DECORATIVE ARTICLES

Abstract: A method of malking decorative articles including jewellery includes the steps of adhering a foil (7) to portions of a non metallic article (5), covering the foil with solder (2) and surface finishing the solder, such as by plating.

Description: - --- - -- • "DECORATIVE ARTICLES" This invention relates to a method for the production of decorative articles and decorative articles produced by this method. 5. Many articles such as rocks and pieces of wood or other non-metallic materials do not by themselves have a decorative appeal but by the adding of decorative effects to an article aesthetically articles may be constructed. - 1 - 0 * I have found that such articles may be made to be decorative by the strategic placing on the article of what effectively appear to be strips, lumps or a coating of metal and then applying some form of surface treatment to the metal coating to give 15. a decorative effect. The problem is however to devise some method of enabling such metal to be attached or adhered to the surface of the basic articles. It is the intention therefore of this invention 20. to provide a method of manufacture of decorative articles and decorative articles produced by this method. The invention is therefore said to reside in a method of decorating a non-metallic article including - 25. the steps of covering at least a portion of the article with a metal foil securing the foil to the article covering the foil with a low melting point metal compatible with the article as hereinafter defined and applying a decorative surface finish to the surface of 30. the low melting point metal. θ..-?I It will be realised that the amount of metal applied to the article will depend on the type of decorative effect that is desired to be obtained. It may be that very small patches of metal are 5. placed on an article so that when these portions of metal are plated the impression Is gained of native metal portions embedded in an article such as rock or stone. If larger portions of the foil and covering are applied to articles then the effect 0 may be gained that a particular article is encased in a metal lump with only a small portion of the basic article being visible. Another method by which decorative articles may be made according to this invention Is to support an 15. article to be decorated with relatively fine bands of metal across and/or around the stone or other non-metallic article such that the non-metallic article will not move and mounting means may if necessary be mounted upon the metal portion. In 2o. general with this embodiment an uncovered portion may be left behind the article as well as in front to give the effect of lightness while at the same time having sufficient strength. The types of non-metallic articles which may 25 be decorated by means of this invention include semi-precious gem stones such as opals, crystalline material such as quartz and other naturally occurring crystals, wood, glass and stone. In the case of semi-precious gem stones one particular example is opal 30. which occurs in some forms in a rock matrix with thin opal portions exposed. The foil which may be applied to the article may be a lead foil, a copper foil or a tin or other ductile metal. The means of securing the foil 35. to the article may be an adhesive which acts between the foil and the article and such an adhesive may be a pressure sensitive adhesive on one surface of the foil or it may be a contact adhesive or other adhesive applied to the article or one surface of the foil. By this means portions of foil in the shapes and positions as required may be applied to the article and the foil pressed onto the surface of the article to follow the natural contours of the article to be covered. 10. The low melting point metal which may be applied to the article may be a lead/tin alloy solder, a silver solder, any other type of alloy which has a melting point low enough so that when they are fused onto the foil damage to the underlying article 15. does not result. A compatible low melting point metal as therefore herein defined as one which when applied to the foil does not result in damage to the underlying article. In one preferred embodiment the suitable 20. surface finish may be applied by means of chemical plating or electro-plating processes . Examples of metals which may be plated by means of these processes include gold, silver, chromium, rhodium, cadmium and nickel. 25. In a further form the invention is said to reside in a decorative article comprising a non-metallic base having portions to be externally visible, portions of the article other than the portions to be externally visible being covered with a metal foil, a low melting point metal which is compatible with the non-metallic base being applied to the foil, the low melting point metal having a decorative surface treatment thereon. It will be realised of course that if the 5. decorative article to be manufactured is a piece of jewellery then at the same time as applying the low melting point metal then some means of fastening the jewellery to a person may be attached to the article. Such a means may be a ring for 10. a chain or the like or attachment means for earrings, pendants, brooches, finger rings and accessories such as cufflinks, tie bars, tie pins, belt buckles. To more clearly define the invention however reference will be made to the accompanying drawings 15. which show one particular embodiment of an article of jewellery manufactured according to this invention in which:- FIG. 1 shows a piece of pendant jewellery and 20. FIG. 2 is a cross section at AA in FIG. 1. Now looking more closely the pendant 1 on the outside appears to comprise a metallic outer coating 2 upon which is plated gold on the metallic surface 3. The metallic surface is not continuous 25. over the whole of the pendant and an area 4 of the article is exposed. The basic article in this embodiment comprises a piece of rock 5 with a minor portion of opal 6 thereon. A foil coating 7 is applied to the stone 5 but is not applied over the opal portion 6. The metal 2 is then run over the foil by means of soldering or the like and allowed to build thick in some places and thinner in others. 5. At the upper end of the pendant a ring 8 is soldered to the pendant and through this ring passes a chain 9 to enable the pendant to be hung around the neck of a user. It will be seen that by this invention there 10. is produced an acceptable article of jewellery which mainly comprises stone and metal but has the desirable surface coatings which make the article into a piece of decorative material. It will be realised that the use of the invention 15. on semi-precious stones is not limited to opal but such treatment may be applied to other semi-precious stones such as agate. Further decorative effects may be obtained by for instance the application of a metal mesh 20. which is embedded in the solder and covers the portion of the article to be exposed to give a cage effect. Wire such as silver solder wire may also be used to give decorative effects incorporated with the 25. non-metallic article and this wire will be plated also during the plating process. If a thin film of opal or other translucent material is used and then the copper foil and subsequent metal applied either on the edges of -the material 30. then the finished result after plating with gold for instance gives the impression of a free form frame around the translucent portion of the original article. It will be realised to enable the low melting 5. point material such as solder to stay firmly attached to the article it may be necessary to cover at least sufficient of the article to give a good keying or locking effect between the solder and the article. With very smooth articles it may be necessary to 10. make holes in the surface of the article to allow keying of the solder to occur. G.-H

Claims: THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:- 1. A method of decorating a non-metallic article including the steps of covering at least a portion of the article with a metal foil, securing the foil to the article, covering the foil with a low melting point metal compatible with the article as hereinbefore defined and applying a decorative surface finish to the surface of the low melting point metal. 2. A method of decorating a non-metallic article as in Claim 1 wherein the surface finish is selected from a group comprising chemical plating and electro-chemical plating. 3. A method as in Claim 2 wherein the metal for said plating process is selected from a group comprising gold, silver, nickel, cadmium, chromium and rhodium. 4. A method as in any one preceding claim wherein the metal foil is a copper foil with a pressure sensitive adhesive on one face to secure it to the article. 5. A method as in any one of preceding claims wherein the low melting point metal is a silver solder. 6. A method of producing a decorative article as in any one preceding claim wherein the article is selected from a group comprising wood, quartz crystals, rock, opal, glass or agate. C .1F 7. A method of decorating a rock opal sample including the steps of securing onto those portions of the sample not opalized a copper foil, by means of a pressure sensitive adhesive, running silver solder onto 5. the foil and gold plating the silver solder by electro plating. 8. A method of producing a decorative finish on a non metallic or article substantially as herein¬ before described. 9. A decorative article comprising a non-metallic base having portions to be externally visible, portions of the article other than the portions to be externally visible being covered with a metal foil, a low melting 5. point metal which Is compatible with the non-metallic base being applied to the foil, the low melting point metal having a decorative surface treatment thereon. 10. A decorative article as in Claim 9 wherein the non metallic base is selected from a group comprising wood, quartz crystals, rock or opal stone, glass and agate.. 11. A decorative article as in Claim 9 or Claim 10 wherein said decorative surface treatment is a metal plating selected from a group comprising electro-plating and chemical plating. 12. A decorative article as in Claim 11 wherein said plating metal is selected from a group comprising gold, silver, rhodium, chromium, cadmium and nickel. 13. A decorative article as in any one of Claims 9 to 12 wherein the foil is a copper foil secured to the base by means of a pressure sensitive adhesive. 14. A decorative article as in any one of Claims 9 to 13 wherein said low melting point metal is a silver solder. 15. A decorative article comprising a rock opal base having portions of opal externally visible, portions of the article other than the portions of opal being externally visible being covered by a copper foil secured to the rock opal by means of a pressure sensitive adhesive, silver solder covering the foil and the silver solder being gold plated by electro-plating. 16. A decorative article substantially as herein¬ before described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

Inventors: ROBERTSON J, ROBERTSON S
Applicants: ROBERTSON J, ROBERTSON S
Application year: 1981
Main classification: A44C27
IPC codes: A44C17, A44C27, B44C1