The
Day Light Section
The
Summer 2006 program will focus on learning and practicing the art of
making mokume
gane (moku = wood, me = eye and gane = metal). This technique
was
invented by Denbei Shoami, a 17th century master metalsmith who used it
for the
adornment of samurai swords. Using the mokume
gane technique, Shoami
would
create laminated metal billets that were fused by heat and pressure.
The
billets were composed of various combinations of
gold, silver, and
copper alloys.
The metals were forged, carved, and finished to produce a uniquely
patterned
metal. Tom Wright created the butterfly. It is made of five layers of silver with four alternate layers of copper. The metal was textured to expose the silver and copper. |
Today
mokume gane is often done using the combination of heat, pressure, and
protective atmosphere to allow the metal layers to fuse but not melt.
The
resulting fused stack of metal is then forged and rolled to reduce its
thickness. The unique patterns are created by hand carving down through
the
layers in the laminated stack and then forging the carved laminate to
flatten
it out. The process of carving and rolling is repeated many times to
create the
finished pattern. The appearance of mokume gane is often compared to a
topographic map or a wood grain in metal.
The
Daylight Section invites anyone who wishes to learn this technique to
do
something useful and creative this summer. No need to stay home next to
your
air conditioner—come meet with us the second Monday of every month at
1:00 pm.
We are the only section of the HGMS that has daytime meetings. We are
also
almost exclusively a “hands-on” group.
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To see program information for the Day Light Section and for all the other HGMS Sections, click on the button and scroll down. |
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Click on the button to see additional examples of the mokume gane metal art. This button takes you to the www.ganoksin.com Web site. To return to the HGMS Web site, click on your browser's Back button near the top left of the screen. |