Working with red tree coral
 

Hey,
Does anyone have experience attaching silver things to red tree coral.
I have some nice coral I bought at a show and I'd like to attach a casting
to it.

I imagine glue won't stick and heat will destroy it, so mechanical
attachmnets are the norm.

PW

Working with red tree coral
 

On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 06:18:38 GMT in rec.crafts.jewelry "Paul WIlson"
, intended to write something intelligible,
but instead wrote :

Hey,
Does anyone have experience attaching silver things to red tree coral.
I have some nice coral I bought at a show and I'd like to attach a casting
to it.

I imagine glue won't stick and heat will destroy it, so mechanical
attachmnets are the norm.

PW

Are you wanting to cap it?
Can you be a little more vague?

Working with red tree coral
 

On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:18:37 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Paul WIlson"
wrote:

Hey,
Does anyone have experience attaching silver things to red tree coral.
I have some nice coral I bought at a show and I'd like to attach a casting
to it.

I imagine glue won't stick and heat will destroy it, so mechanical
attachmnets are the norm.

PW


Heat would destroy it, sure. but why do you think it cannot be glued? Usually,
if the metal part is made to fit the coral part, such as a socket or cap shape
into which and end of the coral fits somewhat well (perfect isn't needed), and
if both the metal is clean or better, clean and roughed up a bit with something
like a small grinding point (the small plated diamond drills/bits one sees from
china work well), and the coral is equally clean and roughed up a bit (to give
the glue more surface area to bond to), then good epoxies usually work quite
well.

Other means might be the same way pearls are often affixed. Drill the coral,
and fit the silver with a reasonably close fitting wire or peg that fits into
the hole, and glue together. Super glues also should work well, if the parts
fit closely without gaps.

The main thing with the glues is to be sure the parts are very clean. Oils or
waxes or the like mean the glues are trying to bond to a surface film of oil or
wax, not to the part itself, and obviously, then they don't hold. Use an
appropriate solvent like acetone to be sure the part is clean. Grinding into
the surface slightly with a dry grinding bit like those small diamond bits one
can find is another way to be sure you're gluing to the actual material of the
coral, not a surface coating, and roughing up the surface like that also
improves the bond. If you use a good epoxy like Hughes epoxy 220 or epoxy 330,
both made for metal to stone joints, your bond can be expected to easily last
ten or twenty years if treated with some respect... And it can always be
eventually reglued if the glue seems to be degrading over time...

Peter

Working with red tree coral
 

There seems to be an abundance of red coral being produced by a
factory in South East China such as this necklace
http://www.silverstall.com/costume/gemnecklaces.htm which is composed
of fragments of red coral mixed with a resin. It is mounted on a
coconut back using a hot-glue gun which so far seems to have caused no
problems There is also a variety of 'red coral' such as this pendant
http://www.silverstall.com/silver/pe...red-coral.html
where the coral is processed with mangrove for which we have used
epoxy 220.On Mar 2, 4:48 pm, Red tree coral, as i understand it is an
endangered species and its use may cause problems.

Working with red tree coral
 

On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 11:52:11 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "silverstall"
wrote:

There seems to be an abundance of red coral being produced by a
factory in South East China such as this necklace
http://www.silverstall.com/costume/gemnecklaces.htm which is composed
of fragments of red coral mixed with a resin. It is mounted on a
coconut back using a hot-glue gun which so far seems to have caused no
problems There is also a variety of 'red coral' such as this pendant
http://www.silverstall.com/silver/pe...red-coral.html
where the coral is processed with mangrove for which we have used
epoxy 220.On Mar 2, 4:48 pm, Red tree coral, as i understand it is an
endangered species and its use may cause problems.


Seems like a lot, if not most, of the :"red coral" I see strung into various
beads (some of sizes I'd never expect to find in a true gem quality coral) at
the gem shows, especially the retail level ones that seem to have an awful lot
of beads and junk, are not coral at all, but dealers grudgingly, if at all,
elaborate on "coral" by explaining that it's dyed "sea bamboo". Now, I'm not
sure just what sort of plant or animal "sea bamboo" really is, but it's not,
I'm told, a true coral. I was told the stuff grows fairly rapidly, and it
does seem to work easily, and if you're not too picky about identification,
seems attractive enough with a sometimes interesting texture. I just wish the
stuff was marketed a bit more honestly, not trying to imply that it's a true gem
coral, or that the color is naturally red...

I wonder if, Silverstall", your "sponge" coral is related to this stuff called
"sea bamboo"? there seems, from your photos, a visual resemblance...

Peter

Working with red tree coral
 

I think I have true tree coral. I bought it from a good dealer (Bill Gangi
I think his name was) at the ACC show in Baltimore.. It was harveted in
Italy in the 1970's. This form happens to fit the seahorse casting I have.

I'll try the acetone clean-up, burr abrading and epoxy gluing.

By the way, Connaissance Des Arts had a nice article on aged red coral a few
months ago. That gave me the idea. They have a nice thing on Lalique now.
See http://www.connaissancedesarts.com/.

PW

"Peter W.. Rowe," wrote in message
...
On Sat, 03 Mar 2007 11:52:11 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "silverstall"
wrote:

There seems to be an abundance of red coral being produced by a
factory in South East China such as this necklace
http://www.silverstall.com/costume/gemnecklaces.htm which is composed
of fragments of red coral mixed with a resin. It is mounted on a
coconut back using a hot-glue gun which so far seems to have caused no
problems There is also a variety of 'red coral' such as this pendant
http://www.silverstall.com/silver/pe...red-coral.html
where the coral is processed with mangrove for which we have used
epoxy 220.On Mar 2, 4:48 pm, Red tree coral, as i understand it is an
endangered species and its use may cause problems.


Seems like a lot, if not most, of the :"red coral" I see strung into
various
beads (some of sizes I'd never expect to find in a true gem quality coral)
at
the gem shows, especially the retail level ones that seem to have an awful
lot
of beads and junk, are not coral at all, but dealers grudgingly, if at
all,
elaborate on "coral" by explaining that it's dyed "sea bamboo". Now, I'm
not
sure just what sort of plant or animal "sea bamboo" really is, but it's
not,
I'm told, a true coral. I was told the stuff grows fairly rapidly, and
it
does seem to work easily, and if you're not too picky about
identification,
seems attractive enough with a sometimes interesting texture. I just wish
the
stuff was marketed a bit more honestly, not trying to imply that it's a
true gem
coral, or that the color is naturally red...

I wonder if, Silverstall", your "sponge" coral is related to this stuff
called
"sea bamboo"? there seems, from your photos, a visual resemblance...

Peter

Working with red tree coral
 

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:06:09 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Paul WIlson"
wrote:

I think I have true tree coral. I bought it from a good dealer (Bill Gangi
I think his name was) at the ACC show in Baltimore.. It was harveted in
Italy in the 1970's. This form happens to fit the seahorse casting I have.

I've known Bill for easily 25 years, and bought some nice things from him too,
over the years. You're right, Not just a good dealer, but a good cutter too,
and a decent and interesting fellow. If he says it's the real thing, it is.

Peter

Working with red tree coral
 

I'm sure that Paul's is real coral however i agree with Peter that
currently there is simply 'too' much 'red coral' junk jewellery on the
market for it all to be real. The sea bamboo i suspect maybe another
term for the red mangrove plant that thrives on south asian coastlines.

Working with red tree coral
 

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:56:02 GMT, "silverstall"
wrote:

I'm sure that Paul's is real coral however i agree with Peter that
currently there is simply 'too' much 'red coral' junk jewellery on the
market for it all to be real. The sea bamboo i suspect maybe another
term for the red mangrove plant that thrives on south asian coastlines.

I was curious about that, too. The most common usage of "sea bamboo"
seems to be for a variety of kelp. I didn't find any reference that
told what the jewelry was actually made from.

--
Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ

Working with red tree coral
 

Bill Gangi also had some very nice black coral on display -- properly
described. Maybe that's close to the sea bamboo.
I wouldn't know what to do with it, but the red coral spoke to me. Cold in
the hand rather than warm as is plastic.
PW

"silverstall" wrote in message
...
I'm sure that Paul's is real coral however i agree with Peter that
currently there is simply 'too' much 'red coral' junk jewellery on the
market for it all to be real. The sea bamboo i suspect maybe another
term for the red mangrove plant that thrives on south asian coastlines.