Hello, Orchidians!
I am searching for a source for gold foil to fuse to silver. My
current source offers such thin foil that it cannot be manipulated
effectively and easily burns out if overheated. My previous source is
out of business, but had provided foil that was substantially
thicker. Although I’d like to find a less expensive source, I’ll
settle for one that offers the appropriate thickness (maybe .001
or.002 inch?)
Any suggestions will be appreciated. Please reply directly to me at
terao@verizon.net rather than bothering the whole community with
your
Many thanks.
Sherry Terao - Art Peace
Silver Spring, MD
I am searching for a source for gold foil to fuse to silver.
Sherry Terao - Art Peace
Allcraft in New York carries it. The company Puregold makes it for
them, and also sells directly.
It is very easy to make your own if you have access to a rolling
mill. Take some pure gold and roll it as thin as it gets, anneal as
necessary (even an alcohol lamp or lighter will work on the thin
gold). When the mill is at its tightest and the gold is not getting
much bigger with repeated passes then take a piece of copper sheet
(maybe 24g), rub it with a little oil to discourage the gold bonding
to it and open the mill up a bit, place the gold onto the copper
sheet (which is longer and bigger than the piece of gold) and
continue rolling. The extra pressure given by the copper sheet will
make the gold even thinner as they roll out together. When the gold
barely (if at all ) registers on your micrometer it is ready. It is
very difficult to make it too thin. In my opinion most failures of
adhesion in keum-boo is due to the gold being too thick.
see:
best
charles
I found it such a problem to get 24K gold foil of the thickness I
need for Keum Boo that I finally decided to make it myself. I got a
24K gold coin, cut a section off, and put it through my rolling
mill—carefully torch annealing between passes. When the gold got
quite thin, I annealed it by putting it on my hot plate turned up
high, until the foil relaxed. By using the hot plate instead of the
torch, I avoided melting the thin metal. It took quite a while, but
eventually i got it thin enough to use. It is a bit thicker than the
foil from Korea which I got from Komelia Okim, but it is as thin as I
can get it with my el cheapo rolling mill. However, my home-rolled
foil works just fine and I save a bundle by doing it myself.
Alma
Hi Sherry,
Is there some reason you can’t just buy some 24k and roll it to the
thickness you like?
Janet
You can buy this from AllCraft in New York.
Art Clay Silver also sells some, see http://www.artclayworld.com. I
have not personally used this, so I can’t say anything about it
either way.
I have used the AllCraft product and it’s terrific.
Elaine
Elaine Luther
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com ™
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay
I found it such a problem to get 24K gold foil of the thickness I
need for Keum Boo that I finally decided to make it myself. I got
a 24K gold coin, cut a section off, and put it through my rolling
mill---carefully torch annealing between passes.
I don’t know Alma, but 24 kt does not need annealing so much. If it
does, use a kiln. Are you sure the coin is .999 or is it less? do you
get any discoloration after annealing?
Robert
The 24k foil from Art Clay Silver is very similar to Allcraft. It’s
cutable with scissors and burnishes incredibly well. We have a keum
boo project in our senior certification and it’s always a hit. Go to
artclayworld.com and look at the shopping cart.
Jackie
@Jackie2
Hi Robert.
I don't know Alma, but 24 kt does not need annealing so much. If
it does, use a kiln. Are you sure the coin is .999 or is it less?
I am sure my coin is 24K–it is a Maple Leaf. I don’t get any
discoloration after annealing. I do find though that during the
rolling process it does get a bit stiff, and when annealed it gets
more relaxed. I learned the technique of rolling, and hot plate
annealing of the foil from Komelia Okim when I took her keum boo
class. Perhaps I am not rolling it out the way I should.
Alma
Hi Sherry,
The purest gold I have been able to find is a Canadian Maple Leaf,
marked 0.9999 Pure.
Check the date. I think they went from 0.999 to 0.9999 after 1984.
I have had to return one coin that was an earlier date.
It comes in one ounce, down to 0.1 ounce and .05 ounce.
An ounce is $437.00
0.1 ounce is $ 50.46
0.05 ounce is $30.03
I roll my own, its easy to do and a 0.05 ounce will make quite a bit
of foil.
Put it in a rolling mill, and reduce the thickness, annealing every
two passes.
When you get to the last setting on the rolling mill, that’s where
it looks like the rollers are touching, you can stop, or cut the foil
in half, put the two pieces together with a sheet of tissue paper
between them, and go through the rollers one more time. This should
be just about the right thickness. I can easily cut it, punch out
shapes, pick it up off the floor when I drop it (all the time), and
its thick enough that it dosent tear when I burnish it.
The last step before I keumboo, is to scrub it (both sides) with a
mixture of amonnia and pumice to get it really clean and remove the
oils from the rolling mill.
I buy mine from Dallas Gold and Silver Exchange. They are on the Web,
and you can get the approximate price from their web site. You can
buy the coins locally from any Gold and Silver Bullion Exchange or
most local coin shops. The going price for an ounce is 5% over the
spot price of Gold for an Ounce, slightly higher for smaller sizes.
Love and God Bless
-randy
http://www.rocksmyth.com
I am sure my coin is 24K--it is a Maple Leaf. I don't get any
discoloration after annealing. I do find though that during the
rolling process it does get a bit stiff.
Alma, I use Austrian Ducats for rolling and I have the same comments
as you - after several passes it does get stiff and needs annealing.
I never get any discoloration either. The great thing about using
the coins and the rolling mill is that you can make anything from
bezel stock to foil. I always keep a coin on hand so that I can roll
the perfect thickness if I don’t already have it.
Donna in VA
I found it such a problem to get 24K gold foil of the thickness I
need for Keum Boo that I finally decided to make it myself. I got
a 24K gold coin, cut a section off, and put it through my rolling
mill---carefully torch annealing between passes.
Another trick is to take 24k casting grain and pound the grains flat
then use a rolling mill to roll to desired thickness. Works like a
charm! You only need to purchase a few DWT to get started.
Sincerely,
Thackeray Taylor
Rio Grande Technical Support
800-545-6566 ex 13903
Another trick is to take 24k casting grain and pound the grains
flat then use a rolling mill to roll to desired thickness. Works
like a charm! You only need to purchase a few DWT to get started.
I’ve heard that one of the precious metal companies makes sheets of
gold clay that can be cut with a scissors and which thins down after
firing. I wonder if that can be used in Keum Bo.
Lucille
I've heard that one of the precious metal companies makes
sheets of gold clay that can be cut with a scissors and which thins
down after firing. I wonder if that can be used in Keum Bo.
You can cut the Keum Boo gold foil with scissors.
There is a gold clay, it’s Precious Metal Clay - Gold, however,
using it for Keum Boo would not be cost effective.
Elaine
Elaine Luther
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com ™
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay