Granulation

Dating back to the Egyptians and the Etruscans, this technique involves placing tiny spheres of gold or silver on a base sheet and fusing (which is really a technical way of saying melting) them together. The method I prefer uses sterling silver and/or 18K gold. The copper in each of these alloys melts first and joins spheres to sheet in a diffusion bonding process. I often use wire in this same technique. It looks like filigree, but differs in that there is no solder joining it to the base sheet.