These amazing earrings are reticulated by the artist. Reticulation is a special treatment of silver can produce a decorative “wrinkled” effect through a process known as reticulation. This technique came to us via the Finnish metalsmith, Heikki Seppa, who learned it from masters trained in the studios of Carl Faberge in Imperial Russia.
The process begins with heating sterling silver, an alloy of copper and silver, and then removing the oxides or tarnished areas that are formed by “pickling” or cleaning the metal in an acidic solution. Repeating this cycle many times leaves a film of pure silver over the original sterling, creating a metal sandwich with a very thin layer of pure silver on the outside and sterling alloy within.
Sterling melts at a lower temperature than pure silver and heating gently with a torch causes the inner layer of sterling to partially melt. The superficial layer of pure silver remains intact but wrinkles. The end result is the creation of uniquely textured silver that can be formed into objects or jewelry.