10/20 Balls for All! The Secrets of Granulation in Sterling Silver with Nisa Blackmon

Sunday, October 20, 2024 
9:00 am – 12:00 pm PDT

Instructor: Nisa Blackmon

Granulation is a 5,000-year-old jewelry technique in which tiny spheres (“granules”) of gold or silver are fused or soldered to a metal base in decorative patterns. The process was long thought to be “lost” by Western jewelry gatekeepers but has actually been widely used by humble metalsmiths to enhance their ethnic and cultural jewelry designs for centuries. This beautiful technique has resurfaced in recent years and now you can learn the basics in just a couple of hours (five millennia not required)!

In this workshop, students will learn how to create their own sterling silver granules of desired sizes, arrange them in traditional and contemporary patterns, and fuse them to sterling sheet and wire without the need for solder. Further uses for and alteration of granulated components will also be discussed.

Granulation of gold and fine silver has a reputation for being “finicky,” fussy, and difficult, requiring special plating processes, fluxes, adhesives, and/or chemical additives to aid the fusing process. Sterling silver, however, already contains the key component – copper – that promotes the fusion, reducing the level of required fussiness to a minimum and allowing practitioners to instead spend all their “finicks” on ballsy and creative arrangements of granules.

Student Level: Beginners and all levels welcome.

All classes include the video recording, which you will have access to for 60 days after the class. Zoom link and instructions for joining the call will be emailed 1 day (24 hours) prior to class.

The class supply list is below and contains links to buy the supplies you need.

Supply List for Students

The links below will take you to RioGrande.com or other suppliers. To see prices for precious metal items, you need a free Rio Grande account. Students in the Rio for Schools program enjoy wholesale benefits for six months (instructor code = RFSLMF). This site may contain Amazon and other affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, at no cost to you, we may receive a small commission on qualifying purchases.

Recommended Tools:

• A good pair of lightweight metal shears or tin snips, such as Clauss 8” trimming shears, #33373
• Flush cutters
• Steel or brass rods, or tubes, of various fine diameters (anywhere from 1 mm or 1/32” to 1/8” or so), such as K&S Metals
• Jeweler’s saw, 4.75” throat (other throat depths are fine, too)
• Wooden bench pin or V-block
• Steel bench block or anvil
• Steel hammer, ball peen
• Rolling mill (optional)
• Steel ruler and
• Metal scribe or steel dividers
• Small, rounded steel punch (about 0.5-1.0 mm diameter). Example: a tiny dapping punch, domed chasing or beading tool, or even a blunted old center punch or steel nail.
• Charcoal block, 28 gauge steel binding wire
• Thin copper, brass or steel sheet (optional)
• Fine forceps
• Solder pick
• Fine paintbrush (00 or 000), pointed round, natural hair
• Torch
  • Smith Torch or
  • Bernzomatic Fire Point Creator Tool Torch & disposable propane fuel, or
  • similar small, hand-held torch
• Soldering tripod and mesh screen (optional)
• Soft fire bricks (K-23)
• Large glass or ceramic water dish (optional)
• Small glass jar or small plastic container (approx. 2 oz or so)
• Pickle pot or small crock pot w/ ceramic insert (recommend all-glass lid)
• Copper tongs

Recommended Supplies:

• Emery (wet-dry) paper, 320 & 400 grit
• Jeweler’s sawblades: 5/0, 6/0 or other sizes appropriate for desired sheet thickness. I prefer Rio Laser Golds, but other brands are fine, too.
• For making granules: Sterling silver sheet (28-30) gauge or sterling wire (28, 26, 24, or 22 gauge) or any sterling sheet or wire scraps that can be rolled or hammered down to approx. 28-30 ga.
• For a base plate onto which granules will be fused: Sterling silver sheet (24, 22, or 20 gauge) and/or sterling wire (gauge appropriate to the size of granules – 24, 22, 20 ga)
• Battern’s self-pickling flux
• Rio Pickle, Sparex, or other pickling solution
• Liver of sulfur or other oxidizer appropriate for sterling silver (optional)