Couple of problems solved

I posted a couple of problems in the last couple of weeks and would
like to say thank you to those of you who helped me out. I had a
customer who bought a diamond with a chipped girdle and was asking
what on earth I could do about it and I received several comments
and differing opinions, all of them valuable. I did talk the guy into
sending it back as he did have 30 days for return. So that one is
resolved.

Next, I posted about having a couple of pieces made from regular
sterling and Argentium that had been in a gallery. They both had
some wires made of Argentium and that was the only thing that
tarnished. It was wierd tarnish, being orange and brown with a little
grey. Well, several of you offered some suggestions of what might
have happened to cause that and Mark Nelson of Rio Grande saw that
post and also replied to my inquiry. He offered to put me in touch
with Charles Allenden who is the quality assurance manager of
Argentium International. I agreed and Charles and I together tried to
come up with some reasons of why that happened. I don’t know that we
totally solved it but he went above and beyond in trying to help me
figure out what made that happen since Argentium is supposed to be
more tarnish resistant than regular sterling. He said it may have had
some oil or grease on it to cause the tarnish. He sent me some links
to Ronda Coryell’s DVD on working with Argentium that were fabulous
and he explained to me exactly what is happening when the tarnish
forms. In other words, he did everything he could to help me to
understand what happened. I should have taken some photos of the
tarnish, but didn’t do that. I am sure it would have helped. But I
did learn a lot and thoroughly enjoyed conversing with Charles. It is
thanks to the Ganoksin forum that we were able to tackle this
problem. So I just wanted to let all of you know how much so many
people are willing to help and share and just to say thank you again.

Lona

My thanks to you Lona for posting your results about the
questions/problems you had and the process you went through to get
answers. This pretty much defines Orchid at it’s best. I hope others
agree.

J Collier

My thanks to you Lona for posting your results about the
questions/problems you had and the process you went through to get
answers. This pretty much defines Orchid at it's best. I hope
others agree. 

Well, J Collier, whoever you are, thank you for reading my post. I
wanted the whole group to know how much help I have received from so
many people and that it was only possible through the Orchid forum
and all of the wonderful people who take part in it.

By the way, I did check out your website and let me say that I love
your work and your curiosity page. I don’t know if you are male or
female, but I can tell that you are a very special person.

Lona

Lona,

After reading your original post and then your follow up post
expressing your appreciation for the help you received I felt the
need to chime in. Over the years as a member of Orchid I’ve been the
recipient of good info both on and off line. Reading your follow up
post was just another reminder about the depth of knowledge that
members are willing to share. I also very much appreciate the respect
you showed for those who helped.

FYI: I’m a guy with a bit of grey hair. My fiancee deserves the
credit for my website design and photography. She also contributes a
lot of wit and humor to my life. I’m not so sure if the balance is
quite fair for her or not, but she does receive lots of prototype
jewelry and some elaborate teasing in return. (See the “Curious
discovery and forced labor” entry about the snail on the blog.)

Thanks for your kind comments about my work and blog.

All the best,
j

J Collier Metalsmith

Hello J,

Thank you very much for your comments. I think it is important to
let people know when they have helped you or affected you in a
positive way.

There are so many good and helpful on the Orchid forum and you are
one of them. I have learned so much from the people willing to share
their knowledge and I will pass along what I have learned.

Cheers,
Lona