![\"druzy](\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2013\/01\/druzy-star-jpeg-copy.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nStar brooch with Druzy; 22k gold, pearls, druzy, by Jill Hurant<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Jill is referring to granulation, the age-old process of fusing minuscule balls of metal to sheet. There is evidence it was practiced in Mesopotamia three thousand years BC, but the Etruscans finessed the technique and made it famous. A discovery near Rome in the early 1800s sparked interest in the process, stumping goldsmiths and scientists as to its fabrication. A hundred years later, it was determined that Etruscans practiced colloidal soldering, using a combination of traganth gum and copper salts to create a metallic bond at a near-melting temperature.<\/p>\n Cuff Bracelet; oxidized silver, 22k gold, diamonds, by Jill Hurant<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Granulation was one of the first techniques Jill learned as a student at the Jewelry Arts Institute in Manhattan. At the time she was there, she said, granulation was one of the more popular classes at the school. \u201cI would never consider myself a traditional metalsmith, but I do know the basics,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I stuck to what I learned there (JAI). I love this method, and I loved working in fine silver.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, Jill works exclusively in 22K gold, which she alloys, rolls, and draws into wire herself. She knows that when she alloys her own recipe of gold, copper, and fine silver, that it will fuse just the way she wants it to.<\/p>\n Jill moved from Ohio to New York to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology and for a while, operated a bathing suit cover-up business. Although her hand painted pieces were sold in boutiques across the nation, it didn\u2019t always provide the greatest satisfaction–especially when merchandise was returned, and often not in the condition when it left her workshop.<\/p>\n Domed Ring; 22k gold, diamonds, by Jill Hurant<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n She had never considered herself an artist, although she made a lot of her own clothes, some handbags and belts, and was the daughter of a prominent enamellist. Jill thought her FIT education would lead to work as a buyer or fashion coordinator for a department store. But she yearned to do something with an artistic edge. A friend of hers told her she would be good at metalsmithing, and took her to visit a jewelry making student.<\/p>\n Jill was impressed but skeptical, since she wasn\u2019t \u201ca jewelry person\u201d and hardly ever wore any. A year later, she reluctantly signed up to take a class. \u201cFrom day one, I thought this is the most amazing thing I’d ever done,\u201d she said. \u201cThe first thing I ever did was a cloisonn\u00e9 enamel, and I had to make the setting. I was literally hooked on metalsmithing the minute I started.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n