Home » Beading Definition: Granulation
Granulation
Granulation is the process of fusing tiny metal spheres of gold or silver to a surface of the same metal in a decorative pattern. It is an ancient technique that produces a beautiful, delicate effect.
The connections in granulated jewelry are fused instead of soldered. Fusing involves raising the temperature of both the granules and the back sheet to the point at which they melt just enough to adhere permanently to each another. As you might imagine,this is a very delicate operation and f the correct temperature is not reached, the items will not hold properly, necessitating the reheating of the whole piece, in order to replace them. If the temperature gets too high too fast, meltdown can occur, which is irreversible. Therefore, lots of patience is needed and the piece needs to be brought to the appropriate temperature very slowly.
Granulation is a popular technique in Thai silver jewelry.
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