Patinas

Today, while working on my new line, I wanted to share with you a special part of my creative process. Patination is the development of a thin protective film that forms over metals and other materials. This protective film is bonded to the surface of the metal and protects it from other chemical reactions. It can also produce pretty colors and effects!

When a newly cast silver piece comes out of the centrifuge, casting skin and residues from the casting process are torched and the piece is dipped in a pickling solution. After neutralizing the recently pickeled pieces they are then washed with soap and water. The clean silver resembles white plastic. The piece is dipped into a hot patina bath where the silver cycles through yellows, oranges, purples, and browns until it settles with a lava rock black finish. In the picture below, a pair of white silver earrings await fabrication, a copper cuff in the making contrasts the difference between clean copper and patination, and two silver pieces show the difference between an unpolished and polished patina.

Natural patination can take months to develop and years to complete. A great example is the Statue of Liberty, which was a dull copper color when constructed, and developed its green patina over 30 years! I can’t take that long on each piece of jewelry that I make, so I speed up the process with a patina bath. Check out the video below!

If you’re interested in experimenting with liver of sulfer with your own jewelry, here’s a couple of products that me and my jeweler friends use. I would suggest getting the extended life LOS if you don’t plan on using it very often. I use the one with pieces because I use LOS very often but you have to be sure to keep it in a sealed bag in a cool dark place.

Click here for the Liver of Sulfur Chunks like I use in the video.

Click here for the Extended Life Liver of Sulfur