Blackening alpaca

Hi,

Does anyone know how to chemically turn alpaca black, to mimic
silver oxidation, i. e., not using the torch to merely darken it?
Thanx and keep shining,

Devora

Does anyone know how to chemically turn alpaca black, to mimic
silver oxidation, i. e., not using the torch to merely darken it? 

Isn’t that a Llama?

Paf Dvorak

Hi Paf!

In Israel, as well as other countries in the Middle/Far East, nickel
silver is call ‘alpaca’. In Europe in 1823 a competition was held to
discover which alloy was the best silver imitation. Berndorf, a
German manufacturer, sold their nickel silver products under the
name Alpaca silver, and the term became commonly used throughout
Europe.

Janet in Jerusalem

  1. Midas Nickel Oxidizer from Rio Grande

  2. Birchwood Casey Super Blue, which says ‘selenium dioxide’, either
    in a bottle or their Presto Gun Blue pen: for all blackening. It
    works fine on N/S, brass and steel.

  3. “Antique solutions for most metals”
    http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep81fq

  4. “Original Formula Nickel silver Oxidizer”

Google search: “formula for blackening nickel silver” gave 157,000
results!

Janet in Jerusalem

I think it’s another name for some sort of german-silverish alloy,
but I confess I too had a vision of a llama covered with soot.

Janet Kofoed

Hi,

Apologirs for my delayed reply but I have not been online. First,
thank you to all who replied with and explanations.

Where I live it is hard to find the ready made patinas that they
sell in the USA, and which are hazardous materials so flying them in
is not an option. That said, I found a bit of Antique Brass, and
this did the job quite nicely!!! Keep shining, D