Keum boo

I spent the day experimenting with the Korean technique of Keum boo. This pendant involved a number of steps even though it looks pretty simple. I started by cutting a rectangle of sterling (925) silver and filing all the edges, Then I rolled out some fine silver (999) and cut it into smaller pieces. On those snippets I applied flux and tiny pallions of silver solder and melted them onto the back of each piece. Next I turned those pieces over, placed them carefully onto the fluxed rectangle and sweat-soldered them together. The whole piece then had to be pickled to get rid of any oxidation. The next task was to put the rectangle on tiny hotplate and heat it to around 800 degrees before applying 24ct gold foil to the fine silver. Over the heat I had to burnish the gold with agate burnishers to help it to bond with the fine silver. Once that was done and it was cooled I darkened it all with oxidising solution. Only the 925 silver oxidises so that gives a contrast to any area of gold or fine silver.

Finally I added a necklace of dark green leather and the job was done. I like it so much that I think I'll keep it, but I'll be doing a lot more thanks to my lovely sister-in-law Glassroad, who gave me dozens of sheets of gold foil for Christmas. Thanks sweetie!