Dark lines amongst light ones

[purplepepper8]

Hey, would any of you happen to know why there are some dark lines showing up amongst the light ones? You can see them focused in the top right area of the image attached. I tried cleaning it in the ultrasonic and they remained, however they disappear when i go over them once more with the graver, and return to a more uniform colour. If it helps the metal is 18kt gold with 15% copper and 10% silver. Thanks

 

[mitch]

I'm not seeing the problem, but the piece itself looks pretty neat. Care to tell us more about it?

 

[purplepepper8]

If you look at some of the sections, there is variation in colour even within it. if a section has lines cut in only one direction, and the tip wont be blunting so much as to affect the few cuts immediately after it, then they should look the same right?
And thank you for the compliment. It is one of a pair of earrings titled 'be here now', which refers to the idea of being present.

 

[monk]

i'm no help here. if the piece was the size of a dinner plate, i might fuss over it. given the actual size, i'd not worry about it. is there a possibility that the alloy is not totally homogenous ? if so, that could be yer problem.

 

[purplepepper8]

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I’m a bit of a perfectionist but I think I solved the issue by going over the cuts again. And I thought it might an issue with alloying but like I mentioned, I went over them again and the stains disappeared. Thank you though

 

[Chujybear]

I’m not sure I see what your problem is.. as the guys have already said, it’s probably not worth agonizing over at that scale... are the visible to you with your naked eye...

Okay, I said I don’t see the problem.. but I do see a few things that might be the problem. The biggest dark lines that I can see appear to be surface area and not cut..
if it is within the cut you are having the problem there can be some things. One if you roll your graver as you pass through the cut you can get a differential light as you pass along it (i don’t really see that here, but on a moving piece, you would notice that).
The other thing is if you switch direction with your cutting it can create a couple situations... one is just a slight taper to your line... best practices is to back cut when you are doing lines like this.. that way you will have the most even lines, and you can get a bit more distinction with your start and end points.
The other problem that you might be having, if you are indeed changing direction while you cut, is that gold, maybe 18kt more than others, can have something of a “grain” where there will be a sort of dusty belly to your cut where it tears when cut in certain directions.. i know ti’s Against the orthodoxy, but i personally would hit it with an extremely fine wire brush, or a bit of rouge on a mop. Just a quick, but thorough pass over which will homogenize all the cuts, and, I’d warrant, those black lines will blend

 

[purplepepper8]

I’m not sure I see what your problem is.. as the guys have already said, it’s probably not worth agonizing over at that scale... are the visible to you with your naked eye...

Okay, I said I don’t see the problem.. but I do see a few things that might be the problem. The biggest dark lines that I can see appear to be surface area and not cut..
if it is within the cut you are having the problem there can be some things. One if you roll your graver as you pass through the cut you can get a differential light as you pass along it (i don’t really see that here, but on a moving piece, you would notice that).
The other thing is if you switch direction with your cutting it can create a couple situations... one is just a slight taper to your line... best practices is to back cut when you are doing lines like this.. that way you will have the most even lines, and you can get a bit more distinction with your start and end points.
The other problem that you might be having, if you are indeed changing direction while you cut, is that gold, maybe 18kt more than others, can have something of a “grain” where there will be a sort of dusty belly to your cut where it tears when cut in certain directions.. i know ti’s Against the orthodoxy, but i personally would hit it with an extremely fine wire brush, or a bit of rouge on a mop. Just a quick, but thorough pass over which will homogenize all the cuts, and, I’d warrant, those black lines will blend

Thank you for taking the time with this detailed response and suggestions. The surface area? I sawed out the circle from the surrounding area once i finished working on it.

I don't think I was rolling the graver, and i did go back and cut the lines over again so they were uniform. Ive tried hitting it lightly with a mop before, but didn't have much success getting into these very fine cuts. I’ll try again, and maybe try with the wire brush too.

Thank you

 

[Chujybear]

The wire brush you will want will be at a jewellery supply, or some such,,, Hardware wire brush will be too course for the type of work you are doing.

 

[purplepepper8]

The wire brush you will want will be at a jewellery supply, or some such,,, Hardware wire brush will be too course for the type of work you are doing.

Of course. Thank you