Liver of Sulfur Patina on Gold Plated Sterling Silver

Is it possible to patina black on gold plated sterling silver? I want to keep gold plating in some parts of the piece and the rest will be in black. Thank you for your help.

The gold plating will prevent the liver of sulfer from darkening the silver. You might be able to patina the silver first and then gold plate. Or you can try Iodine to darken the gold. It turns it brown rather than black. I do patinas on gold with powder coat. It is a lot tougher than paint or black 2 part ceramit.

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Your best bet is too only plate the areas you want to be gold. Mask the areas to be blackened before plating.

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I don’t use liver of sulfur but instead Jax Silver Blackener on gold-plated
sterling (it’s just what I happened to purchase first, not specifically
preference). I apply it directly into the recessed area of the casting with
the tiniest paint brush with half the bristles clipped off. I’ve
accidentally painted outside the desired area too many times with a bigger
brush, and sanded the plating right off when I tried to clean it up with
any extra fine brushes/bristle discs.

I’d love to hear if anyone else has had success applying it in a more
oxidized allover finish with the bright highs and dark lows, though.
Especially for long-term wear, I generally find that oxidation comes off
after any prolonged wear.

Sara

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Hi Wade,

Thank you for the tip.

Regards,

Zelda

Hi Sara,

Thank you for your input.