Hello all,
Someone mentioned to me that they coat their sterling silver pieces
with some sort of lacquer so it does not tarnish.
Does anyone else do this procedure and where can one purchase it.
Thank you,
Laurie
Someone did that to my pieces while they had them on display and it
takes forever to get that stuff off when you do go to clean. Some of
the chains will never be clean.
Hello Laurie,
You wondered about a lacquer coating on silver to prevent tarnish.
I’ve done it and don’t recommend it. The lacquer is a good
alternative to constantly polishing your plated tea set or
candlesticks, but is not for jewelry to be worn. Although the
lacquer is pretty durable (even when exposed to cat urine!),with
normal wear, it will become scratched and wear off. If the piece is
bent at all, the lacquer chips off.
Just don’t do it,
Judy in Kansas
Hi Laurie, I’v used a “gel” type of coating on my silver with great
success. It’s more of a thin plastic coating than a lacquer, and it
does not turn yellow. You do have to experiment with it a bit to get
the hang of it; either brush it on or dip it. I’v used it on "snake"
chains as well as pendents with prongs… (I have a plating
machine, but prefer to use this method-)-- the trick is not to “over
coat” your piece. If you like, e- mail me and I will send you some
and we can compare notes… I’v also found a way to pressure steam
my flasks prior to burn out without that nasty wax ordor… and a
system to polish your pieces at a fraction of the cost of a magnetic
tumbler.
Sincerely,
Ruben Yanez
We use a product from Egyptian Coatings. The lacquer is called Clear
Endurlac and the thinner is Slow Dry Thinner.
Let me caution you though, we have spent a considerable amount of
time trying to get the mixture right. You will get a rainbow effect
on your pieces if you do not have your mixture right. We have also
had to educate our customers because if you use this lacquer coating
on your jewelry that you wear close to the skin it will wear off.
Some of our customers have thought that the metal was peeling off
when in reality it was just the lacquer coating wearing off. Overall
after a quick heads up to our customers we still feel the benefits
of prolonged wear without tarnishing out weigh the customer that is
concerned about the metal peeling off.
Hope this helps.
Donda Cordova
Hi All,
I have not tried lacquer yet, but I talked to 2 artists this summer
who both use it on their jewelry. One uses Permalac and the other
uses a lacquer made by the Nikolas Company. They both swear by it. At
shows during those very hot and humid days my silver was nearly brown
and theirs looked bright and beautiful. I’d love to hear more
responses from other people’s experience with lacquer.
Thanks,
Grace
On my old line of copper,silver,brass mokume jewelry I used Nikolas
#2105 Clear Lacquer in an aerosol can. It worked very well for
display of the work in my cases and in galleries. Of all the
coatings I tried it was definitely the best in terms of appearance
and durability. The Nikolas website has more about it at
With that said I found that when an item would come back from the end
customer for repair or to make a new earring when someone lost one
of the pair it would often show that the lacquer had cracked and
flaked away and the work would show tarnish in the areas where the
lacquer had cracked. This typically was a very unattractive result.
I have not heard of any lacquer or other coating that will survive
for any significant length of time given the handling and abrasion
that most jewelry encounters in day to day wear. I now use
Renaissance Wax on my jewelry items other than rings. Yes it still
degrades over time but it fails in a somewhat more attractive
fashion and it is easier to strip and re-apply when something comes
back. This is the bane of using metals that tarnish and patinas of
any kind, how do you protect them? If anyone ever comes up with a
good solution they will be able to make a fortune selling it to the
likes of us.
Jim