still kicking

[Dani Girl]

 

[Dani Girl]

so I went to try some plating for the first time again today. last time I near lost the use of a hand trying to see how a lid was supposed to fit the beaker which I guess I had upside down or tried to fit too deeply and smashed the beaker. today I went from the ultrasonic with copper tongs, into demineralised water to rinse, only copper wire and into the degreaser. funny thing is my silver turned black instead of super clean. the anode was supposed to be stainless steel hubby said, something he had laying around. I had the positive on the copper wire I was dangling the piece into the bath with. was that the bit I got wrong? what just happened?

 

[Dani Girl]

in other news I'm getting closer on this one. half a dozen beads fell off. brass doesn't like being nudged sideways. I haven't tried the hart bur method yet and what I did today with the finishing touch to get the stones in being a spin of a 1.3mm round bur in a pin vice by hand did allow the stones to enter the metal but they weren't very inclined to stay in place and not jump out. that meant one stone at a time, tool change, tool change... etc, repeat repeat. took a day and a half just to set this. 98 stones I think. yellow sapphires. engravers brass I think.

I'm guessing I have to throw that batch of degreaser out now? should I not have used copper wire?

 

[Dani Girl]

yes I had positive and negative backwards