Gold Foil

Ethical Making

Sustainable

Traditional

Creating gold foil involves transforming either gold powder from e-waste or fine gold casting grain into a solid ingot and then rolling it down in a mill to the required thickness.

Material

Metal

Craft

Jewellery
Metal-working

General Technique

Forming and shaping

Specific Technique

Metal Rolling

Properties & Qualities

Application

Accessories, Jewellery

Qualities

2D, Shiny, Smooth

Colour

Other

Sample Information

Date of creation

21/07/2023

Dimensions

0.02mm x 12.24 cm, x 12.24 cm approx

Weight

2.4grams

Culture & Context

Rolling metal into foil was first recorded by Leonardo Da Vinci, however, crude forms of rolling can be traced back to the Middle East as early as 600 BCE. While some information exists on rolling metal to reduce its thickness there is virtually no information today on how to create foil of the fineness required for damascening or other frugal metalworking techniques such as keum-boo. Making your own metal foils is an ideal way to recycle and reuse your own gold and silver scrap and so is a more sustainable way of working. No UK supplier can provide gold foil of the thickness required ie. 0.02mm. It can be sourced in Japan where damascening (nunome zogan) is more common however post Brexit and after Covid restrictions the customs and shipping duty for gold is prohibitive. Gold beating another historical technique for creating thin leaf or foil is also extinct in the UK. It is frustrating as in the US gold sheet can be purchased at 0.5mm thick and so does not need too many further passes through the rolling mills to reduce the thickness. Here in the UK we can only purchase fine gold grain for casting an ingot.  Rolling our own gold foil will, I believe, be an increasingly important craft skill for future generations.

Process & Production

Creating gold foil involves transforming either pure gold powder from e-waste or fine gold casting grain (24ct) or recycling gold scraps into a solid ingot using a charcoal block at the hearth. A small cavity to hold the grain can easily be carved out using the handle of a spoon. Once an ingot has been formed it first needs some hand forging on an anvil to prevent the edges cracking on rolling. The next stage is to roll down the metal into a thin foil using either manual operated or electric rolling mills. The gold can be sandwiched in the rollers between pieces of vellum or copper sheets and sometimes between two mild steel sheets to minimise the warping of the copper. The rolling mainly increases the length of the ingot, and the direction of the rolling should only be changed after the metal is annealed. To reduce the risk of warping or causing cracking it is best to proceed by reducing small increments of increased pressure on the mills. A digital micrometer on a stand is used to keep checking on the thickness of the foil – ultimately aiming for 0.02mm (20 microns) for damascening. To operate slip a piece of lint free paper between the jaws of the micrometer, close and pull the paper out to wipe away any dust or oil. You can then set the origin point by closing the thimble of the micrometer and pressing the origin button until the display reads 0. The whole process can take around 2 – 4 hours to perform depending on whether using manual or machine operated rolling mills. 2.4g of gold should roll down into a 0.02mm thick sheet approximately 12.24 cm, x 12.24 cm. The finished foil can then be stored between sheets of tracing paper in a small tin.

Recipe Details

I have been working with pure gold powder recovered from electronic waste which is an outcome of a chemical hydrometallurgy process. Foil can also be created using fine gold casting grain available from a bullion supplier.  Importantly this process also provides opportunities for jewellers to recycle and reuse their gold scraps being more sustainable and provides some control over the thickness and therefore the quality of the foil they are using. Another advantage of creating your own foil is that you can also create different coloured alloys for example 18ct green gold which is 80% fine gold and 20% fine silver. There is also something to be said for the satisfaction that comes from making your own foils.   The gold foil can be applied to sterling silver, Iron, steel and some copper alloys such as shibuichi or shakudo. As well as applying pure gold foil to different metal alloys, different gold alloys can be applied to different metals. For example, electrum – a 45 – 50% mix of gold and silver can be used in keum-boo.  keum-boo alloys can also be applied to Argentium silver which doesn’t tarnish in the same way as sterling silver. Similarly, Precious Metal Clay (PMC) Silver. Metal foils can be used for damascening, keum-boo, enamelling, and other metalwork techniques. Some recommended thicknesses include; For enamel 0.01mm Keum-Boo 0.014mm – 0.3mm Damascening (Nunome Zogan, Koftgari etc) 0.02mm Torch fusing 0.05mm – 0.07mm Doublée 0.1mm – 0.3mm As precious metals such as gold are part of a European Chemical Society endangered elements periodic table it will become increasingly important to work more frugally with these culturally significant materials. Thin metal foils can be one such way.

Credits

Craft Maker

Sandra Wilson

Library Contributor

Sandra Wilson

Photographer

Sandra Wilson and or Diarmid Weir

Practitioner

Sandra Wilson

Goldsmith, e-waste recycler, modern alchemist

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