Suggestions on how to best use silver leaf

yeepers · #1 2006-05-31, 12:11pm

Hey all!

I know some of you out there are experts with the silver foil & leaf. I'm a total newbie when it comes to using this stuff so I'm asking for some helpful hints. I did read through older threads but didn't really come away with much....

My questions are:

1. Is there any color that you shouldn't use with silver leaf?
2. Is there a specific way to keep the silver on the surface without burning it?
3. After burnishing the silver in how do you bring out the silver again?
4. How come if I use silver on ivory it just turns yucky brown?

Uhhhhhh...I think that's it for now but please feel free to chime in with any tips you might have before I waste all my silver!!!

Thanks

You guys are great!

-Yee

Emily · #2 2006-05-31, 3:35pm

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1. Is there any color that you shouldn't use with silver leaf?

It depends on what you want. Rubino will go swamp greenish -- which is great, if that's what you want. Michael Barley does fabulous things with the effect. If you want hot pink and shiny silver, though, better put clear in between.

Quote:

2. Is there a specific way to keep the silver on the surface without burning it?

It's not easy. Use foil instead of silver. It's thicker, so less likely to burn off. Even so, you need to heat carefully. Some people use palladium, but I've never tried it.

Quote:

3. After burnishing the silver in how do you bring out the silver again?

You don't. If the silver disappears while you're burnishing, it's gone. It has either burned off leaving no trace (which can happen if the flame hits it when it hasn't been burnished down) or it has dissolved into the glass. On something like ivory, that will give you the color change that you've noticed. On other colors, you'll notice just faint silvery speckles. Sometimes you can bring back a silvery sheen by reducing, but you're not going to get the "I just wrapped this in silver" look again.

Quote:

4. How come if I use silver on ivory it just turns yucky brown?

That's the silver dissolving into the glass. Glass is colored with metal oxides, and by melting silver into ivory glass, you've added a color to it. Silver happens to produce a yellowish-brownish tone with most of the soft glass colors. (Silver in boro does all kinds of stuff -- it's an area of magic I don't pretend to understand.) It's most pronounced with ivory/dark ivory. Maybe that's because ivory is so soft that the silver dissolves into it easily. (Or maybe not.) If you fume silver onto clear, the clear will turn yellow. If you encase silver with clear, often it will look gold, because the silver stains the clear with that yellow tone.

yeepers · #3 2006-05-31, 3:52pm

Emily,

Thanks for the great explanations! I guess I'll just have to keep playing

I made some barrels with light ivory and rolled in leaf and then added dark aqua stringer over....it turned out nicely in some spots but others I just got dark yucky brown. I guess if I'd have covered the whole barrel in silver at least it would have looked uniform!

Cheers,

-Yee

Emily · #4 2006-05-31, 4:01pm

It's an exercise in heat control. You really set yourself a challenge by using ivory and dark aqua (if you mean transparent). Dark aqua is so stiff that it would be hard to get it to melt enough to adhere without melting the silver into the ivory. Really pretty if it works, though.

yeepers · #5 2006-05-31, 4:03pm

Hmmm, just what I like....a challenge! Will give it another go tomorrow when I hit the torch.

Any particular colors that look good with silver or any good reactions that I should know about?

Cheers,

-Yee

chrissij · #6 2006-05-31, 5:19pm

over cobalt or any of the amethyst colors, scrolled and swirled with rubino...

yeepers · #7 2006-05-31, 6:03pm

OK folks....look at this pitiful attempt and please tell me where I went wrong....

Thanks!!

-Yee

artwhim · #8 2006-05-31, 10:44pm

Yee, I love silver on ivory! So organic looking. Perhaps try making sure that the bead is evenly heated when you wrap it in silver. You don't want it too hot or the silver will burn off before you can burnish it on. Try to cover the bead evenly. To get a color reaction on ivory or cobalt, I like leaf instead of foil. This bead is ivory with silver leaf and turq stringer.

Good luck!
Kathy

Kevan · #9 2006-06-01, 1:26am

Yuckie brown? I beg to differ. It's way cool in the right application.

Rose · #10 2006-06-02, 3:16pm

Silver is so much fun to play with and experiment with the reactions. I suggest you get Corina's "Spotlight on Silver". That publication is worth the $$.

Rose

yeepers · #11 2006-06-02, 5:39pm

Hi Rose!

I snagged a copy from someone in the Garage Sale and can't wait for it to arrive so I can better get a grip on how to use silver

-Yee

Carolyn M · #12 2006-06-02, 8:19pm

Hi Yee

I use silver in a lot of my beads. It actually doesn't completely disappear if you 'burn it off'' - try flashing it in the top part of your flame. It's how I get the silver outlines to reappear on my beads. Also if you want the silver foil effect to stay, use foil over a transparent or opaque, then encase in more transparents OUT OF THE FLAME. There is a tutorial here somewhere on how to make a similar bead to the ones below. The last bead is made using silver foil over cobalt with ivory striger decorations.
I have tons of neat silver reactions, pm me if you need to