Platinum Wire Filigree can easily be added to an article of jewelry providing a unique design element. Whether the Platinum Wire Filigree is a section placed into a gold or platinum article, or the entire piece of jewelry is fabricated from the filigree wire, the same techniques are applied. Learning these tech¬niques will provide the jeweler another instrument to use in their design arsenal.

To make the filigree wire, begin with a piece of round platinum wire. Next, roll the wire through a rolling mill to approximately 60% of the wire's thickness. This will create a flat wire with rounded edges.

Next, polish the wire. Then, cut off a section of the wire to form the scroll. The length depends on the size of the area you are filling and how tight you want to make the scroll. Trial and error will provide the best guide.

To cut the wire you can use a pair of cutters and then file the end flat or use a saw to cut the sections of wire.

Then use a #6 cut needle file to taper the ends of the wire to one half its thickness. This tapered end will allow you to form a tighter curl to begin the spiral. Use silicon polishing wheels in your flexible shaft to remove the file marks. A brown wheel is adequate to remove the marks and a green wheel will restore the polish. If you are forming a sin¬gle scroll, you need to file only one end. However, both ends need to be tapered when forming an 'S' or 'C' scroll.

Modify a pair of chain nose pli¬ers by rounding the inside edges of the jaws. This prevents nicking the wire while bending. In addition, thin one jaw by grinding the outside of the jaw. This allows you to form a tighter spiral around it.

For most of the bending you can hold the wire with your pliers and bend the wire using your fingers. However, sometimes it is necessary to use two pairs of pliers, especially to touch up and even out the scroll. For the second pair of pliers use a pair of bent nose pliers. Hold the scroll with the first pair from underneath and use the bent nose pliers from the top. The bent nose pliers allow you to keep the body of the pliers and your hand out of your line of sight. This makes it easier to see the adjust¬ments you are making and to observe your progress.

There are three basic shapes you can make:
1.A single spiral
2.An 'S' scroll
3.A 'C' scroll

Numerous variations can be made from these three basic shapes. Patterns are developed by combining several scrolls together.

An interesting pattern is made by adding several single spirals to flow outward from an 'S' scroll. First, file a taper on the outside end of the sin¬gle spirals. This will help create the illusion that the spiral is flowing out from the center stem. Then solder in place with at least 1500 solder. The higher melting point solders are needed at this point to help keep the solder joint from showing.

To hold the parts in position while soldering use a product called 'Place-It 2'. This is a thick paste that you smear on your solder pad. Next, place the parts to be soldered into the paste. The paste will harden as it is heated and will hold the parts in position while soldering. Be certain to use a minimum amount of solder, removing excess solder is difficult and will leave an undesirable appearance.

Next, use a #6 needle file to blend the wires together and to remove any excess solder if present. Use a light touch and do not over file. Remove the file marks with a brown silicone wheel in your flexible shaft and restore the polish to the area you filed with a green wheel.

The last step in making the fili¬gree sections is to apply the final pol¬ish. To do this use a bristle brush mounted on a flexible shaft mandrel using platinum tripoly. On solder joints between sections 1400 solder was used, polish WITH the solder seam. This will cause some of the sol¬der to 'pull' from the seam.

When finished with the tripoly, clean the platinum in your ultrasonic cleaner and polish with rouge using a soft bristle brush mounted in your flexible shaft. Once the platinum wire filigree is polished and cleaned, you are ready to solder it to the article of jewelry. To solder it to a gold item use cadmi¬um free solder matching the karat and color of the gold. For platinum, use 1400 solder. When attaching the filigree to a platinum article you may solder it first, and then do the final polishing of the filigree. However, I prefer to always pre-polish the filigree before attaching it to the jewelry.

Making Platinum Wire Filigree in this manner is not difficult to accom¬plish. Once you have mastered the techniques involved, you will be able to add interesting design elements to your jewelry easily and quickly.
 

V10N1

Platinum Wire Filigree
Bradney W. Simon, CMBJ
B.W. SIMON

This is an abbreviated version of the original work. For full technical details, please consult the original paper.