Gold and silver wire, according to its function, can be made into various sizes, shapes, sections, and weights. When the relief was to be fully modeled, the cire perdue ( lost-wax) process, involving casting from a wax mold, was used. When the relief was to be visible only from one side, the metal was poured into the cast and, when hardened, touched up with a graver. Granulation is a decorative technique in which small or minute gold balls (with diameters ranging from 1/ 60 to 1/ 180 of an inch) are used to form silhouettes on smooth or embossed metal.Ĭasting from precious metals has always been rare. In the Roman period this technique was called opus interassile. Completely round objects were made in two pieces and then welded together.Īnother embossing, or relief, technique is engraving, which involves impressing designs into the metal with a sharp tool.ĭecorative openwork designs can be created by piercing the gold leaf. For half-modeled or completely round reliefs, the gold leaf was pressed onto wooden or bronze models. In repoussé the relief is pressed (in a negative mold) or hammered out from the reverse side of the gold sheet and then finished off on the right side with a hammer or engraving tool. Throughout the centuries embossing techniques have remained substantially unchanged, although in modern times mechanization has made possible mass production of decorative parts of jewelry, with great savings of time and labour but with a corresponding lack of art. The sheets were then cut into the desired sizes.Įxamination of the most ancient pieces of jewelry shows that one of the techniques used most widely in decorating metal sheets for jewelry was embossing (relief work). Gold in its natural state was beaten while hot or cold and reduced to extremely thin sheets (this operation could be performed with stone hammers). These components take on the desired shape by means of techniques carried out with the help of tools. The basic components of jewelry have always consisted of sheet metal, metal cast in a mold, and wire (more or less heavy or fine). SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
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