Jewelry

[OfCourse]

I ordered Colleen Lopez's mystic quartz ring (the tanzanite color) but think it would look nice if the silver were blackened.  The problem is that it is rhodium plated.  In reading, I found that it is a very thin plating of rhodium.  That would certainly be true for an inexpensive ring such as this. 

I looked into methods like putting the ring in a plastic bag with boiled eggs and using the liver ?sulfur?.  Do any of you ladies know whether the rhodium would prevent it from being oxidized?  I think that ring would look great if it had black metal.  Any suggestions and feedback would be appreciated.  Also, will the treated quartz stone and tanzanite be affected by these methods?

[newagain888888]

Sorry, rhodium won’t ever tarnish. With time and wear, the rhodium finish could eventually wear off and then the silver underneath will oxidize.

[NycVixen]

That is correct. The rhodium plating will prevent oxidation and tarnishing until it wears out if it ever happens. It's actually more expensive to add this process and in turn it makes the piece stronger.

[OfCourse]

@newagain888888  Tnanks so much for the answer.  I suspected as much.  I was hoping that if I just did extra with the liver of sulfur or such it would blacken.  I wish so much that she'd done a black rhodium on the ring instead.  I would have loved it so much.  Oh, well!  This ring was so inexpensive that I can't justify having it black rhodium plated.  I know nothing about jewelry.

Does anyone have any suggestions about some kind of stain or paint I could put on it?  One blog even suggested black permanent marker, but that was not a credible suggestion.

[OfCourse]

Thanks, @NycVixen.  Guess I'm stuck with the silver.  It would be so unusual with a shiny black to contrast with the bright stone.  A real knock-out ring.

[NycVixen]

@OfCourse  The only other option I can think of is finding a setting that has been oxidized already and setting the stone into it. That may be more expensive than it's worth though. You'd be surprised that even gold or rhodium plating is not that expensive. I learned this in my jewelry classes. There should be a place you can send the ring and have it done if that is really what you want.

[OfCourse]

@NycVixen  Thanks!  I will think about that.  I think I would love to have a black rhodium plating with that bright stone.  No one has a ring like that, and I would enjoy it.  The stone is big and beautiful, but the setting is so conventional, like most of Colleen's jewelry.

[patbz]

I just purchased a high end (custom) native American band from EBay to replace a very similar piece by same artist (that was stolen from me 10 years ago).  The only issue with new piece is that the original oxidation is no longer there.  I am going to a jeweler in Albuquerque (who deals with NA jewelry -- thanx Kachina) next week to have it reoxidized.

[faeriemoon]

You could look into having it plated with ruthenium, which is like a black rhodium (but not too black.)

I have this PTR ring and it's a cool color:

http://www.qvc.com/Peter-Thomas-Roth-Sterling-%26-Ruthenium-Signature-Band-Ring.product.J335101.html...

[FranandZoe]

When I was in high school we used black shoe polish on our class rings.