a note on Silver reticulation

[Neural]

I don't know where exactly I got the idea that the process of reticulation silver was complicated, but I have discovered that you can get some pretty neat textures in a matter of minutes.
Also, something I did not see in any tutorial was that when you are evenly heating silver sheet with a torch, there is a nice marker to let you know you have reached the threshold of where silver begins to melt (and it will contract quickly when it does so!).
I don't know if it is because of the copper that comes to the surface, but when the silver is just on the edge of melting, the flame will get a nice greenish glow around it.  This is the sign to move the torch away.

This was on 26g to 24g sheet.  So the flame may be somewhat exclusive to that, but for me it makes a wonderful marker as to when the silver is at the right temp for reticulation.

[thewrightthings]

Great tip on reticulation, thanks.

[gregorgr8]

Reticulation can be done more deeply by creating a thin layer of fine silver (with a higher melting point) on the outer surfaces and a central layer with copper in it.  This can be done with sterling but reticulation silver is .800    You heat the silver and pickle it repeatedly at least 5 or 6 times before you reticulate it.  The inner part is molten and the outer part stays solid - the metaphor is that it is like the skin on a pudding which wrinkles.

No it is not difficult - but to learn to get particular patterns and repeatable patterns takes lots of practice.

Have fun - I love it.

(ooops   second pic is not reticulation - it was roller printed)

[ScarlettOSara]

Gregor:) How come you havent been showing your beautiful designs?
These are very lovely and thanks for the examples.
REally cool cabs:)

[hulagrub]

Exactly, what in the world is reticulation?
Is it hitting your funny bone twice?  ;D

[ScarlettOSara]

LOL Dave. NO its when someone tickles you more than once.
REticklelation:)

[thewrightthings]

Good one, Sara.

[gregorgr8]

that's what one shark said to the other after they had eaten a clown

did that taste funny?

[gregorgr8]

Gregor:) How come you havent been showing your beautiful designs?

because I am shy . . . the rest of the picture is:

[ScarlettOSara]

Awww we are happy for you when you win:)
You can toot your horn with us, just dont ask me to pull your finger:)

[tgood1969]

LOL, Sara! 

Congratulations Gregor! 

[Taogem]

You have been holding out on us Gregor !

Don't be shy man... We love to see beautiful pieces like yours.  :)

I wanted to add as much info about this within this thread as possible. So here a little bit from Ganoksin.

A PDF from Rio..

I hunted around for some kind of video tutorial and could not find anything that showed the process talked about here..

I did ..

I think he was trying to show the crystalization of silver, but one of the comments to the video mentions that they used the same technique for reticulation..

[gregorgr8]

You have been holding out on us Gregor !

OK OK, I sure wouldn't want to do that.  Here is the reticulated piece with its ribbon.

[gregorgr8]

Gregor:) How come you havent been showing your beautiful designs?

several reasons - working on other things (such as arranging garage so I have a better workspace); health issues; usual honeydos; and broken camera so had to use older pic.

Don't worry I am not really shy.  thanks to all for nice comments and encouragement.