Woven gold or mesh sources?

I've been looking for a source of either gold mesh or woven gold, for a
base for a jewelry piece. Can't find anything in Rio Grande or online
via search engines (just very fine mesh for chem. filters). Do you
guys know of any place that makes mesh, weave or screen out of gold?
I need an open mesh of about 4 wires per inch in pieces about half the
size of my hand. 12K, 14K or 18K.

C.C.

wrote:
Do you
guys know of any place that makes mesh, weave or screen out of gold?
I need an open mesh of about 4 wires per inch in pieces about half the
size of my hand. 12K, 14K or 18K.

Guess I don't understand the requirements, because four wires per inch
would be easy to make at your workbench. And for strength, I guess you'd
want a fairly heavy gauge of wire. And, the design would have to ensure
that there were no sharp ends of wire that could snag the wearer, but if
you mad a jig of nails in a board, you could do the weaving and just
have the two ends to deal with. There is a reconfigurable jig available
(Wig Jig) for projects like that. Arlene Fisch has done a book called
"Textile Techniques in Metal" (check spelling of her name and exact
title) and this might be some help and inspiration. Or, you could make
the mesh in wax wire and have it cast, which might simplify the issue of
soldering each overlap, which is not all that big a problem.

I did try making a jig of nails (used copper for my prototype wire) but
the kinks from pulling the cross-wires through looked bad. Also tried
knitting the wire and even hand-making small chainlink fencing. It's
interesting trying to work so small, for a change. I'll find the
textile/metals book. And hadn't thought about casting -- thanks for
all your advice!
Carol
http://www.carolcohen.com

wrote:
I've been looking for a source of either gold mesh or woven gold, for a
base for a jewelry piece. Can't find anything in Rio Grande or online
via search engines (just very fine mesh for chem. filters). Do you
guys know of any place that makes mesh, weave or screen out of gold?
I need an open mesh of about 4 wires per inch in pieces about half the
size of my hand. 12K, 14K or 18K.

C.C.


4 wires per inch? Make your own.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

I also agree that a density of 4 wires/inch can be easily achieved at
your workbench. I bought from one of my suppliers a "decorative gold
plate" which is kind of a gold wire mesh. You may cut and use it in any
size.
take a look at:
http://pasternakfindings.com/indexdz...4&sname=Sheets
Sarit.

Sarit Wolfus - Silver, Gold & Gemstones, Handcrafted jewelry
http://sarit-jewlry.com

wrote:
I did try making a jig of nails (used copper for my prototype wire) but
the kinks from pulling the cross-wires through looked bad. Also tried
knitting the wire and even hand-making small chainlink fencing. It's
interesting trying to work so small, for a change. I'll find the
textile/metals book. And hadn't thought about casting -- thanks for
all your advice!
Carol
http://www.carolcohen.com

Hi Carol,
youll need to run another trial with copper wire as follows. Youll
need to follow the normal weaving principle, ie that is you have each
longditudinal alternate thread/wire fixed to a small dowel. this means
youll have 2 dowels with wires attached. You then take another wire your
cross thread and open up the 2 sets of wires attached to the 2 dowels.
Lay the cross wire between them then cross over the 2 dowels. lay the
cross wire back again and youll find you will have the weave you want.
now you will need to tell us the wire thickness you plan to use. Theres
a limit to how thick you can go to by hand.
Once youve got what you want in copper then go ahead with your gold
wire. youll need to get it fully annealed as gold alloy wire normally
comes as drawn, ie hard.
Also polish your wire before weaving. It will make your subsequent
work much easier.
Let us know how you get on.

wrote:
I did try making a jig of nails (used copper for my prototype wire) but
the kinks from pulling the cross-wires through looked bad. Also tried
knitting the wire and even hand-making small chainlink fencing. It's
interesting trying to work so small, for a change. I'll find the
textile/metals book. And hadn't thought about casting -- thanks for
all your advice!
Carol
http://www.carolcohen.com

Nic looking work on your site, Carol. Doing the weaving seems so easy, I
can't quite understand why you had problems. When I mentioned casting, I
was thinking about a liquid rubber product that you can use to make a
rubber mold out of just about anything -- including any wire mesh that
you might have, including window screen, hardware cloth, chicken wire,
etc. For best results you do need a vacuum pump to get the air bubbles
out of the mold. But, on the other hand, you could vend out the mold
making, wax injection, and the casting. When you have the wax models of
the mesh, you could do a lot of shaping and even add wax parts before
having it cast.