Sunday, March 19, 2006

My First Attempt at Granulation with Argentium®




Above is my first attempt at granulation with Argentium Sterling® silver. Because it is so easy to fuse AS, I decided to try granulation (my first attempt with any metal). Everything on this pendant was fused, no solder what so ever. Even the bail was fused. The piece is about the size of a US nickel. This was accomplished using a completely fusion process to prevent contaminating the Argentium®.

Here are a few things I noted while making the pendant.

1. I am going to need a smaller brush to more accurately place the granules.

2. If the piece is granulated after doming, the piece must be supported from the bottom to prevent the piece from slumping during heating.

3. Do not move the piece when it is too hot. This will result in the metal breaking.

4. Care must be taken during buffing to prevent the granules from being worn down. You may wish to just use a brass brush to buff the piece.


Sunday, March 12, 2006

Using MY-T-FLUX with Argentium Sterling

For the past month I have been testing Rio Grande's "MY-T-FLUX as suggested by Peter Johns. When using the flux, the silver came out very clean, and the solder flowed well. The flux seemed to work exceptionally well when used while fusing Argentium Sterling. I've been applying the flux with a needle-tip dispenser that I recycled from a printer ink refill kit.