Turned art clay purple

[fiona davies]

Hi,
I made a charm for one of my customers who took it to a jewellers and soldered it onto a bracelet. Within a day the artclay silver charm had turned purple. I asked the customer to return the charm to me, I polished it up as good as new but am concerned it may happen again as art clay is so porous...the whatever turned it purple will 'seep' out again. What do you think? Any advice appreciated.


fiona
Little Pinkies

[Solunar Silver Studio]

It is a falacy that fine silver doesn't tarnish at all...it does still react to the environment...just no where near as readily as sterling silver does. I have noticed that some of my jumprings turn various rainbow colours when I am fusing them...I think it depends on where they are on my block which has had all manner of activities performed on it!! ...obviously there must be some residues of something that affect the fine silver....or the temperature was a bit different because usually another sweep with a very hot flame clears the colouring away again. I think it is only an oxide. Just think of the various colours you can get with sensitive oxidisation using LoS or hard boiled eggs...purple included! I wouldn't panic about something random being trapped in the 'porous' pmc just waiting to creep out when you have your back turned. I would bet it just needed that quick polish and all will be fine again! You could always keep a hold on it for a couple of days to reassure yourself that it is stable....

[The Dragon]

Someone pointed me in the direction of Renaissance wax which acts as a barrier, inhibiting tarnish and preventing discoloured skin from a reaction to the metal. Nic at MuranoSilver may have a better idea she is our resident expert on PMC/Silver Clay