Pretty Patina

Hello Everyone

Today’s back to basics is all about using Liver of Sulphur to add depth and colour to your pieces.

I love using liver of sulphur to really make those fine details pop! Depending how long you leave the pieces in the silver will give different effects from a bronze glow, to a blue hue right though to a deep black! ( the colour process tends to go gold, pinkish, magenta, blue, purple, grey and finally black)

The long you leave it the darker the piece will be

I tend to dip the piece in and remove after a second or two to see the colours and keep dipping until I get the colour I want.

Watch my little video clip for a how to guide!

Here are some top tips for working with liver of sulphur

✨Make sure your piece is cleaned, polished and free from dust and grease before adding the patina.

✨ Temperature makes a difference to how quickly the patina takes effect (the hotter the solution the quicker the reaction)

✨Set gemstones after patina and polish as some stones don’t react well - you can also paint the liver of sulphur on to your piece to avoid the bezel setting if you wish your stone to be set on a lighter backing)

✨if you don’t like it you can remove the patina by adding a little heat ( unless you have already set a stone that can not be fired) in which case gently use tarnish remover avoiding the stone.

✨To help the patina last longer apply some Renaissance wax to the piece .

I would love to see your pretty patina’s ! Please feel free to share your work.

Or if you have any other top tips using liver of sulphur please pop a comment below!

Emma