In The Lab

I've given myself the luxury of disconnecting just a bit from the noise and lists of responsibilities to return to the blissful land of scientific exploration.  I'm experimenting with metal reticulation.  What happens to the properties of silver when you heat it to the edge of changing it's form from a solid to a liquid?  How does that change occur in different gauges or thicknesses and shapes of metal? What happens when you do some forming before or after reticulation? What changes in the colors of the metal if it is patinated and then tumbled?  Here are some of the products of my first explorations.  The textures that result allow some control but are still unpredictable, kind of like watercolor or the glazes on pottery.  So much fun.

Silver reticulation on a copper hollow form

silver reticulation brooch

Silver reticulation on fabricated wire with patina