As you can see there's beautiful shiny copper in the center and the rest is black. Well, half that's what I wanted. So, what happened? I cleaned the wire, I used hot water in a crock pot with the LOS, I don't believe I used too little or too much LOS (that's evident in the rest of the bracelet), and I rinsed then dried the piece as usual. Here's a photo of another piece I did at the same time. Same type of results. I used 20 gauge wire on the parts that didn't tarnish and the rest is a 16 gauge. Is it possible that maybe this wire is made differently (maybe the mixture of metals is different) or maybe I somehow got anti-tarnish wire? Any suggestions? I need advice from the beading veterans!
Looks like you have a wire that has an antioxidant coating. Copper wire for electrical purposes often does. It is also next to impossible to remove the coating. Don't know why the rest turned so absolutely black, maybe you had it in too long? Try taking some steel wool and give the blackened parts some polishing to get some of the oxidation off.
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like some anti-tarnish wire thing. Can you contact the manufacturer and find out?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the day!
Erin
Pure copper will oxidize, craft store copper will not, there are other alloys that prevent that from happening.
ReplyDeleteI know the piece didn't turn out how you expected, but I really LOVE the contrast between the two metals.
ReplyDeleteHm, still haven't figured this one out. The wire on that section was purchased from Rings and Things and the package says "Raw Copper". I'll have to write myself a note on this wire so I know not to use it when I want to oxidize a piece. And both pieces did turn out really dark probably because I kept waiting for the wire in the center to turn. I'll post pictures tomorrow of the finished piece. Thanks once again for your help girls!
ReplyDeleteStrange thing in fact, but the result is interesting...
ReplyDeleteI know there is a problem with copper. Here in France, we have a lot of difficulties to find pure copper, so we work with copper add to an alloy as nickel. That's what you can find in electric wire.
May be they delivered you this type of copper.
I'll be interested to see what will happen tomorrow...
xoxo
Can you rough up the wire if there is a coating on it? They are such beautiful designs!
ReplyDelete