[Jewelry making - Article 00092] - [Orchid] Oxidation, Frustration, Exasperation?

[Mike Dibble]

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    Hi All, I have mostly lurked here, absorbing all the wisdom...doing
    my best imitation of a sponge. We are trying to solve a problem with
    one of our wholesale accts. and have virtually exhausted our own
    little network of jeweler friends and tech. resources. So I thought
    I'd run this by a larger forum to see if there is something we are
    missing. 

    Most of our designs are done in sterling with a black antiqued
    background. We use Midas Black Max for antiqueing. On several
    occaisions, we have had peices where the antiqueing has turned a
    dull brown color and appeared to "migrate" to out of the background
    on to the silver surfaces. In most of these instances we have been
    able to figure out the problem: heat + humidity + displaying or
    storing items sealed in the small zip bags. We spoke with a rep. at
    Rio who confirmed this and recommended coating with either clear
    water based laquer or tarnish shield and including 3M tarnish
    (anti-tarnish?) strips in the baggies. We tested both products,
    decided on the tarnish shield...the laquer did not look good on
    satin finished pieces. 

    Our wholesaler shipped a lot of inventory back to us that had turned
    brown. We refinished all of it (nearly a week in process) and coated
    with tarnish shield, etc. We received an email this morning telling
    us (after displaying at an event this past weekend) that the brown
    tarnish has reappeared. I am about convinced that the problem is due
    to inappropriate display. They are still keeping the items in sealed
    zip bags. We have been suggesting to them that they might sell more
    jewelry and eliminate the tarnish problem if they displayed the
    jewelry in a more "creative" way. They have been a good acct. for us
    and we don't want to alienate them. They are becoming frustrated
    with the back and forth shipping (we've done this several times
    already) and we are also getting a little frustrated. We haven't yet
    been able to determine definitively what causes the problem for
    them. 

    We have done all the common sense things: bought fresh antiqueing
    soln., no cross contamination, ruled out buffing compound, etc. 

    We are pretty much left with 3 possibilities at this point: 1) The
    "baggie" problem. 2) Something reacting in their local (home?)
    environment. 3) Impurites of some sort in the casting grain. 

    We would reallly appreciate any type of feedback/insight on this. 

Thanks so much,
Mike Dibble

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