Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip for
June 14, 2011

Question:

Dale, you often speak well of Argentium® silver. I’ve never used it, but my partner who makes beautiful chain bracelets and neck chains made one, and it darkened, and looks very dull. Has this happened in any of your jewelry, and how do I best remedy it?

-Helen in Jackson, New Jersey

Answer:

Hello Helen, yes, I have been personally working with Argentium® wire since 2005. No, I have never had this wire turn dark, dull, or develop any type of serious tarnish, other than a slight blonde color near the wraps on a piece that had been sitting on a shelf for 8 months, waiting for a reaction.

I asked a friend who makes Argentium hollow ware, and their response was that maybe your partner should enhance the germanium properties of the material by baking the finished items in a 250° F oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Then just use a polishing cloth to finalize the shine. Yes, I have recently read about some folks who actually bake their wire before working with it too. I have never baked Argentium, because I have never had any serious issues with it turning.

One reason may be that the chain had been near salt, bleach, or chlorine products? These chemicals have a tendency to turn silver black. Also, over time, just about every metal is going to react to both the atmosphere and skin oils. The nice, easy-clean feature of Argentium makes renewing its shine more simple than sterling or plated silver. In the example of the Argentium sitting on my counter, I easily removed the blonde film by lightly rubbing the bracelet with a clean piece of t-shirt.

Answer contributed by Dale "Cougar" Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip for
December 18, 2010

Question:

Good morning Dale, I’m tumbling some Apache tears and they refuse to polish up to that fine glass finish we all love. Can you give me some pointers? Thanks for all your help and guidance.

-Sherry in Coulterville, California

Answer:

Ah yes, Apache tears, lovely little drops of obsidian. These are about the most difficult of all materials to tumble polish! I remember my first batch, it took me about 4 months of experimentation to get it right. The following is how I mastered tumble polishing Apache Tears:

First, be sure that you use LOTS of plastic pellets throughout every run, from coarse through fine, as you do not want a single conchoidal chip.

The secret is in the polish stage. Carefully place the tears in the polish barrel and before you add the water, saturate the water with white table sugar (and I mean saturate!!). This forms a really thick syrup that when added to the tears and pellets will further the “cushion” needed to protect these little glass pieces. Note: Be sure to add enough pellets for the barrel to be 4/5 full!

Then add cerium oxide, about half again the amount you would normally use, a dash of Ivory flakes, and run for about 10 hours before checking. Enjoy!

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip

Question:

I get so many questions about tarnish. Why doesn’t the jewelry in commercial jewelry stores tarnish (for instance, my wedding ring) if they are made out of the same sterling silver and gold as our wire?

-Danette in Brush Prairie, Washington

Answer:

Danette, if you mean your wedding ring is white gold, the reason it does not tarnish is due to the fact that all commercial white gold has been heavily electro-plated with a metal such as rhodium (see What is White Gold).

It has been my personal experience that all commercial sterling silver will eventually tarnish as well. The tarnish just takes a bit more time to appear, as each commercially-made piece of sterling silver jewelry has been treated with a special coating or tarnish shield.

There is one specific strong product that I have used personally; however, it is quite dangerous to use. Do an Internet search for “tarnish shield” to investigate the choices available.

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip for
October 11, 2010

Question:

I purchased a cleaning/polishing cloth, and it’s worked terrific. Now it’s quite dirty. The directions said it had some sort of chemicals on it. Can I wash it in the wash machine or by hand? Or do I need to buy a new one?

-Catherine in Arlington, Virginia

Answer:

Sorry, Catherine, you cannot wash a polishing cloth and expect it to work, as washing will remove the polishing compounds in the cloth.

To learn more about different polishing cloths, please enjoy this video clip, Using a Polishing Cloth, with WS Faculty members Mary Bailey and Sherrie Lingerfelt.

The best solution is to use a polishing cloth until it is totally black, then throw it away and get a new one.

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
February 28, 2010

Question:

I like to form my own cabochons and free form pieces for wire wrapping. I seem to be having trouble getting the high polish I would like to have on my stones.  What is the best method or polish to use before I wire wrap my jewelry?  I currently have cerium oxide and tin oxide powder, but don’t know exactly how to use it to obtain the gloss I would like to have.

Answer:

Wow, it’s time to begin your own ‘polishing manual’. We have spent years working to get that high gloss polish on many different rock materials. Although cerium oxide is a great all-round polish, it just doesn’t work on some rocks like turquoise, which we use Zam on leather, felt or cotton wheels to produce the final polish. You may be ready to begin experimenting with diamond compound as well. (One tip is that you do not have to purchase the specialty extending fluids to work with diamond; rather a spray can of silicon spray from a hardware or auto parts store works fine.) The product called Super Cerium Oxide works well when used on leather wheels for a lot of the softer stones. Check your favorite lapidary supply source for a good book on polishing cabs and then write your own manual as you experiment with various methods. (And there are some stones that just do not take a polish well at all!)

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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