Silver is my favorite noble metal. I cast my first ring from 925 sterling silver when I first started trying to make jewelry at home. Now I want to blacken it. To do this, we will make a patina - a sulfur liver.
We will need:
- Sulfur.
- Soda or potash.
- Dishes made of ceramics or stainless steel.
Making your own patina
This chemical compound is called sodium polysulfide, or liver of sulfur, as it was called in the old days. To do this you will need to buy sulfur, I found it in a household chemical store. The second component - potash or potassium carbonate - can be replaced with soda, i.e. sodium carbonate.
Mix them in a 1:1 ratio in a ceramic mug or stainless steel spoon. I also tried mixing one part sulfur to two parts soda, but the result was worse.
Now the mixture needs to be burned, “liver” from the word “oven”. I did this on an electric stove.
It is important to burn the mixture slowly. If you burn it quickly, everything will simply burn out, and at the same time you will get purple flames and hellish smoke. If this happens, close the container to put out the flame.
Gradually the mixture will begin to darken; you need to achieve a dark brown hue.
When it turns dark brown, the liver of sulfur is ready.
To use it, just add a little hot water and dip the product into the solution.
You can apply the solution with a brush if you are afraid of damaging the stones. Also, the product should be degreased before patination.
Here's the ring before it's blackened:
Here's after:
The solution can be stored in a glass jar with a tight lid or stopper. Before using the previously obtained mixture, I warmed it up. In addition, this patina will affect not only silver, but also most other metals! For example, the steel fork with which I lowered and removed the ring also received
And here is the result of blackening two rings, one of silver, the other of white gold.
