Hi.. I'm brand new here...
found you guys looking for information about Pripps Flux.
I'm just starting to chase/repousse sterling....
needing to use flux for annealing..
and keep running into mention of Pripps Flux.
Is there a recipe?
Is this something I can mix up at home?
Is there a preferable flux for annealing sterling
which is a different beast than copper,which is what I'm used to....................LK

There has be quite the discussion on the subject over on the Ganoksin Orchid Forum. Yes it can be brewed at home and they have the formula. So get on over there and get the recipe, cook up a batch and start using it. Best of luck.

Found this in Tim McCreight"s Complete Metalsmith book. Listed as Prip's Flux

Borax                                       75ml

Tri- Sodinm Phosphate (TSP)     75 ml

Boric Acis                                 90ml

Boil these ingredients in two quarts of water until dissolved.  If the solution crystalizes, slowly warm it again.

linda june

In todays postings they had a somewhat different formula. Now I wish I'd copied it for you. Let me go look for it. OK, here it is: http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive/200906/msg01540.htm

Thank-you for linking me to the recipe. 
You know, it is the same one that we use at Madison Area Technical College...
except on the information sheet it goes by the name Cranbrook flux....I just found my class papers this morning. 
I also copied the FM flux...
which I suppose I'll have to make just to see what that does....
is it better for some things? 
I took the MATC class last semester to learn about soldering, but got hooked...
getting through the summer with my own experiments...sterling being the lastest...
and have signed up for the fall semester, I want to understand casting.
Thanks again........Linda

Chase/repousse should be done with fine silver, not sterling. There is less chance of over heating the fine silver, than the sterling. And fine silver is a lot easier to chase/repousse, especially when using red pitch. And using fine silver won't be much of a problem with fire scale (the left over purple kind after pickling) thus no need for pripps flux. And if you do get fire scale, just do the depletion method of raising the fine silver to the surface of the sterling to cover it up.

The instructors at MATC should know that since they all should be professional metal smiths. If they don't know that, they shouldn't be teaching.

Working as an instructor at MATC either in ACE or college transfer jewelry/art metal, should be based on what they know in all fairness to the students, not who they know.

Sorry, but I've been a student at MATC in a jewelry class. If you really want to learn with the best information available, I would suggest attending a class in the UW art metals department, or taking a Mini Course at the Memorial Union Craft shop in jewelry making. At least there it's possible to work with the jewelry equipment outside of class time, at MATC students aren’t allowed to. Unless intruding on an ACE class, which I feel is completely inappropriate, and disrespectful.

Best Wishes Linda, metal is a blast; it's even better with the right information.

.

Oh, you're right... fine silver pounds like butter...
but, it was sterling that I had here...and I get impatient, and can't wait...
and if Sterling was good enough for the Kalo group...I thought at least I should experiment.
I'm using some flux a friend gave me, and have had no discoloration problems...
and have found that immediately after annealing, if I quick, put it into my wood-ash bucket to cool very slowly, I get WAY more flexibility....to a point where I'd say it's definately got the work ability of the fine silver. 
I've just completed the two little samplers, which I should snap pictures of to show you...and will probably solder pin backs on them when the MATC class starts up again...
I am so not set up to solder.  
I'm sure, MATC instructors would have told me to use fine silver,
but, I didn't want to wait for class to begin again,
I didn't want to call anyone...
I just jumped in.
Yes, I wind up having to deal with probably way more problems that way, but, I'm never bored. 
Having done a couple small pieces in fine silver already, I really think I like the color of sterling better....
and now that I've managed to slow the cooling after annealing way down,
I think I'll have to cut a couple more pieces to see what happens.
I'm an hour west of Madison, and don't really have a lot of finances to put into classes....
MATC is extremely affordable for me,
I could get a morning and afternoon class on the same day, I can stay at the same bench all day...
and I carpool to and from. 
Any kind of trip into Madison, for even a brief time, just kills a day....
Spending all Wednesday in their metal shop has been great for me...
I'm learning a whole lot...and coming home and doing mass amounts of homework.
I'm still learning about torches, and soldering, and this fall semester has me looking forward to casting and some peculiar assembling of pieces I'm working on now.
Yes, it would be great to have access to the shop out of class time, but, I'm way out here...
and really don't want to drive in if I absolutely don't have to. 
I'll eventually get myself set up a little better here....
I just need to get a little more familiar with the shop tools, and figure out exactly what it is that I need. 
It's so great that you are out there! 
I've put a lot of time into this sterling before I figured out how to slow the cooling down...
it's really nice to know that it is in fact a little trickier than fine silver...
well, I've never been know to figure things out the easy way.
Thanks so much! Linda

When you get into casting, it will be good to have a whole day at the bench, because a normal burnout takes 5 hours. Unless you do just a wax elimination (wax only), which is only 3 hours, the 3-hour burnout won’t bring your flask up to casting temp, which is 900F, that would have to be done Normal 0 separately.

I really like to burnout found objects, those usually take a 12 hour burnout, I can do perfect replicas of bird feathers in sterling silver. I don’t use regular casting waxes to coat and build up the back of the feather before investing. If when you start learning to carve wax and one of your models break, don’t hesitate to use super glue to put it back together or fake nail glue, it burns out just fine in a 5 hour burnout. Don’t let any of the instructors tell you it doesn’t take a 5-hour burnout schedule of ramps, it really does. I often set the kiln for an overnight burnout for the organics I burnout, and if I'm using any plastics, it keeps the nasty smell out of the studio while others are working during the day.

If you have any kind of struggle with fabrication (soldering), you are going to LOVE lost wax casting, and you can use scrape silver minus the solder seams, glass, stones, steel springs in the clasps, and resins. I buy miss-marked jewelry at second hand stores, rummage, and church sales to melt down for casting. To make sure it's silver if it's not marked, put it in the hot pickle, if it stays gray, it's not silver; file to check if it's plated. I also buy scrape at pawnshops, by the gram.

Have fun this fall.