[Jewelry making - Article 00147] - Re: [Orchid] Titanium coloring

[Randy Smith (PSS TEXAS)]

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    Hi Priscilla, I have been playing with Titanium and Niobium and can
    easily get all the colors of the rainbow by this method: 

    1) I purchased the Anodizer from Reactive Metals.
    http://www.reactivemetals.com/rmsmini.htm It is sort of expensive and
    I have found several articles on how to make one yourself, but I
    opted to buy it. 

    2)  Using the Anodizer, I hooked it up to a digital voltmeter so I
    could tell exactly what the voltage it was putting out. 

    3) I took a strip of Titanium about 6 inches long, and hooked up one
    lead (the negative lead I think) to the strip, and hooked up the
    other lead to an alligator clip. 

    4) To the alligator clip, I hooked up a very small artists paint
    brush, by connecting to the metal ferrule that holds the bristles. 

    5) I dipped the paint brush in my pickle jar to get a little acid on
    it for conductivity, turned up the voltage to about 10 Volts, and
    painted a stripe across the Titanium strip.  If it didn't react, I
    turned up the voltage a little more until I got the first indication
    of oxidation, which was  a faint yellow coloring. I used a black fine
    magic marker to label this line with the voltage it took to get this
    color. 

    6) Then I raided  the voltage by .5 volt, moved over about 5 mm and
    painted another strip, which gave me a darker yellow.  I marked this
    line with its voltage. 

    7) By the time I got to the end of the strip, about 40 volts or so,
    in half volt increments, I had gone from light yellow, thru pink and
    purple , to dark blue, to a bright iridescent blue. 

    I did the same thing with a strip of Niobium. 

    Now, when I want a particular color, I look at my strip, crank up
    the voltage to the color I want and paint away.  You can paint any
    color right next to each other, or raise a previous color to a
    higher voltage and color. 

    If you go to far and want to backtrack, buff or sand off the
    oxidation, and start over again. 

Love and God Bless
-randy
Home 214-321-6253
Cell 214-280-7775
Work 469-775-6650
http://www.rocksmyth.com

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