Getting into those "hard to reach" places
by Dianna
(Lehigh Acres, Florida)
I'm having an issue with cleaning off some oxidized places on my pendants. I've made a wire woven piece with several layers and some tight spots. I cannot seem to reach that area to buff off the darkened wire. Do you have any suggestions for this issue?
Stacy's Answer:
Hi Dianna!
I like using an artificial steel wool scrubbie pad made by 3M for removing excess liver-of-sulfur patinas. I prefer the grey pads as their texture is much like 0000 steel wool without the issues of steel wool. Lowe's sells them in a 2-pack in the paint department. For accessing those really tight spots, I wrap very fine (1000 grit to 1200 grit) sandpaper cloth around a toothpick and work into those areas. It's slow going.
There is a product available called, Poliluster Sticks which are small ceramic sticks designed for getting into tight areas. You can buy them in different grits from 120 - 1200 from jewelry supply companies. But even those are rectangle in shape which is not the best for delving into wire layers. I always tumble-polish/clean my wire jewelry items which removes excess LOS and other dirty residue, even in those hard-to-reach places while polishing them up.
Lastly, you can oxidize and clean your wire BEFORE fabricating a piece. This can be a bit tedious, but works pretty well. That being said, you would not want to tumble said wire before using as this causes work-hardening, making the wire stiffish and difficult to manipulate.
Usually at least one of these methods or a combo of them work to get that wire clean!
