Showing posts with label how to jewelry tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to jewelry tips. Show all posts

Thursday, August 11, 2016

How to Patina Copper and Sterling Silver



How do you turn a shiny copper ring to a beautiful copper ring covered with a dark patina?

There are different methods, but I use a product called Liver of Sulfur-

Please Beware:  This product has dangerous fumes and should be handled only in a well ventilated area.  Do not handle the product with your hands.  Wear gloves or use tweezers to hold your piece.  Another thing you should know is that it smells of rotten eggs!!  That's right... rotten eggs!!  :)


The pictures below will show you  my method:  

1st thing to do is to clean your piece of jewelry or metal with pickle solution (please don't reach for the pickle jar from your refrigerator).  When I mention pickle solution I mean an acid base mixture used to remove dirt, oil or fire scale.  You can make a basic pickle solution with citric acid which works very well for copper and silver (I'll post an article about it in the future).

*As mentioned previously, make sure to not handle your jewelry with your hands, after you've done pickling it in your acid solution.  The oil from your fingers will interfere with the patina.

Secondly, I use a small Crock Pot (they're quite inexpensive, but I got mine as a bonus when I purchased my large Crock pot for my kitchen).  

I add a bit of water, no more than about 1/2 cup to my crock pot put it on and wait for the water to get hot;

Once water is hot, add a thumbnail size of the Liver of Sulfur to the hot water and stir until it dissolves (use a junk piece of metal to stir);

You can also add 1 tsp of ammonia (I didn't do this thus far, but it's advised to this in order the deepen the patina);

*Dip your piece of metal quickly, rinse it, check to see if the color is to your liking and if not, dip it again and repeat the rinsing process.

You can use a brass brush to sort of polish it up and repeat the dipping and re-polish.

I hope my method was helpful for you beginners out there!