Some engravers mix up different alloys to create different colors
such as flesh-tone for inlay work. For a few mind-boggling examples,
check out Ron Smith’s work at the Firearm Engravers Guild of America
(FEGA) website.
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep80au
One piece he did was a Winchester 1873 rifle to commemorate the
history of the US from the Revolutionary War up until 1873. He
inlayed and engraved several different scenes, including a Civil War
battle scene, a portrait of Lewis and Clark and another of Lincoln
and his son Tad with both the US and the Confederate flags behind
them. All of them in full color using various alloys of silver, gold
and copper. The flags in the Lincoln portrait are especially striking
in that they both have incredibly intricate inlays within inlays;
fine silver stars, copper and silver stripes and blued steel to
finish.
Experiment, Bill. Mix up different combinations. The metal won’t be a
total loss if it comes out ugly looking, send it off to be refined
and you’ll likely get most of the value back. Sure, you might not be
able to stamp it with a quality mark, but if your art work is good
enough, that won’t matter at all. The full color portrait of Sitting
Bull on the cylinder of Ron’s Colt Dragoon doesn’t qualify to be
stamped “sterling silver” and “22K”. Do you think anybody really
cares?
You ought to see Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley on the other sides of
the wheel. You can easily make out the differences in their skin
tones (done through the use of more or less gold, silver and copper
in each inlay) illustrating the fact that they are all of different
races. Sheesh!
Dave Phelps