How to Blacken Metal Jewelry
One of the beautiful things about vintage copper, brass and sterling silver jewelry is the black oxidation that naturally builds up over the years. The metal is dark in the crevices, which serves to accent the surface embellishments of the jewelry. If you don't want to wait years for your own jewelry to naturally oxidize, you can do it easily in a matter of minutes.
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Instructions
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Place a 1/4-inch diameter piece of Liver of Sulfur in a heat-resistant glass bowl. Pour a cup of boiling water into the glass bowl. Use a wood skewer to break up and completely dissolve the Liver of Sulfur in the hot water.
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Drop the jewelry into the the solution. Brass takes the longest time to blacken and copper the shortest. Sterling silver is somewhere in between. Watch the jewelry for the depth of oxidation you want on the piece of jewelry. Oxidation of any of these three metals takes just a matter of minutes.
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Lift the jewelry out of the solution with the tip of the wood skewer and rinse under warm, running water. Dry off the jewelry.
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Take a piece of steel wool and buff away the black oxidation from the top surface of the jewelry, leaving it in the crevices.
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Tips & Warnings
You can put more than one piece of jewelry in the solution at a time.
If you need to oxidize a lot of jewelry pieces, set the heat-resistant bowl holding the solution on a small, electric coffee cup warmer to keep the solution warm.
To dispose of the solution pour it down the sink drain. Run water down the drain to flush it through the pipe.
Liver of Sulfur smells like rotten eggs. Work with it in a well-ventilated area.
