[Jewelry making - Article 00500] - Re: [Orchid] Frosting of peridots

[Douglas Turet]

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>     Hi everyone, I am working on a pair of 22k earring set with
>     faceted peridots. I put them into my pickle pot for a few minutes
>     after I had set the stones to give them a brighter gold color and
>     when I took them out the stones appeared to be dul l and had lost
>     their sparkle. Has this happened to anyone else? Can anything be
>     done to fix this disaster?" 

    Hi Mark, Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but not only has this
    happened to some folks, it's happened to everyone, at one time, or
    another... welcome to the gang! What you did, when you put those
    Peridots in acid, was to begin to dissolve them. Peridots,
    Diopsides, Enstatites, Epidotes and the calcium-based Grossular
    Garnets are all susceptible to fresh acid pickles, to one degree or
    another, just as lime is. What happens is that, in the same way that
    pickle removes copper oxides from silver or gold, it removes the
    calcium compounds from these minerals, leaving behind whatever's
    left over. 

    In the case of your Peridots, the only possible remedy is a complete
    recutting of both stones, since you'll not only need to repolish
    them, but actually remove as much of their 'skins' as were affected
    by the acid leaching. If this just happened, you might want to start
    the "healing" process by bathing the pieces in a jar of diluted
    baking soda in water, just to get whatever acid's still in situ to
    stop working on the stones subsurface areas. I'm really sorry that I
    can't offer a 'magic wand' solution to the problem but, hey, look on
    the bright side of this: with the education you've just received,
    what are the chances you'll do that again? 

    All the best, Doug Douglas Turet, GJ Lapidary Artist, Designer &
    Goldsmith Turet Design P.O. Box 162 Arlington, MA 02476 Tel. (617)
    325-5328 eFax (928) 222-0815 anotherbrightidea AT hotmail.com

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