Friday, May 8, 2009

Oxidizing silver















Well, for most jewelers oxidizing is probably something they've been doing forever.  For me, I just started.  And, yes, another obsession.  I can't get away from it!  I love it!  I especially love mixing it with gold.  Oh, so pretty.  I'm still in the experimentation phase.  I've been using liver of sulfur, which is pretty gross, but I've been doing a ton of production work for couple boutiques in town and have been making a TON of jewelry, so the more environmentally friendly version of oxidizing with a hard boiled egg just isn't happening.

But, anyway, I've learned a bit about how to get the really black, black color (just add a touch more liver of sulphur and leave it in your hot water until you get the right color).  To get that steel grey color, I use a bit less and then I take it out when the silver actually looks like an oil slick -  you know that rainbow-y kind of look.  It's scary!  But, if you polish it up with a silver polish cloth, you get that nice steel grey color.  Don't forget to check out my Etsy Shop for more examples!

1 comment:

  1. I love the blog! And the jewelry and the paintings! Amazing paintins, I had no idea. Your birds are inspiring me. Thanks for following my blog, I'm flattered. Glad to hear you have been making tons of jewelry. I love your jewelry, it's incredible.

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