June 10, 2008

Custom Ring, Finished

So I have a few steps missing from this tutorial. The nature of hopping between two shops and doing small bits at a time did not translate well for photographs to use here. But the great news is the are finished and look stunning! I had to practically pry them away from a few people though and send them to their rightful owner, hehe.

To blacken the silver I use liver of sulphur, available at most tool suppliers, including ottofrei.com and riogrande.com. First I mix the dry chunks, just a few, in very very hot water, and then submerge to piece until it coats in an even black. This will not color the 14k for the most part, but will oxidize all the mokume. Once the piece dries, I sand down the mokume again to remove all the black. The next step is to lightly rub some Baldwin's Patina with a Q-tip over the mokume sections. This patina is formulated based on ancient Japanese Rokusho patinas. The fantastic part about this patina is it will darken the shakudo in the mokume but not the silver, creating a deep coppery contrast.

Enough with the technical babble! Here are the rings!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, These turned out really well :)

KJM said...

Those are really amazing pieces.

Katie Do said...

You're right, your rings did turn out awesome! If my idea of your construction method is correct, the solder seam throughout the shank of the top ring is impressivley invisible! Bravo!

Jesse Danger said...

Yeah, the seam on the top one went together very easy. The mokume and Argentium on the second ring were a little temperamental, but managed to go together fairly well.

Nikki said...

These are fantastic!!

Amanda said...

oh wow!!
i found you on etsy
and i do say i love your
work!!!

this piece is gorgeous!!

=^_^=