I will cover the history of mokumé starting with Denbei Shoami, the 17th century master smith, who used it for the adornment of samurai swords. His diffusion bonding of non-ferrous metals predates "Sheffield Plate," the only similar western example of solid state welding of non-ferrous metals. We will fast forward to the 1970s, when art school metalsmiths started trying to recreate the technique. Then on to my research from the 1980s to the present, using phase diagrams and digitally-controlled electric kilns with controlled atmospheres to lift the technique out of the blacksmith's realm and place it into the goldsmith's studio.

Author: James Binnion, Bryan Chaix