Oxidize your Silver Wire Jewelry
Liver of Sulphur, Silver Black, Bleach & an Egg Tarnishes by Design
Oxidizing silver turns the surface black. This is a useful technique to know and works well with silver wire jewelry, emphasizing the twists and turns of the wire.
Oxidizing your silver wire jewelry leaves the a black patina that is seen on the surface of old silver. But why would you want to purposely tarnish your newly-made silver wire jewelry? The oxidizing accentuates the loops and twists of your silver wire work. As you are likely to oxidize the whole piece and then polish the top surfaces, you will have a contrast between the dark stain of the oxidization and the bright shiny polished surface.
When designing your jewelry, build into the design additional raised and sunk surfaces and use oxidizing to emphasize this. As the inner part of wire work can often be difficult to access and clean – it is a good idea to actually make a feature of this and oxidize it as it will tarnish anyway.
To oxidize your silver, use either Liver of Sulphur, or hydrochloric (or muriatic) acid which is sold under the trade name of Silver Black. These are both strong chemicals and need special handling. However, there are household alternatives. Silver can be blackened in a cup of normal household bleach. As this will not be as strong as the chemicals mentioned above, the silver may take a few minutes to blacken.
Do not use utensils which are used for food preparation or metal tools. Plastic tweezers should be used to put silver in and out of the bleach – don’t drop it in as you will risk getting splashed. Remember to wear protective gloves and clothing.
Some people put a chopped, hardboiled egg into an airtight container such as a sandwich box with the silver, the silver will oxidize in the same way as it would above. However it will take much longer and the results may be patchy.
For more information about working with Silver Wire, please see the Suite101 article here.this one on working with a wire jig.
