Search results matching tag 'burnish'

Re: Burnishing in a tumbler: help!! pieces turn black

pdx silversmith — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:54:39 GMT

I'm amazed at how many different remedies people use to fix jewelry gone bad in the tumbler. I'm still a fan of re-firing if your piece is made of silver clay (sans gemstones, of course) and pickling if it's sterling silver or has a stone that can't be fired. There's a new "green" pickle on the market that's much less harmful so it might be just the thing.

As for maintaining the shine on a piece, that's always tough, even after using Wenol or other similar product with anti-tarnish ingredients. I've actually considered throwing in a treated cleaning cloth with some of my more expensive pieces. Have them printed with my business name & icon.

Re: Burnishing in a tumbler: help!! pieces turn black

pdx silversmith — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:09:01 GMT

It took a lot of work to make my pieces shiny again after they came out with a dark brown patina. What finally worked? I soaked my shot in flat Coke for several hours and then rinsed it well. I don't know if that made a difference but it took all the shine off the shot, so I'm sure it removed whatever was responsible for the patina. Debra Carus, a wonderful silver clay artist and senior ACS instructor, told me the best way to fix darkened silver clay pieces is to re-fire them. She said pickling also works--so I assume this would be a good solution for sterling and gold pieces.

I bought a new tumbler barrel, and after re-firing, used that with several tablespoons of burnishing soap instead of the usual Dawn. I let it run overnight and was very happywith the result--and extremely relieved. (Lortone 3A tumbler barrels work just fine with the tumbler from Harbor Freight. You can buy the barrel for about $20 if you ever need a replacement. I got mine from a local rock shop.)

Re: Burnishing in a tumbler: help!! pieces turn black

beadmanic — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:21:37 GMT

Thanks everyone for the tips, I was sure glad to know my pieces were restorable. I'm going to try all idesa to see with one works best for me and the glass jar sounds pretty original and you could see the pieces as your burnishing them. I'm very visual like alot of us artist's so I would find that interesting to see. ( for a short time of course)

Happy burnishing

beadmanic

Re: drilling, hammering, sodering with PMC

geltdesigns — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:37:36 GMT

PMC is much more brittle and pourous than fine silver or sterling. You can drill, hammer and solder but it is more difficult. A couple of tips. When you drill metal clay, DO NOT mark it with an automatice center punch. It will crack; every time. Learned that the hard way. You need to mark gently with a traditional center punch. Start with a small drill and work larger. I avoid hammering PMC, but if I need to do so it is best to burnish a LOT before hammering.

As to solder, metal clay soaks up solder. You need to use more solder than you would with traditional metals. Again, burnish a LOT in the area you intend to solder before soldering.

I hope this helps.