Metal jewelry is often made with beautiful textures on its surface to achieve amazing effects! You can easily achieve different effects on some metals, not just textures, you can also add shine and plasticity. We have lots of different tools and materials to help you, so feel free to try them out. It may be a little difficult at first, but that’s okay, we’ve put together some ideas in this blog to help you getting Started.
Which metal can easily create textures?
At the beginning, we recommend that you use some softer metals, such as copper, which is cheap and easy to process. Gold and silver are also good, but they are too expensive. At the beginning, we need to have a relatively small budget. Practice and gain experience. Once you have the skills you can create something of high value.
Metals come in a variety of thicknesses, and we recommend starting with the thinnest, usually 1mm thick. Why 1mm? Because metal that is too thin will deform very easily, which can easily ruin your work in the process. Also, metal that is too thick is not suitable for beginners, which will make it more difficult for you to process. Move on to these materials after you have accumulated more experience.
In addition, each metal has its own characteristics. For example, when you heat treat copper, the texture you create is completely different from the texture of copper that has not been heat treated, even if you apply the same texturing technique.
What if the metal is too hard to process ?
Bending, shaping, texturing and hammering metals change their mechanical properties and make them harder. This makes the metal difficult to work with, but the solution is simple: anneal the metal. Annealing is a common process in metalworking that softens the metal and makes it easier to work with. All you have to do is heat the metal with a blowtorch until it's red hot, then cool it quickly in water, which works well for silver and copper.
How is metal cut and rolled?
This process requires the use of some tools and machines, as metal cannot be shaped much by hand. To cut some thin metal, you can use heavy-duty multi-purpose metal shears, which can easily handle your metal sheets. Alternatively, you can use a jeweler's saw frame to cut some thicker metal.
When your starting material is a metal ingot or bar, you need a rolling mill. Jewelers are familiar with rolling mills. Its main function is to apply pressure to the metal through a pair of aligned hard steel rollers to roll it into sheets or wires. Its steel rollers are adjustable to roll out materials of different specifications. After this step, you can start to create beautiful patterns on the material by carving, hammering or stamping.
Hammering and Engraving
Jewelers often work on metal materials by hammering and carving to create patterns. Like this finished product:
This is a copper piece, and it looks very beautiful. The maker used Doming Blocks and Punches and various other tools to process it. For the percussion, you will use a variety of different types of tools. We mainly use the shape of the tool and the force of the percussion to make the metal form a complex texture or concave and convex pattern.
Of course, creating patterns requires engraving. A good jeweler can carve a variety of exquisite patterns on the surface of the material. Mark the outline of the pattern on the metal surface, and then fix the metal on the engraving table for operation. Use a carving knife or pneumatic engraving machine to gradually cut or remove the metal according to the pattern. This requires a lot of practice to achieve accuracy.
Heat tinting metals
Once you have completed the texture, you can consider giving the metal some lovely colors. In addition to the natural color of the metal, we can also create beautiful colors through some practical techniques. Some metals are very suitable for heat coloring. They will oxidize or undergo subtle chemical reactions on the surface at high temperatures to form different colors. These colors have a natural gradient effect that can increase the visual appeal of the metal.
Among soft metals, copper is very suitable for thermal coloring. It will show the following colors at different temperatures:
200°C: Light gold
300°C: Red
400°C: Purple
500°C: Dark blue
The only thing to note is that heat coloring is an irreversible process and you need to be careful with it. Make sure you have precise control over the temperature and the flame, which should be constantly moving, to avoid overheating the metal or causing spots.
When the hot coloring is completed, you will find that the bumpy texture and bright colors will form a wonderful combination, making your work look shining.
