but taught most of the instructors who are teaching the technique today. There is no one more knowledgable about this subject
As much as I respect her contributions to the metalsmithing
community, I believe credit for that should go to John Paul Miller.
Just my opinion, and I’d like to hear Jean’s opinion or that of
others hereabouts.
David L. Huffman
Harold O’Connor gives a terrific workshop on granulation,
reticulation and surface treatments and he does travel to give
workshops. I don’t have his number with me (I’m on the road) but if
you email me off list, I’ll send it to you when I return.
Beth
The telephone number for the company that can supply gold and silver
granules is 1-914-273-5500. The name of the business is SPM
Corporation. I recommend that you find someone to share the expense
with if you decide to do this. Sandy
Elizabeth, Thank you for setting the record straight about John
Paul Miller’s willingness to teach granulation. I do not think
that there has ever been any argument that he was the first to
investigate the technique in this country and there is certainly no
argument about his incredible work. The assumption that he would
not share his developments in this area was obviously erroneous.
However, I firmly believe that general awareness of the technique
did not occur until Kulicke-Stark started teaching the process, and
certainly the popularization that has occurred in the last 30 years
was largely due to their efforts and because of developing the
source for commercial granules.
Granulation is an ancient technique, so “redevelopment” would be
more correct than “discovery” in referring to its appearance in the
modern world. There were no written instructions from the ancient
world to explain how it was done, and even then there were several
ways employed to attach the granules. Since the 19th Century, a
number of people in various parts of the world developed their own
processes for “granulating”. JPM’s process is different from the
process used by K-S. Littledale’s process is similar, but several
other people have greatly varying methods. Although I have read
whatever I have found on Elizabeth Treskow’s superb work, I do not
recall having read about her process. In Asia, granulation as a
surface decoration did not die out as it did in the Western World,
but it is also achieved in a different way.
I am sorry that I have not had the pleasure of meeting John Paul
Miller. I had heard that he is a wonderful person and he certainly
is the Master. I have never seen any books or tapes on him or his
work. Are you aware of any that are available?
Jean Stark
Hello David,
I am happy to meet you too. Freddie Kulicke’s post did provide some
details that help explain Bob Kulicke’s contribution to the spread
of granulation in this country. If it were not for him I would not be
in this field. He wanted to educate the contemporary jewelry and
art worlds to jewelry as an art form, and to do that though the
techniques and aesthetics of the ancient world. He was a wonderful
teacher, generous and enthusiastic, who made students better than
they thought they could be, and those of us from the School who
teach learned much from him. He is primarily a painter, however,
and a very good one, so unlike JPM, his personal jewelry production
is very limited, but he encouraged and contributed to the work of
many others.
You can see some of my recent work in the June, 2000, issue of
Lapidary Journal, and on http://www.rocksmyth.com.
I am sorry to say that I do not know much about Mokume-Gane, and
less about its history in this country. It is one of the subjects
on my list of workshops that I would like to take.
Best regards, Jean Stark