Permanent oxidized patina on 14K

[Jroettger]

Here's another ring I did with a permanent oxidized patina. The metal is 14K yellow with a platinum bezel. I make the alloy part myself with 50-50 silver and copper. Commercial alloys don't work at all or barely. This homemade alloy can be easily contaminated by melting in crucibles previously used for commercial alloys so crucibles must be fee of other metals. I use a weak (2 grams sulfur to 8 oz. H2O) liver of sulfur solution and boil for a couple hours. The metal comes out shiny and still polished but darkened with blue, red and purple tones reminiscent of a burned chrome Harley muffler. You can ultrasonic and steam the finish, even throw it in the pickle and it stays on. Soldering and hot flux will remove the finish though so I'll have to insulate well if I resize this for a customer later. I made this for stock with a fine .88 carat tsavorite garnet flanked by two .05 ct. yellow diamonds. I engraved a "dead branch with spiral" motif on the sides.




Here's the ring before I polished the highlights and set the center stone which could be damaged by the sulfur solution.

[paulcdfoss]

Jroettger,

That's some neat stuff.

Compliments on the metallurgical ingenuitey.

I love the shades of purple, what else have you come up with...:yesnod:

[Jroettger]

Thanks Paulcdfoss, Heres another ring but the metal was I believe a commercial alloy that took 3 days to cook and didn't come out as rich. This ring was all fabricated with no wax. The homemade alloy takes a great color in just a couple hours. Commercial alloys can take days of boiling just to get a light brown and sometimes they really won't take hardly any color at all.

[Daniel Houwer]

That's amazing Jroettger!
I have often seen earrings purple after years of wear.
Even thought that it would be nice to get that colour on deeper bits of jewellery, and here you are!
Great to see.
Can you tell a bit more about the sulphur solution and the process?

Greetings,

Daniel

[KDavid]

That is awesome!! I can't wait to try it. Thank-You for posting it.

[Jroettger]

Thanks for the compliments guys. What is so cool about this patina is it's shinny and still polished after the process. As stated earlier it really only works well with a pure homemade 14K alloy. It won't work on 18K. I use two grams of liver of sulphur to 8 oz. of tap water and I have also at times added a little amonia but don't think the amonia is really necessary. It's important to have good ventilation or even just boil it outside. It takes about two hours with the homemade alloy but I have achieved some nice browns on commercial rolling alloys with several days to a week of boiling. I have also been skunked with unacceptably pale results on commercial alloys. When the color starts to change it will go through the rainbow pretty fast in about 15 minutes so watch it carefully till you get a sense of timing. It works with either cast or rolled products, but cast products must have the casting scale (or burn) completely removed. It will not take to any firescale areas so make sure your metal is finished past any burned skin. It does continue to darken over time to a dark blue after some years of wear but people acclimate to the gradual color change. I like to stop when it's got a lot of screaming reds near the beginning of the color change knowing it will always get darker yet.
.

[M'lou]

Wow, great patinas!
Have you ever tried deliberately contaminating pickle so that it will copper plate your gold, and then using that for the recessed patina?
- M'lou

[Cassie]

Nice thought M'lou
cassie

[Cassie]

That's a gorgeous patina.
Cassie

[Jroettger]

Thanks M'lou and Cassie, Copper plate from the pickle is always mat and dull. What's especially cool and unique about this patina is that it's still polished and lustrous from the original polish I put on the piece prior to the patina process. It's as shiny as a rainbow burned chrome motorcycle muffler. Being a 14K gold alloy it is cleaner than copper plate and more stable and unlike copper it won't turn someone's finger green. This finish is quite identical to what a person sees on the lower recesses of hundred year old 14K yellow gold jewelry except my polish is factory fresh.
Thanks Again

[waycu1945]

Hi, Everyone nice to be part of this wonderful and informative forum. I am new to metal engraving but have worked with glass engraving for a few years. Looking foward to purchasing the tools required and getting started with metal engraving. have a nice day, Wayne W. Cuff

[M'lou]

Yeah, I think what people are doing with the copper plated areas is putting a regular dark patina on it, not nearly as pretty as your colors. Of course, it would have to be removed from areas that could touch the wearer.
The more I look at your photos, the more I think I need to make some of this alloy! It's so nice.
- M'lou

[M'lou]

Yeah, I think what people are doing with the copper plated areas is just using a regular dark patina on them, not nearly as pretty as your colors. The more I look at your photos, the more I think I will have to make some of this alloy! It's so nice.
- M'lou

[Jroettger]

Hi M'lou, If you do mix some of this alloy up you'll want to be sure your 14K crucible is picked clean and free of de-ox alloys. I steer clear of deox alloys in my studio but I know this alloy can be contaminated by them and not work.
This alloy make tough springy bezels (you may want to use regualr rolling alloys for the bezel part) and only fair castings but I use it exclusively for the color. The great thing about engraving is it hides imperfections in castings. Also I assume that only diamonds can stand up in the chemical bath but I have also done rubies, beware with colored stones. This patina is a bit like ceramic glazes and can be elusive at times.
One new tip is use all fresh ingredients and add some ammonia lemon scent ok. Top off with ammonia as the solution boils down and use a stainless bowl. Also set the ring on white gold trivets to keep it off the bottom.

[plat955]

Jroettger,

Your work is awsome man! There aren't many jewelers in the U.S. turning out this quality of work, and it's great to see it!

P.S. it doesnt take a genius to take one look at Jroettger's work to know it is "Art"...

Bravo man! Heirloom quality and timeless designs don't get melted down...

[Jroettger]

Thanks for the kind words Plat955. I appreciate the encouragement. This forum is about the only place I have to show my work to other craftsmen.

[pwr]

Beautiful colors indeed. I've occasionally gotton similar just with very gentle and controlled heating, but those are then oxides, not sulphides, so pickle will remove them. Your sulphide patina is more stable. I used to get something similar, years ago, while applying patina to 24K Keum-Boo applied over silver with a subsequent roll print texture. The gold foil is thin enough that some silver diffuses up through the gold, enough so that the gold can take a slight patina even though it started as 24K. The gold color isn't yet affected, yet you get these wonderful purples, just as you've got. But that takes a stronger LOS solution, perhaps due to less alloy. On the other hand, a couple pieces of that work I've still got around here someplace, still have the same color, almost 20 years later. It didn't darken over time. As to needing your own alloy, I'll bet it's the absence of zinc or other deoxidizers in your own alloy that are the difference between yours, and the commercial stuff. Also, it might be that most commercial 14K alloys have less silver than copper, so the relative greater reactivity of the copper might make it less likely to get the good colors, and more likely to just turn dark. Just a guess.

[Jroettger]

PWR I'm not sure exactly what the chemistry (I daydreamed through chemistry class) is in regard to sulphide vs. oxide. I have seen similar colors in the recesses of 100 year old antique jewelry so I assumed it was an oxide as it can happen naturally too. I figured I was just speeding up the aging process. It won't work on 18K. I would hope there is no sulfur in the surface. I ultrasonic and steam it when finished. This is much brighter and more colorful than a burn finish though. I find that any trace of commercial rolling alloys can impede the process. The 50 - 50 copper/silver alloy is stated in old books as a good 14K yellow alloy mixture. Some books also state this as a good "spring" alloy so beware. If the sulfur solution is too strong it actually begins to "etch" and leaves a frosted finish.

[SVD]

Actually a sulphide on older pieces makes sense - used to be a lot of coal used for heating and power and most coal has at least a little sulphur in it.

Do you see it more on pieces that were worn than on ones that were kept as displays? That would go along with it being environmental exposure to sulphates rather than oxidation (since there'd be just as much oxygen in a display case as out but less exposure to smoke and such).

[jfwojcik]

Hi folks. Have been drawing for a long time now, since I was about 8 or 9, and I'll turn 61 in June. Most of my drawings have been done in pencil, with some pen and inks. Self taught in everything, with the help of natural ability. Have never done anything professionally with the art work, though I've been told by many friends and co-workers I should. Birds of prey have always been of special interest to me, and have done a number of drawings of eagles, hawks, and owls. About 1979 got interested in engraving, but never followed up on it. Knew nobody to talk to about it, and couldn't afford formal training. So after reading my books for a while, I set them aside for many years. About 15 years ago I made a knife for myself, which turned out pretty good. Has a micarta handle on it, and I decided to teach myself scrimshaw. Read up on it a bit. Practiced a bit more, and did an eagle head on one side, and a tiger head on the other. Got lots of compliments. Did 4 or 5 scrimshaw projects for individuals. The scrimshawing seemed kinda natural, and I enjoy doing it, but haven't for a while. A couple of years ago the engraving bug bit again, and I got the books out and reread them. Got a couple of gravers from Brownell's, and started practicing. May sound corny, but I was actually inspired by Jesse James (Monster garage guy) when I heard him speak in an interview, and he said with all the available sources there's nothing a person can't learn if he is interested. Really hit home. Decided to build myself a nice .50 caliber percussion gun. What I saw in my head as a finished product required some extensive engraving and stock carving. Finished it about 6 weeks ago, and I am real happy with the way it turned out. Shocked all my shooting buddies, as I didn't tell any of them I was teahing myself to engrave. Also did one of my stainless Ruger Vaqueros. About 80% coverage. Did scroll work with stipple background. Have 4 friends bugging me about doing guns for them now. I'm in the middle of doing some vine scroll, with stipple background on a repro 1860 Army. Another of my guns, but I figure this way I'll have a couple of things I can show people. That's it for now. I'm new to all this computer stuff, so I hope I didn't do this in the wrong place.