Rolling Mills and Patterns on Metal

[Former_Member]

Has anyone used a rolling mill to emboss/impress patterns on metal? I've recently used a rolling mill in the studio I use to create patterns on metal sheet using handmade papers with great results. Has anyone tried doing this on wire? I'm guessing for the best result, you'd need to use a heavier gauge, say 12-18 gauge?

Thanks,

Teresa

[Former_Member]

I would be curious to hear the answer to this if anyone knows. Gene has a rolling mill he makes some neat wire designs with,but yet to try making printed patterns. I saw these plates in my rio catalog and would love to see what magic they could create. Pattern wire costs a small fortune these days.

http://www.riogrande.com/Search/rolling-mill-patteren-plates

[Former_Member]

I'll run some wire through during class on Thursday and will let you know how it comes out. I plan on attending open studio hours on Friday, so hopefully I'll have a finished product to show by next weekend.

If it turns out, I'll list the item in my shop and post specifics on how to do it here.

- Teresa

[Former_Member]

oh,awesome! I can't wait to hear :-)

[JewelryByGaladryl]

I got a rolling mill for Xmas last year. Bought an embossing plate for it at Rio Grande. Did not have so much time yet to play with it though. But I can show you one cuff I did with it.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/63545761/patterned-cuff-textured-bronze

... and yes, I did it with some other pattern plates (they were really for PMC) on wire as well, not sure about the gauge anymore 16 ga or less. I am oxidizing the bangles at the moment. Will take a pic tomorrow.

[Former_Member]

I have never had the opportunity to do it, but boy would I love to play with one for a while. I might ask for a small one for christmas.

[Former_Member]

Beautiful Cuff galadryl ,oooh I wanna play with a rolling mill too! That is a beautiful pattern!

[Former_Member]

Looooove that cuff!

Sorry it's taken so long to get these photos posted. I took the photos last weekend but have only now gotten around to editing and posting them. There wasn't a good way to post the photos on Etsy since they're not finished pieces, so I set up a blog on Blogger. The homepage is here: http://waterfalljunction.blogspot.com/.

Here's the blog entry I did on patterning metal strips using the handmade paper: http://waterfalljunction.blogspot.com/2011/10/creating-patterns-on-metal-with-rolling.html.

And here's the followup I just posted on using the same technique using wire: http://waterfalljunction.blogspot.com/2011/10/creating-patterned-wire-with-rolling.html.

Some of the wire patterns might come out better using metallic ribbon. I'll poke around to see if I can score a piece from the studio or one of my scrapbooking friends and give it a try.

Let me know what you think!

BTW, has anyone tried patterning with actual leaves? I have an idea for a grapes-inspired brooch and was thinking of trying this on the rolling mill to see if it would work.

Thanks,

Teresa

[HillCountrySilver]

I didn't have much luck with leaves. Even relatively hard elm leaves, but did this necklace with some reproducible success with cicada wings. (they molt, so none of the big, ugly, cool bugs were harmed in the process.
http://www.etsy.com/transaction/39992480
They sold as soon as I listed them, but I wish the impressions had been deeper!
Cindy

[JewelryByGaladryl]

Yes, I tried leaves twice:

fresh leaf : utter mess
dry leaf (bottom of post): www.galadryl.blogspot.com/2011/03/mixed-metal-bangles-and-chakra-pendants.html

I eager to try again soon :)

[JewelryByGaladryl]

As I said before I used some patterned plates on wire as well
here the result

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84766864/recycled-bangles-in-textured-copper

[Former_Member]

Cindy,

Love the cicada wings! Looks like they worked really well!

- Teresa

[Former_Member]

Sylvia,

Thanks for the benefit of your experience! I'm working on a project now where I want to impress a leaf and then cut it out of copper, so I'll try the dried leaf idea tomorrow night in the studio.

Also love the bangles you got from the patterned plates. Much better than the paper I tried.

Thanks for sharing!

Teresa

[Former_Member]

very cool, I love the textured look,the leaf looks real neat. I wonder of some upholstery fabric with a cool raised design would work?