I’ve returned to the bench after a hiatus, and need to sharpen my skills in granulation. As I love English history, and all things Game of Thrones, I will make a simplified Anglo Saxon Disk pendant. I start with a fine silver disk, size 1 and 1/8 inch, or about 29 mm. The thickness of my […]
Tag Archives: Granulation; BlueFuse;
Granulation with the Ultralite Kiln
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
I am an enamelist, primarily. As offshoots of this passion I have also played with Jean Stark’s wonderful series of fused link chains, and lately, granulation. These endeavors have in common the act of fusing fine silver. If it is chain, you are making circles to become links. If it is enamel, I am […]
Simplifying Granulation
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Lately I’ve been absorbed in making lots of earrings for the holiday season, using my new granulation skills. I’ve found fusing to be an easy and surprisingly speedy way to assemble things. Anyone who has experimented with granulation knows that the main problem is making the granules. My friend Iris solved this problem for me, […]
Granulation meets Biology
Monday, August 1, 2011
Design is the final frontier of any technique. Making a personal statement with granulation is difficult, because granulation has definite character. This week’s earrings for the Betty McKim Earring Challenge uses multiple techniques, and begins to explore the nexus between geometry and biology. On my bench I have these bases to start with. Being a […]
Turning a Sow’s Ear into a Silk Purse
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Gone are the days when I tossed my mistakes into the little box on my bench. Silver is just too expensive to treat without the proper respect, and perhaps that is as it should be. Even though anything that could go wrong did, I decided to fix the meltdown to use for my Betty McKim […]
Sad Day in Granulationland
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Just when I was feeling pretty good, like, this is great! I have it under control! comes the cosmic reminder that pride goes before a fall. The last pair of green earrings had a great enamel effect, one that I had never seen before. I had heated the piece so hot that the enamel had […]
Granulation using Plating
Sunday, July 17, 2011
When fusing things together, I have realized that there are several approaches, that have their place. There is straight-up fusing, using just the torch. This is the best when you are trying to flow the metal across a gap. It requires a lot of heat control, because you are working mainly at melting temperature, and […]
Fusing for Granulation
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Granulation, as anyone reading blogs on Ganoksin already knows, is about fusing. Fusing is a solderless way of joining, in my case, silver. If I was an Etruscan, it might be gold or gold and silver alloys. It works great, within a limited range, and is a really fast way to assemble things. No fiddling […]
Yes, but can you Enamel on it?
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Now that I have granules and made lots of round granulated objects, I need to figure out how to enamel on these things. Mainly because I committed myself to teach a class in this, so I guess I better figure it out. It is all fine silver, so what could go wrong? (Famous Last Words) […]
The Trouble with Granulation
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
My most recent distraction has been attempting the ancient art of granulation. For years I have used a concoction of my own to fuse fine silver and make champleve bezels for my little round pendants. See the YouTube here Since I teach this technique, it became necessary to bottle the ‘magic solution’ to sell, so […]