topic Re: Jewelry Hack in Jewelry

Jewelry Hack

Kachina624 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:13:00 GMT

During Carolyn Pollack's recent visit, I purchased this pendant which finally arrived. The one I received had very little oxidation and was mostly just flat, shiny silver. This was disappointing as I've always liked heavy oxidation on my Southwest jewelry to show the fine detail.

I thought about sending it back, then I remembered this old trick which is much more simple than the return process. I really like the pendant.

Eggs contain sulphur and sulphur causes silver to oxidize, so I sliced a hard boiled egg and put it in a zip lock sandwich bag overnight with the pendant. This morning, my pendant was perfect. My dogs got the egg with their breakfasts.

Had the pendant gotten too dark, I would have just removed some of the oxidation with a polishing cloth. This is a gentle method of darkening silver. Keep this in the back of your mind in case you need to oxidize silver after you've removed too much with polishing.

Re: Jewelry Hack

Jk9 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:17:34 GMT

thanks for the info @Kachina624 . Good to know. Beautiful pendant.

Re: Jewelry Hack

gtx — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:41:19 GMT

I ordered the same enhancer. Mine seems to be oxidized just right for me. I have worn it on Carolyn's red leather woven necklace. I wore it around the house and to the mailbox. Thanks for the information on how to oxidize.

Re: Jewelry Hack

millieshops — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:58:40 GMT

@Kachina624 Thanks for the information and do enjoy wearing that beautiful silver.

Re: Jewelry Hack

rockygems123 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:04:02 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
During Carolyn Pollack's recent visit, I purchased this pendant which finally arrived. The one I received had very little oxidation and was mostly just flat, shiny silver. This was disappointing as I've always liked heavy oxidation on my Southwest jewelry to show the fine detail.

I thought about sending it back, then I remembered this old trick which is much more simple than the return process. I really like the pendant.

Eggs contain sulphur and sulphur causes silver to oxidize, so I sliced a hard boiled egg and put it in a zip lock sandwich bag overnight with the pendant. This morning, my pendant was perfect. My dogs got the egg with their breakfasts.

Had the pendant gotten too dark, I would have just removed some of the oxidation with a polishing cloth. This is a gentle method of darkening silver. Keep this in the back of your mind in case you need to oxidize silver after you've removed too much with polishing.

@Kachina624

That's great that you shared this tip, it truly is easy and efficient. I'm a jewelry dealer and use it when a piece is over polished and the detail is lost or minimal as you mentioned.

And I love the pendant, that is really nice!

Re: Jewelry Hack

BlueFinch — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:17:49 GMT

Well, that's interesting. Who knew? Thanks for sharing the tip.

Re: Jewelry Hack

Bookplate — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:28:30 GMT

A very slightly different version is to hardboil an egg, and when it is cool enough just crack one end and put the whole egg in the baggie with the jewelry. I check it periodically, and take the piece out when it reaches the desired color. Its a good idea if the piece of jewelry does not come into direct contact with the egg, I believe, in order to keep the oxidation consistent.

Re: Jewelry Hack

luvzchiz — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:33:21 GMT

@Kachina624 Thank you. This is why I like returning to the boards. There's always something to learn.

Re: Jewelry Hack

Enufstuff — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:40:17 GMT

@Kachina624 Thank you for sharing. That is a very clever tip.

Re: Jewelry Hack

Kachina624 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:49:28 GMT

@Bookplate wrote:
A very slightly different version is to hardboil an egg, and when it is cool enough just crack one end and put the whole egg in the baggie with the jewelry. I check it periodically, and take the piece out when it reaches the desired color. Its a good idea if the piece of jewelry does not come into direct contact with the egg, I believe, in order to keep the oxidation consistent.

@Bookplate I don't see how that would work since the Sulphur is in that dark greenish layer that surrounds the yolk. Since the white seals the yolk off, I don't see how the Sulphur could escape.

I always make sure the egg doesn't touch the silver.

Re: Jewelry Hack

FancyPhillyshopper — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 20:06:43 GMT

I admire you ladies and your silver jewelry experiences!

I have neither the time nor the patience to care for silver jewelry the way it needs to be cared for (I hate polishing off tarnish), so that is why I stick to gold, but I certainly think that silver glow is very pretty and special!

Re: Jewelry Hack

Bookplate — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 21:23:17 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:

@Bookplate wrote:
A very slightly different version is to hardboil an egg, and when it is cool enough just crack one end and put the whole egg in the baggie with the jewelry. I check it periodically, and take the piece out when it reaches the desired color. Its a good idea if the piece of jewelry does not come into direct contact with the egg, I believe, in order to keep the oxidation consistent.

@Bookplate I don't see how that would work since the Sulphur is in that dark greenish layer that surrounds the yolk. Since the white seals the yolk off, I don't see how the Sulphur could escape.

I always make sure the egg doesn't touch the silver.

Well, it does work but it can take an hour or two, so perhaps keeping the egg whole slows down the process of allowing the sulfur fumes to escape. Next time I need to do this I will try your method and see if it goes faster. A friend says she smashes the egg but leaves the shell on. Bottom line is: some form of broken hard boiled egg plus baggie plus sterling equals oxidation process.

Re: Jewelry Hack

songbird — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 21:50:22 GMT

Silver tarnishes becasue of copper in the silver. It reacts to Sulphur in the air. Result is tarnish. Any place that very humid will make silver tarnish quicker. So your silver is probably cooking right now, LOL. Ultrafine silver has less copper in it. Less chance it will react to sulphur (which is everywhere)

Re: Jewelry Hack

Shanus — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 22:58:06 GMT

I have a small bottle of sulfur (jewelry grade) that you can purchase at Michael's. Brush it on, hold the piece next to a light bulb (that's on, Lol) and the slight heat activates the sulfur. Hold the piece close to the bulb until the desired amount of oxidation is achieved.

Re: Jewelry Hack

Kachina624 — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 23:48:50 GMT

@FancyPhillyshopper wrote:

I admire you ladies and your silver jewelry experiences!

I have neither the time nor the patience to care for silver jewelry the way it needs to be cared for (I hate polishing off tarnish), so that is why I stick to gold, but I certainly think that silver glow is very pretty and special!

@FancyPhillyshopper I have a lot of silver and rarely have to polish it except to remove oils and smudges. I keep it all in anti-tarnish boxes, and of course anything worn constantly doesn't tarnish. I have a set of bangles I never remove, and in 20 years of wearing them, they've never been polished. They're bright and shiny.

Re: Jewelry Hack

GoneButNotForgotten — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 22:00:00 GMT

nice hack, but you shouldn't have to work on jewelry that should have been properly finished in the first place.

Re: Jewelry Hack

depglass — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 15:43:09 GMT

Shanus, your post reminds me of my summer camp days. We used something called "liver of sulpher" to oxidize the copper pieces we were making. I guess silver was too expensive to hand out to the campers even back then. Late 50's.

Re: Jewelry Hack

Carolina925 — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 15:24:20 GMT

@Kachina624 , thanks for that tip; I'd never heard that and I do have some old jewelry that has lost its oxidation. Your pendant is beautiful; wear it in good health

Re: Jewelry Hack

SaggingGal — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 01:45:36 GMT

Who knows what residual chemicals, abrasives, varnishes from the manufacture of the pendant were on its surface? This residue mixed with the egg to create a chemical reaction inside a plastic bag could have poisoned your dogs. Not a humane hack in the least.

Re: Jewelry Hack

GinaV24 — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 20:24:35 GMT

that's very cool @Kachina624 . I'm glad that it made the pendant (which I like too) look just the way you wanted it.

It's a shame you had to do that extra work but hey the dogs got an egg out of it so they are happy.

One of my dogs would eat anything. The other one was more particular. I was baking one day and managed to spill flour on the floor. There she was, licking it up. I remember saying to her - that can't taste great!

An egg she would have been thrilled to get.