How to Blacken Silver Jewelry
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ต.ค. 2024
- MettleByAbby.com
Blackened (or oxidized) jewelry is beautiful! It's bold, stunning and really gives gemstones and gold a contrasting POP! But, (rings especially) the oxidation fades quickly. So, how did the silver get such a nice black color in the first place? How can you get that back? I've got you! Here's a quick little video and infographic to help you do this at home!
Materials:
soap (dish soap is best)
glass cup
plastic tongs or paintbrush with wood or plastic handle
Liver of Sulphur Extended Life Gel (you can get it on Amazon here)
polishing cloth
toothbrush or similar brush
Important Considerations:
do this in a ventilated area
follow safety on the bottle (don't eat it, get it in your eye or on your skin...)
don't do this to pieces with soft or fragile stones (like Pearls or Opals)
there are a lot of beauty products that have sulphur in them and you might not have to order any! (the Proactive Mask has enough sulphur to oxidize your jewelry!)
don't put any metal other than your jewelry in the sulphur solution
only put silver and gold jewelry in the solution (silver will turn black and gold will darken)
Step 1: WASH
You need to get all the oil and dirt off your jewelry. Gently scrub your piece with warm soapy water and a toothbrush. If a piece is particularly dirty, you can soak it for a few minutes first. Rinse off your piece and dry it.
Step 2: MIX
Screw the top off the sulphur (*pro tip: don't use the lid's pour spout-it's terribly messy.) Dip the end of your paintbrush or tongs into the sulphur and mix it in about half a cup of tap hot water. Don't get any water in the bottle, it'll shorten the shelf life of your sulphur. You want the color to be darker than a lemon peel.
Step 3: SOAK
Gently drop your cleaned jewelry in the solution and set a timer. Check on your piece about every 5 minutes until you like the color. Don't leave soaking without checking on it, you might get it too dark and it will ruin the finish on your silver.
Step 4: RINSE
Once you've got the color you want, take your piece out and give it a good rinse and even a quick scrub with the soapy water again. If you'd like, you can dry it off and give it a quick buff with a polishing cloth to add some lovely luster!
Step 5: DISPOSE
Rinse your sulphur solution down the drain with plenty of water and enjoy your refurbished jewelry!
Wow.....BEAUTIFUL. THANK YOU. Petting the dog recommendation is gold.
OH, MY GOSH! First of all, THANK YOU for this because I just got a ring I ordered and it is NOT blackened like the photo. Now I know how to remedy that. Secondly, I just LOVE YOU! Your personality and smile make ME smile! I absolutely LOVE your hair because it reminds me of one of my favorite actresses, Majorie Main. I mean that as a HUGE compliment. LOVE Marjorie Main! Thanks again! You’ve made my night brighter! Cheers from Iowa! Your dog is adorable as well!
Awe!! Thank you! So glad it helped and made you smile! You're so sweet!! It's not easy putting these videos together, so it brings me so much joy!
@MettleByAbby your are an absolute hero I've been looking all over the internet for this process. Thank you so much.
Oh yay! So happy to help and share! Let me know if you have any questions or need some help.
Beautiful rings!
Thank you!!
You are an absolute sweetie! Thanks for the info as well as giving an old Vietnam Vet a beautiful vision. 🥰
Thank ya!
Good to know that your furbabies get to see you even when you're at work
One of my favorite parts of this! Thank you!
Just found you with Google search. So glad. Clear, simple instructions and very pleasant to watch and listen. Thanks.
PS Dogs make everything better, IMO. 🐾
SEE! A video CAN be entertaining, funny, humble,honest-edited and endearing and approachable and still have actual CONTENT with important well-delivered knowledge and information. Others, take note :) Well done MBA!
😊 thank you!!! 💛💛💛
Your r soo beautiful mam i love you 😊😊😊😊@@MettlebyAbbyy
Can you use this solution with turquoise without discoloring or ruining it?
How can we apply the same concept if we want to do it only on certain parts of jewelry (avoid dipping)?
Would this work on silver plated jewelry?
Is this safe for rings with emeralds or amber?
Great video! I gave some silver away recently but might not have had I seen this video. What is the metal box with the gauge in the background?
Thank you! That's my steamer for cleaning jewelry. It's a much older one than you'll find in most jewelry stores today, but it's built like a tank! It basically blasts all the polishing compound and dirt out from the stones and nooks.
Great jobs sweetie. Any ideas to make it even darker and unwavy
Thanks! Hmmm... by unwavy do you mean the texture of the silver? You'd need to refinish and smooth out the texture with a hammer or polish. If you're talking about the patina looking wavy, you may have let it sit too long or too strong. I would scrub it clean and start over. Sometimes you can get a darker look by applying a laquer like coating. Let me know!
👋 hi
Will the black color of the jewelry fade over time, and do I need to periodically reapply a solution to maintain its appearance?
Thank you
Lately I have an idea to make a black colored ring but i don't have equipment to cast in zirconium or tungsten
I am thinking of casting in silver and doing this process.
Will I'd work on a diamond cut rope
Can this be used to blacken a rodium polished earrings that has rhinestones?
I have a ring with a pearl on it i dont want blackened how would i do it hang it on a string?
Yes! It won’t blacken the pearl, just potentially dull it’s luster
Will it work on fine silver and argentium silver? I know that Fine silver naturally practically doesn't tarnish to black, instead to dull white and argentium silver is 7x more tarnish resistant than sterling hence why I'm asking.
I wouldn't think it would work on fine silver, since there's no copper in fine silver and the copper in the alloy is what's reacting. I almost only work in Argentium and it does wonderfully! You might run into a problem if you do the tarnish resistant process of slow cooking the argentium to raise the germanium, but that can be undo with a quick polish or tumble. Let me know if you have trouble! Sorry for the delayed response.
@@MettlebyAbbyy No worries, I actually think it might work on fine silver. I have a necklace made from 925 silver and I made for it like a chain hanger for it from fine silver since it was only thing I had on hand. I had the necklace not worn for over a year maybe even 2 and as I wanted to clean it today I noticed the fine silver chain hanger was also tarnished, not as much as rest of the necklace but definitely visible change. So I might give it a try on both silver types. Since you work with argentium I have a question, do you find it hard to solder with normal silver solder or do you need to use argentium silver solder?
@@OAikoT Let me know how it goes blackening the fine silver! As for the Argentium, I've learned that the Argentium solder was terrible. I didn't like it at all. I don't know if they still make it or if it got better. Last time I tried it was over 12 years ago. I have GREAT success with fusing it where I would normally use hard solder then just move on to medium and easy solder, and only traditional sterling silver solder. Whenever I tried using the hard solder pieces broke and were significantly weakened. I think it caused some of the germanium in the alloy to burn off and throw the balance out of whack and crumble. I have a few more videos where I do some Argentium soldering and fusing that might be helpful. It moves when it gets hot and is VERY brittle when heated, but once you get used to using Argentium, it is seriously AMAZING! Use lots of flux! and maybe go slow with the heat at first. I LOVE that it doesn't get firescale. You can also try using thin Argentium wire like a welding wire/hot glue. I should do a video on this technique... it lends itself to some unique results! and it helps fill in gaps and strengthen joints. Let me know if this is helpful or if you want to know more!
Thank you, very well explained.....would this work just as well with 20 gauge SS wire? Thanking you in advance!
You're welcome! Happy it helped! I think it would work well if you could bunch and coil it up into a dense enough mass. Maybe if you had some wire you knew wasn't silver to compare it to and have an ice cube melting race to compare! Hahha! You might even try holding it near a heat source to see if it gets hot quickly. When I'm wearing silver jewelry and I bend down to get something out of the oven it gets hot in a few seconds, like crazy hot!
Thank you, much appreciated 😎
Thanks for this I will try it hopefully soon 😊 my only question is, do you not have to polish it at all after meaning with compound? Or would that just remove it again. I know you used the cloth but I mean using a buffer etc
If you do, it will remove it quickly, but leave the black in any recessed areas, so it'll add depth to your piece, but not overall blackened. A quick minute in a steel tumbler works well, I've found!
So helpful for blackening my silver knife and making it unholy! Now the supernaturaul beings, holy and unholy will leave me be!
Hahaha! Dig it! Glad it helped!
This was very informative thank you!
Happy to help!
Hi! I have a silver plated trinket tray, I’m not sure what the metal underneath is. I have tried to oxidize it with a few diy methods, but the oxidation turns out as a kind of rust colored, warm orangey and green/bluish tints. Could this method work to get that beautiful black oxidation, or is the material to blame as it’s not full silver?
It gets tricky when you are using unknown metals as each will react differently. I would avoid if you don't know what metal it is, you could end up making a poisonous reaction.... I almost did once in school! hahah
Does the ring have to be real silver? I have a silver ring but I’m pretty sure it’s a copper alloy
It will work with copper. I'm not entirely sure, but there might be some metals that won't react well with it and may even create a toxic fume. Please be careful and read all the warnings on the bottle
Hi, a ring of mine has a metal-gray sort of look, would this work to blacken it out? I hate the metal-gray look that it has
Please don’t experiment if you don’t know what metal it is. You could end of making a toxic gas
It's sterling silver .925 @@MettlebyAbbyy
@@chucky7399 then go for it! Maybe give it a good scrubbing with some baking soda and a bit of water first so it has a bright, fresh, toothy surface to take the blackening better
Great advise, will this process turn my finger green?? Once done??
Shouldn't! not unless the original silver reacts with you body chemistry already
I wanted to do this to a ring with a moonstone! Will that not work because it's like an opal? What would happen to the moonstone?
I blacken jewelry with moonstones in them all the time without any problems! It really makes the white gemstone pop!
So I have a weird thing happening. My natural oils on my hands turn pewter and silver black. My teacher noticed it and asked me to clean up whatever was on it. I said oh I didn’t put anything on it. Must be my natural oils. Idk why because other students don’t have that.
It totally is! I have a friend that reacts the same way! It's all chemical! And one day your body chemistry may change and react differently. I have an uncle who's finger turns green when he wears 14k yellow gold! Not normal!
Any ideas to make it golden color?
If you water down the mixture more and watch it closely, you can pull it out before it turns black and get a nice golden color! It will be a thinner patina and won’t last long on a ring (except for the recessed areas) but you might really like it! I’ve had customers ask if a silver piece was gold before when it had the light beginnings of a tarnish on it.
So, when I pick jewelry to wear, I armor up n then never take it off. Usually... I've started taking my rings off when I bathe because I've lost enough weight they'll slide righ off. Otherwise, they're on at all other times.
I also have a body chemistry that eats any kind of coating, and I'm allergic to modern compounds for gold. 925 silver is my heart.
How long do you think this will last, under my conditions? Trying to find a way to make my future wedding set perfect for us. TYIA
It's tough to say. Have you noticed if maybe sometimes you react with metals more than others? I have tried a clear coat on jewelry before to try to extend the life of the patina (like the blackening.) You could try that! Especially if you are dealing with a ring that has no stones in it. Either way, it will still require regular maintenance, but even a coat of clear finger nail polish is a simple first try I would go for! Try it out on a simple ring first and see how it does!
@@MettlebyAbbyy the clear coats don't last me very long at all. I don't know if that's due to my body chemistry, or just because I work with my hands a lot. The only plating I've had much success with for more than about a month (if that) is rhodium. And that, I honestly don't mind the way it goes to crap, as long as it's over a silver base. The natural patina with the wear N tear is pretty gorgeous.
Ohh... But now I'm wondering how a resin dip might hold up. It would be a shame to cheapen the metal to a plastic look, but it might work.
Whoah, no way you should ever submerge turquoise shadowbox jewelry! Because the sawdust or leather backing will swell and pop out or break the stones. I was looking to reblack the shadowbox area around the turquoise which would probably have to be done carefully with a brush. Hers was an immersive technique which wouldn't work for me since I need to retain the outer surface silver lustre and not get the settings wet.😮🤔😄✅💍
Yep yep
Was the stone already set in the ring when you put it in the solution?? 🤔
Yes! I like to set the stone first because any polishing and finishing you do will remove some of the patina.
Does this work for all metals or just silver???
It might work for copper but that's the only other one I'd try it with!
I have a ringI have a ring I want black color only in few places And I want this black color to never go away Is this possible?
Never is a strong word... especially for a patina on a ring. Rings get a lot of traffic... every time you put your hand in your pocket it polishes it a little. If you want, you can try experimenting with adding a few clear coats of paint on top of it or maybe even just flat out painting it black.
@@MettlebyAbbyy Do you know of any paint that didn't go down?
@@IsmailKhan-rj3ib I think you could safely try a nail polish. They should be safe enough to wear on the body.
Hi... I need this solution... Can help me plz
Sure thing! What's going on?
Hey pup!
for how long it would stay on a finger?
I would say that depends a lot on the wearer and their wearing habits. I recommend not sleeping in it because that really shortens the life of the patina. It will gradually fade over time, with a noticeable difference being seen within a month, I would say, if not soon. With less frequent wear, there's longer life. Also, if there are many recessed areas, they will last, but a flat ring will wear off quickly and a highly polished one will wear down quickly, too.
Love you ....you helo me alot...
awesome!! thank you!
💪🏻
Will this method work on gold?
Not exactly. I've found that it will make yellow gold or rose gold have a richer, more vibrant color, but it's rather difficult to patina gold because it's a noble metal, meaning it resists chemical reactions. I've even had poor luck with black rhodium which is a plating, but that was several years ago and it might have gotten better, but most likely it is a multi step process with best results achieved on a manufacturing level. It still wears off, though, sadly. I think the best way to blacken gold would be more of a lacquer type situation, with best results achieved with giving the gold a toothy edge first so the lacquer has something to hold onto better than a slick surface.
Hope this helps! Let me know!
@@MettlebyAbbyy thank you for the reply. What kind of lacquer?
@@gatinhatinytigre Best answer I can com up with would be what engravers use (Rust-Oleum black mat paint.) They apply it in recessed and heavily textured (stipples) areas. Hope this helps! Let me know! I wouldn't think this would work on a raised surface or a smooth one.
Pretend it's your teeth.
Yeah my teeth are tarnished too but I didn't have to do anything to them just neglect.
hahaha
chemical name pls
basically sulfur will do. You're turning the outside of the silver to silver sulfide. Some variations to sulfur work and are utilized to give the chemical a longer shelf life.
Dogs do make it better.
🥰