I made a lovely Sterling Silver ring for my granddaughter and when
she wears it for awhile, it turns her finger black. Any suggestions
on what I can do so she can wear it?
Many thanks in advance for your input
Lesley
You’re Granddaughter may be one of those lucky people with a higher
skin PH. Sorry if I got that direction of PH wrong, I’m currently on
a pain killer. But to counter it have her use a good hand cream each
time she wears it. This should be enough of a barrier to counter any
skin metal reactions.
Aggie watching the temps drop fast here north of Orlando. The mouse
needs thermals.
Could she be allergic to copper? — Line the ring w/ fine silver.
OR Deprecian plate the ring to bring up the fine silver on the
surface of the sterling.
Was “soft” solder used (or Tix, etc.)? — replace the joint in
question with a higher grade of solder.
Is she a teenager? — some times emotional states can trigger a
reactionto alloys in the metals and solders used in jewelry making.
This would be a sometime thing, not evident all the time. (I see
this in the case of perfectly good wedding rings a lot!)
I have rubbed a silver ring with Johnsons Paste Wax to counter this
problem. It works well, but may will probably need to be reapplied
after a while.
Marysa
Many thanks for your input. I used hard solder for the initial band.
I am unable to line it with Fine Silver or Depletion Guild the band
because of the set Peridot. Can’t take heat to it. Wondering if
spraying it with Clear Coat Lacquer would help…
I did initially use Renaissance wax but I will try Johnson Wax and
see if that helps
I have used gloss acrylic spray, but any coating must routinely be
reapplied as all will wear off.
John
OK Lesley,
Here is an off the wall thought. You probably could line the
sterling ring with fine silver if you approach it as you would a
spinner ring. Make a 32ga (or so - thinner if you can) fine silver
band a little bit wider than the ring’s band and a just large enough
to fit inside the ring. Fuse the fine silver. Then use your ring
mandrel to stretch the liner to fit snugly inside the ring. Flair the
protruding edges of the liner around the edges of the sterling ring
band, and burnish down to each edge. If the ring is a bit too small,
stretch the whole thing on your mandrel.
NOW, before going to all that effort, make sure that your client
doesn’t use sulfur-based shampoo or something (hand cream?) that
would abrade or react with the silver. If the skin is black and the
ring is shiny, I’d be thinking about something that abrades the
metal.
Don’t you love a mystery! Hope you can solve the cause of the
black…
one way or another,
Judy in Kansas, where some warm temps are melting the last snowfall.
So good to have the moisture sink into the soil rather than run off.
Nano ceramic electro plating works well and last for a long time.
Rio Grande sell it.
How about pen plating the inside of the ring in fine silver followed
by burnishing with polished stainless steel burnisher lubricated
with liquid soap. For thicker fine silver coating repeat the plating
after burnishing.
Warm regards
Kofi
Ghana
My daughter could turn a silver ring black in a matter of hours. Fine silver will not help. You can gold plate or rhodium plate or nano ceramic clear coat the ring. I nano coat all my silver creations because it doesn’t change the color of the metal and lasts better than rhodium. It will have to replaced eventually. I charge $15, wholesale price, to nano ceramic plate if you want to send it to me. PM for address.
Sounds like black dermagraphism, very acidic skin, or both. With the exception of platinum, I do the same thing. You just learn to live with it.
Gerald A. Livings
Livingston Jewelers
I’m looking into using this ceramic coating but it is to expensive to have
it send from Rio Grande to overseas, then pay additionals import taxes and
taxes on top of it.
The only way to buy it in Europe is directly from Itraly but the smalles
amount is 1 liter which is a way to much for me.
If her finger turns dark it is a reaction to the copper in the sterling. Silver turns white to grey. There is not much you can do for some people excpt to use white gold rather than silver. Don’t laugh, it worked for one lady who got her husband to spring for it. You would have to make sure it is not alloyed with sterling silver. Superior white gold used to be gold and platinum. For a child, I would recommend waiting. People’s allergies and reactions change as the grow and age. She may eventually have no problem with sterling.
I am interested in the nano ceramic coatings as well. Would you share with us what your setup is?
Thank you in advance, Sheila Harzman
2 stirring and heating units. 1 to heat and stir electro cleaner and one to stir the nano ceramic plating solution. A rinse after electro cleaner then into a surface prep acid then a rinse by a pour over rinse. then air dry. Into the plating solution at 32 volts for 45 seconds then 2 rinses and a surfactent then a pour over rinse and air dry. then it goes in a convection oven at 320 degrees for 45 minutes
This is not always the case. I know of two women who cannot wear silver in any form as it turns black on their skin, yet they can wear copper with no marking at all. As well, a chemistry teacher showed me how 14 k gold will turn black on young women while it did not mark menopausal women - its all about body chemistry.
Aurora
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Thank you for the picture and details!
I have been looking at the spray applied powder coating systems and also this style of ceramic plating system. Both seem to be described as nano ceramic coating. What I have had difficulty determining is why one would choose one over the other. Hoping you and others would be willing to speak to that question…
Sheila
I have only used the electro plated on type but I would be interested in hearing about powder coating on jewelry. The electro plating is a futsy process. Everything has to be just right or you have to strip it off and start over.