Electroplating to make home-made jewlery

[Draneth]

I'm trying to make a piece of home-made jewelry, unfortunately it's been a few years since I last took a chemistry course (or did anything chemistry-related for that matter). My goal is to electroplate some silver writing onto a copper ring I have.

 

I was wondering:

 

- What is the easiest, cheapest way to get some silver nitrate, and how much would I need to plate something that has ~1cm squared surface area?

 

- Does oxidized copper electroplate as well as pure copper? i.e. would I be able to oxidize the ring, carve something through the oxidation, electroplate the desired area with silver, then sand off the oxidation?

 

 

Thanks.

[hermanntrude]

I think you can probably buy silver nitrate in photography specialist stores, although i'm not sure

 

Generally if you've got enough liquid to cover an object you've got enough to plate it.

 

Your idea is clever, but bound for failure, i think. I'm not sure if the electroplating would be only on the non-oxidized area, but the sanding would probably remove both the plating AND the oxide. Feel free to try it, though, i've been known to be wrong and it'd be an excellent method if it worked.

 

Having said all of that, silver wire is easy enough to buy and not that expensive. perhaps you can just make your jewelry from silver? My father has made jewelry most of his life from silver, gold and platinum wire. He uses all sorts of tools he invented himself for this purpose.

[John Cuthber]

You could use some wax or varnish rather than the oxide. Coat the work with varnish or wax, scribe through the wax, plate it with silver (the wax will stop the plating so only the bits where there's no wax will get plated. Then warm it to melt the wax off or take the varnish off with paint stripper.

Part of the problem will be that it's very difficult to get a decent coating with silver- it tends to give a black mess rather than nice shiny silver.

[Draneth]

thanks for the advice.

 

The other question I had was the following: at what voltage should the electroplating take place?

[hermanntrude]

it depends on the cell you're going to use. I'm not sure if there are any disadvantages to using too much potential, but if there isn't, then you wouldn't go wrong with a 6 or 9 volt battery.

[YT2095]

a tip with Silver plating, is to use a Very Dilute soln of the nitrate, and the metal MUST be 100% spotless, degreased, dust free the whole 9 yards!

 

you`ll find that for a Thin plate you`ll not need any current at all either.

[John Cuthber]

Keep the current low and the concentration low is the summary of all the advice I have heard about this but I think it's an art as much as a science.

Be prepared to get it wrong lots of times before you get it right.

[jdurg]

Also keep in mind that silver tarnishes very easily, and the thickness of the plated silver layer you're bound to get means that the first time you go to remove the tarnish you'll remove the whole plate. Most jewelery that appears to be silver actually has a thin palladium or rhodium coating on it. Pd and Rh salts, however, are not very cheap though.

[iegres]

To make a piece of home-made jewelry is it only enough to make electrolysis with silver nitrate or must it be some other chemicals in the tank?

Thanks

[YT2095]

very dilute silver nitrate is all you need, don`t use tap water to dilute it with though as it will go cloudy and you`ll lose some of the silver, use deionised water instead.

Using the Wax method as outlined by john is a good way to go about this, but you`ll need to make sure there is a constant flow of the soln over the exposed area as it quickly becomes used and uneven, so a method of agitation or movement of the ring or liquid will be needed (regular dipping on a wire will do).

[Old School]

Hi Draneth -

 

I saw some one show a copper bracelet with silver letters. He had done this by stamping the letters into the copper bracelet. Next put some flux ( the non-acid type used in electonics ) & then just used a high grade of silver solder that filled in the stamped letters. I think he rubbed it with steel wool it afterwards the get the excess solder off the copper to out line the letters for a cleaner look.

 

Anyway, I hope this helps! Good Luck!

 

Best regards O S

Edited April 22, 2009 by Old School
never proofed post first.

[Theophrastus]

A bit unrelated, though similarly, you could use the wax method to incribe words or pictures, into the metal. I' ve done it before, and it works quite well. You simply heat the metal plate, upon which you desire to right, then place atop it a lump of wax, which will soon melt, and form a thin layer on the metal, you then then write, with an iodine soultion, on the metal plate, the pressing of the utensil, making a hole in the wax. Having written your desired message, leave the metal to cool, and rid yourself of the wax, and any salt (cough, cough) that may be on the metal. Very useful, actually.