Rolling Mill Coffee Talk: Secrets Shared

I had so many comments and questions yesterday about the rolling mill, I thought I'd pour a cup of coffee and share more about how I made those lovely disks.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, wanting a rolling mill started with the January 2011 issue of Art Jewelry where Lillian Jones wrote an article entitled "Adapt a Polymer Technique to Texture Metal Sheet." In that article, she describes a way to create your own texture pattern/sheet to use with the rolling mill. If you're a subscriber to Art Jewelry or even if you buy the single issue, you can download the copyright free images they have on their website to use in the project in the magazine.

When you use the rolling mill, you have to be sure that the metal is annealed or you buy it dead soft. I buy my metal mostly from Metalliferous in NYC or Contenti because I'm on the East coast and impatient when it comes to waiting for an order to arrive! You want dead soft or annealed metal so it can take an imprint. Aluminum and sterling/fine silver doesn't have to be annealed because they're soft enough without any additional annealing.

One of the things I didn't do that you should do when you use a rolling mill, is to bolt it down to your table or a piece of plywood or if you're flush, buy one of the stands available for some models.  My tables don't lend themselves to having things bolted or clamped to them. I thought, where is this heavy thing going?  But when you're turning the handle of a mill and compressing the metal, it will move believe me!  I'm on the look out for a clamp or a piece of plywood to bolt the rolling mill onto.

Follow this link to Etsy where you'll see examples of beautifully textured jewelry and a great seller, the Rolling Mill Resource who has lovely patterns to use in a rolling mill.

There you go - secrets shared! Happy rolling!