Grrrr! [rant]

[medusa]

So today amongst other things I was fixing up some charms on the kidlet's charm bracelet and repairing the safety chain. After the job done I dropped it in the pickle and when I came to fish it out a few mins later I had succeeded in copper plating the flippin' thing! That's not the grrrrr part though.

Changing the pickle didn't seem to help much so I gently heated the whole thing up and re-pickled a degree of improvement so I heated again focusing on the really bad bit and then the smell hits me and there's all this smoke. Turns out one of the lovely enamelled charms isn't in fact enamel but plastic resin. If there is one thing that really really makes me cross it's plastic resin masquerading as enamel! you can't call cubic zircons diamonds, so why do they call plastic enamel? :(|

[/rant]

[caroleallen]

Makes me mad too. There's no comparison between the two.

[Dennis]

Copper plating of silver in pickle is due to an electrolytic action when you accidentally drop in iron or use iron tweezers. It no longer happens if you can fish the iron out again.

From what I have read, several members have successfully reversed this by mixing some pickle with equal parts of peroxide from the chemist and dunking the piece in that.

Sorry if you already know this and even more sorry you had this bother. Dennis.

[medusa]

Makes me mad too. There's no comparison between the two.

but will trading standards or anyone see the difference? no!


Copper plating of silver in pickle is due to an electrolytic action when you accidentally drop in iron or use iron tweezers. It no longer happens if you can fish the iron out again.

From what I have read, several members have successfully reversed this by mixing some pickle with equal parts of peroxide from the chemist and dunking the piece in that.

Sorry if you already know this and even more sorry you had this bother. Dennis.

I didn't know that Dennis, and to be honest I thought it was because I'd saturated the pickle. I use brass tweezers for my pickle, but I might have accidentally used the steel ones from time to time.

I wish I had taken a picture of it. It actually looked very beautiful, like it was made from rose gold.

[mizgeorge]

Given the lack of authenticity of the 'enamel' could it also be that the silver isn't actually silver, and is in fact a plated ferrous metal, which would be responsible for the copper plating?

[medusa]

I don't think so, George. I've heated and pickled it a few times now and it looks like silver. I suppose I'll be able to tell when I actually enamel it.