Hello from West Cornwall

[Di Sandland]

Carolallen, those aluminium bangles are to die for! Hello from Devon!

di x

[Solunar Silver Studio]

Thanks Peter, isn't this forum great?!? Ask any question and the answer pops up! ...and you are obviously our resident chemist...excellent!! So the oxide produced on the aluminium acts as a 'key' to bind the colour to the metal? Now that's interesting! What sort of dye is used? How does boiling fix it and can you get a shine on it or is it always a matt finish?

And - final question...How come I've never even heard of this before??!!!!
Barbara

[AlexandraBuckle]

Hello caroleallen and welcome to the forum!

(blimey so many new people since i last logged in!)

[ps_bond]

Thanks Peter, isn't this forum great?!? Ask any question and the answer pops up! ...and you are obviously our resident chemist...excellent!! So the oxide produced on the aluminium acts as a 'key' to bind the colour to the metal? Now that's interesting! What sort of dye is used? How does boiling fix it and can you get a shine on it or is it always a matt finish?

No chemist - but I am an engineer in the day job... With all that that entails.

I'm going to be lazy again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing - overview of the process for many of the metals around (inclusing what boiling does).
http://astro.neutral.org/anodise.shtml - one of the hits I found on a brief Google.

I've done a bit with various dyes (microscopy stains, Dylon...), I've never aimed for anything other than a matt finish on it.

Do remember that many of the pages around will be American, so the spelling will be different for both anodising and aluminium should you search.

And - final question...How come I've never even heard of this before??!!!!

Clearly not enough mad scientist in your genes

[caroleallen]

The aluminium comes in either shiny or matt finish. I used shiny and textured it myself. The dyes and inks are specialised and very very expensive. That's the catch!

[Solunar Silver Studio]

Clearly not enough mad scientist in your genes

You'd be surprised...my dad, sadly deceased 14 years now, graduated as a chemist and was 'an engineer' most of his life...and I am married to a chemistry graduate who worked in the food industry until he retired...and I met him in a chemi lab as one of his 'minions'! Still - you can't know everything about everything can you?...or that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Anyway, that's why all these brilliant people are on this forum!!

Thanks for the links though! I now feel all 'ejookatid'!

Do you think you could dip it in molten wax after sealing it (as boiling it seems not to be 100% effective) and buff it to a shine?
Barbara

[caroleallen]

Boiling it closes the cells and makes it impervious to corrosion. No reason though why they couldn't be rubbed with wax.

[agent_44]

Hi Carole, nice to meet you - I love the cuffs in your gallery!

[MuranoSilver]

OMG - this forum is DANGEROUS now I want to play with Aluminium too!!!
Nic x

[Ominicci]

Hello Carole!! Your work is beautiful!