How to Make a Gold Plating Solution

Make a mixture to use for gold plating.

Gold plating is a method of coating something with a very fine layer of real gold. You can create beautiful pieces of jewelry and ornaments yourself using gold plating baths made for personal use. Once you are doing the plating yourself you may want to make your own gold plating solution which you will work with. The quantities need to be precise and mixed carefully. You should not attempt to work with chemicals and plating unless you are very familiar with how the equipment works.

Things You'll Need

• 1 liter distilled water
• 15 g, potassium ferrocyanide
• 15 g sodium carbonate
• 2.65 g gold chloride
• Fine sieve

Instructions

1. Bring 1 liter of distilled water to a full boil and add 15 g of potassium ferrocyanide.

2. Pour 15 g of sodium carbonate into the water once all of the potassium has dissolved.

3. Wait for the sodium to be completely mixed into the water and add 2.65 g of gold chloride.

4. Let the solution boil for half-hour and turn off the heat. The solution should be left to cool off for as long as it takes to make it at least room temperature.

5. Filter the solution through a fine sieve and place the solution into a container until you are ready to use it.

Tips & Warnings

• You can make more plating solution by increasing the amounts of ingredients; just keep them all in the same proportion.

• Heat your solution to 130 degrees F before trying to plate something.

References

• Chest of Books: How to Make Gold Amalgam

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish