For a long time, I bought black findings. As time went on, it seems, the black findings got harder and harder to come by. Joann's sells few black findings, and Michaels continues to thin the black finding options. From there, I moved onto hematite or gun metal colored findings. For those who do not know, it is the really dark silver tone. Pretty, shiny, dark, lots of options. The downside, I guess to either the black or the hematite/gun metal, is that they are coated in paint. This means that if you buy head pins, or lever back earring wires, there is a good chance the coating will eventually flake off. I have not witnessed it with the ear wires, but I have seen it on the head pins. I'll start twisting the wire to make a nice neat loop and 'pop', the paint will peel away from the wire! On the ear wire side of things, you will see lever backs that are painted shut or stiff to move because they have been painted in place. The result is a lever back that does not snap back closed, or doesn't open without being bent because it is painted closed. Thus, a worthless ear wire!
My solution for this is Liver of Sulfur, Sulfur, Sulfur.... Yep! It stinks to high Heaven, but it does an awesome job of taking sterling silver, silver plate, and raw brass to my favorite realm, VINTAGE! The great news is, you can find silver-plated and raw brass findings for not much more than regular findings. Places like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay offer many options, and if you buy in bulk, you save big. Michael's sells a ton of their metal beading bits in silver plate and at a reasonable cost.
Liver of Sulfur, what is it?
From the WWW: Liver of sulfur is mainly used in metalworking to form a patina, turning copper alloys brown or black. Typically liver of sulfur comes in a dry rock form which must be broken into smaller pieces and dissolved in hot water for use.
It stinks!
You can buy it in the dry rock form, or buy pre-mixed gel (which is my preferred type). You mix according to package directions, in my case, 1T with 1C of tepid/warm water. Make sure the dish you use is used ONLY for your antiquing (I used an old ceramic soup crock that has a rubber lid).
After I had made a couple of batches, I came up with the brilliant idea of using my old 4 cup coffee maker's pre-fab nylon mesh coffee filter screen. I put my findings in it and then submerge into the solution making it very easy to remove all pieces and to dunk and stir as needed. It also makes an awesome rinsing vessel before dumping my findings onto paper towel to dry. Hey! you can even use one of those hand-held nylon fine mesh strainers. I don't think a metal filter would be good because of possible chemical reaction, but who knows?
You have to keep an eye on whatever it is you antique as no two plated items antique at the same speed. This is where that nylon screen works great, easy in, easy out.
I made the mistake one time of leaving items in the solution over night. They were encrusted with thick black tarnish! Mega rustic, but not suitable for jewelry!!!
The trick is to get all of the items you wish to patina lined up and ready so that you get the most out of your liver of sulfur. One $12 bottle makes three batches, so use your chemical wisely. I can get a lot done from one cup of the solution. I have read that once the solution becomes murky, it's time to make a fresh batch. Overnight, mine will turn murky and so I just dump it after antiquing everything that I am going to antique.
The results are amazing! The patina on silver plate (my choice of finding) is absolutely wow! The tone is warm, dark and shiny. The lever backs are gorgeous, they open easily, and they are silver plated, not painted. You can easily take 1000 jump rings and antique them in a matter of minutes. 100 ft of silver plated necklace chain (fine) and antique in a matter of minutes. Why would I ever want to buy hematite-tone findings again? The image below is from wires I antiqued. They started out with a bright sterling silver plated finish and sat in the solution for less than 5 minutes!
Antiquing your findings also opens up the ability to a broader range of findings. Almost everything comes in a bright silver plated finish. You cannot say the same for black or gun metal colored findings.
I have yet to use it on raw brass as I have tons of antiqued brass findings already, but I have the itch and will soon be giving that a go!
Happy antiquing!
