Black on gold

Hi I can see some gold rings having a patina similar to silver.
Howit is possible to oxidise gold? Or is it black rhodium plating?I
am attaching the picture of just part of the gold ring to seewhat I
mean.


Thanks

hello, in i believe it was 2014 MJSA had a fairly lengthy article on
what was then, fairly new -to-the-market “Black Gold”.You should
check their archives for the article -it was under their marketing
news section if I remember correctly BUT what the (very small) image
you attached looked like was an oxidised overlay of either silver or
nickel based white gold/palladium, or some other ‘white’ alloy. there
are a lot of patina solutions including those for gold that after
application will give the effect you showed in the picture you
supplied. Jax brand makes one. It isn’t necessary to spend the money
for black rhodium plating when a 20 dollar (or less!) bottle of Jax
solution will put a deep black on many, many troy ozs of jewelry !One
tip though if you do opt for buying a prepared liquid patina: most
come in a plastic bottle- and unless you are doing production runs of
a given piece thus using most of the solution at once is to transfer
it to a glass container with a tight fitting lid with a phenolic,
aka. PTFE liner (in other words, don’t use a bottle with an uncoated
cap- the metal cap may degrade with exposure to the chemicals in a
given solution) the phenolic liners look like a plastic or vinyl
insert in the cap and if no phenolic liner is available a mason
style jar with an unscratched enamel coating (a new ,unused lid) is a
good second choice!..rer

Black on gold is done either with black rhodium plating or black
paint.

Both are only a surface treatment and thus temporary. Especially on
a ring.

The high spots will wear off leaving darkness In the crevices which
can be a great design element if you wish.

Have fun and make lots of jewelry.

Jo Haemer
timothywgreen.com

OK, this is probably a silly question. Has anyone plated silver on
to gold with the intention of blackening the silver then polishing
off the blackened silver to reveal the underlying golde? If silver
can be plated onto gold, why wouldn’t this worke

Inquiring minds want to know - especially those in Kansas!! Judy in
Kansas, where it’s time to plant those seedlings. Got radishes and
spinach coming up.

Hi Judy,

Many times a two tone gold ring is Rhodium plated to make the
recessed areas white gold appearing. Careful re-polishing the higher
places will give the piece a two metal look. It can still be stamped
14 Kt even though there is a two colored look. This lasts quite a
while if the plated areas are recessed and not an area receiving a
lot of wear. If you see any old “Swiss Cut” jewelry, and see two tone
it is just plated most of the time.

Having done quite a bit of plating in the past, (more
electroforming) my experience is primarily plating pure silver not
sterling. I’m not even sure if they make a sterling silver plating
solution. Someone with more experience can comment here. Pure silver
does not antique well. Same as pure jewelry made of silver doesn’t
antique very well.

In the old days there used to be an black antiquing product called
Jet Black. This was a cyanide based antique you would burn on. Almost
passed out using it in an unvented area once. Nasty stuff. It was
very black and stuck on both white and yellow gold beautifully. Most
cyanide is gone from our jewelry world now days. Not much will stain
gold that I know of. Plate yes, burn on no. I’ve tried all the
antiques that are applied with the steel applicator and am not
satisfied at all.

Don’t think plating silver on gold to antique will work.

Old school is good school,

Regards,
Todd Hawkinson

Like @rebecca_rourke1 said, Jax silver blackener works on gold as well as silver, is simple, and cheap (around $6 or $7 for a small bottle). I’ve used it a few times.

I agree, you just have to heat the gold a bit to make it blacken it.

Janet Kofoed