Copper Plating with Contaminated Pickle
My beginning soldering students create copper rings but the bezel cupss used to set the stones are fine silver. The inevitable question... how do I make the silver bezel cup the same color as the copper ring? Quick answer, use contaminated pickle to "plate" the silver bezel cup with copper.
There are to steps to this process.
There are to steps to this process.
- The pickle must contain copper oxides. Achieve this by pickling some copper pieces you've soldered or annealed.
- Iron must come in contact with the silver while in the pickle solution. Achieve this by using steel tweezers to place the silver into the pickle. Wrapping binding wire around the silver piece you want plated also works.
Easy peezy. Looking for more detailed info on this subject, try this article on Ganoksin.
