You may have noticed pretty much all of my work features an unusual texture. This texture is called reticulation. The short explanation is that reticulation is a heat texture done with a torch on silver or gold - but it takes a deft hand on the torch to get the desired results. Reticulation produces a ridged or ripply surface through controlled heating.
A finished reticulated piece of silver with a high polish.
Reticulation usually involves heating a sheet of gold or silver alloy up to 10 times to oxidize the copper at the surface, then pickling to remove the oxide and leaving a thin layer of pure metal. This process-called depletion gilding-results in different melting temperatures between the surface and the interior of the sheet. Once the sheet is gilded, it is heated with a torch: The alloy in the interior flows before the surface metal does. The result is that the surface wrinkles, something like the "skin" on hot chocolate-only more appetizing.
Click on any of the images below to make them larger:
Click on any of the images below to make them larger:
 The dark pieces of silver in the background have already been depletion guild-ed and are cooling before being cleaned.  You can see the texture on the metal starting to take shape as it is heated evenly. |  The piece in the foreground is being reticulated using a medium large torch tip.  It's important to keep the torch moving constantly so as not to burn a hole in the metal, or even melt it entirely. |
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