does resin oxidise sterling?

[chrisparry]

I worked a little with resin some 10 years ago and I have a need to use it again.

I can't recall if resin will oxidise sterling silver. If so, will a simple rhodium plate over a sterling piece suffice or should I stick to fine silver?

Any help appreciated.

chris

[caroleallen]

I did a resin course with Kathie Murphy a while ago and she advised that sterling silver will oxidise and most of the books say the same but I think it must depend on the type of resin used, as I've noticed that some people get away with it. Maybe they use fine silver.

[mizgeorge]

I did a course last weekend with Clare John, and made some pieces with sterling with no problems at all. The exposed areas will obviously tarnish over time, but can easily be polished. Those which are covered with the resin are fine, and the resin forms an airtight seal, so I can't see any reason why they'd oxidise. They certainly don't do so on contact. She showed us a number of pieces made many years ago with sterling, and they looked just beautiful. We were using Chemset resins.

[caroleallen]

Is Chemset really stinky George, as that's the reason I didn't pursue it?

[mizgeorge]

No smell at all Carole - which was what attracted me to it in the first place. One of the varieties (can't remember if it's the gel or the doming one) has a slight whiff of ammonia to the hardener, but it disperses pretty much as soon as it's open.

I was very impressed with what I can do with it without all the faff of vitreous enamelling. In particular, I'm loving being able to create fully transparent pieces. I'll be showing some pics later in the week on t'other side :)

[caroleallen]

Looking forward to it George.