Lasting (permanent) oxidizer wedding rings
by Lorelei
(Wonder Valley CA)
Hello
I have received an order to make wedding rings and the customer wants them to stay deeply oxidized. Any proven techniques and/or products used for daily wear rings?
Thanks Lorelei
Stacy's Answer:
What metal are you fabricating the rings in Lorelei? For Sterling silver, while there are a few products out there that will produce a very dark grey/black patina on the metal. But when skin with it's acids, salts and oils rubs on it repeatedly over time, the contact areas will polish to brighter silver.
Liver-of sulfur (LOS) works well and also a product that is a bit more durable and produces a very black coloration called, Gosiba. Gosiba is pricey, near one hundred bucks with the shipping and is commonly used to produce black silver for Keum Boo work. It is available through Tevel of AllCraft Tools in New York City. As durable as it is, it will still lighten up in heavy traffic areas, so-to-speak. Hydrochloric acid also produces a very black patina on silver and you can purchase a product called, Silver Black which is mixture of hydrochloric acid and tellurium and has a similar effect to LOS on the silver. But, they all lighten up over time if rubbed on continually by skin.
Other blackening agents like Midas Antique Black Paint are surface paints such as and not true patinas but coatings and those come off too. Even if you coat the rings - which I don't recommend for wedding rings - the coating eventually wears away. The lightening of the silver can be a gradual thing and the resulting patina is very pretty! Perhaps you could offer to re-darken the bands in a few years if needed.
