Hi, does any one know if I can purchase fine silver sheet 34(best)
or 32 gauge. Metalliferous sells 30(thinest) only, and Rio Grande
sells 28(thinest). I do not have a roller. I am cutting out shapes
and sandwiching them in fused glass. I need stock that thin because
anything thicker traps air bubbles in all the corners and looks
unsightly. Rio sells sterling sheet that thin, but the copper in the
sheet gets liberated to the glass, and causes a green halo in the
oxidative atmosphere of an electric kiln.
There is the possibility of getting a good pure silver layer on my
cut outs. Is it just the pickle pot that will do this? Does it have
to be annealed? I need to keep the metal as flat as possible without
having to clean it up, because then I am just exposing copper
particles again. These cut outs are really small and delicate, I
hate to put a torch on them. Its hard to believe that this approach
will work but maybe if there is absolutely no copper on the surface
that will be enough. Would love to just have the correct stock even
if this does work. Going out to give a try now.
Hi, does any one know if I can purchase fine silver sheet 34(best)
or 32 gauge.
Hoover & Strong [http://www.hooverandstrong.com] will make whatever
you want. Rio should be able to special order it for you as well.
Beth
Hoover and Strong
Help others make informed buying decisions with Hoover and Strong. We
welcome your opinions and experiences with their products, ordering,
customer service and and over all satisfaction.
Putting torch to a cut-out from 34 ga sheet to raise fine silver
does sound a little scarey - especially when you consider
brass-brushing it! Have you thought about plating your cut-outs
with silver? All surfaces, including the edges would be covered. I
don’t plate, but someone on Orchid can tell you about it.
A little out-of-the-box thought from Judy in Kansas
fine silver sheet 34 (best) cut outs are really small and delicate
I don’t know if this will work for you, but Thompson Enamels sells
fine silver foil in 4" square sheets. I used to cut out the foil in
small, delicate shapes and fuse it onto my transparent enamel
surface, then put a transparent color over it.
You could use Precious Metal Clay Sheet (sometimes called Paper) for
this application. It’s easy to use, and I know people use it in
this way, in between layers of glass.
Possibly using fine silver foil would work for you. You need to
pierce the foil surface with a brass brush, tapping it all over the
shape, to eliminate the bubbles. Silver leaf is probably too thin
and could simply burn up in the kiln but it is cheaper and can
usually be bought one sheet at a time, should you want to try it.
Thompson Enamel is one source.
Ashley
P.S. I didn’t see a followup to the query about using hydrochloric
acid. Is anyone going to discuss using PnP and ferric chloride?
With a quantity of ammonia hanging around the corner for safety?
Hi - Not knowing exactly how large these “cut-outs” are - if they
are small enough you might be able to special order “very tall”
cloisonne wire and use that. I order my wire for plique-a-jour from
Hagstoz in Philadelphia http://www.hagstoz.com and they have always
been very accommodating to special size requirements. They may need
you to order a “minimum” to make it worthwhile but at least it’s a
way to get very thin “sheet”. Maybe they could roll a certain gauge
wire to the size you would need - it’s worth asking. Good luck!
(No affiliation with Hagstoz - just a satisfied customer.)
Diane Echnoz Almeyda
I will be teaching pierced plique-a-jour at Metalwerx April 16-17,
2005 and filigree plique-a-jour at Metalwerx June 22-26, 2005. Hope
to meet some of you there!