Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The loss of electrons

... or an increase in oxidation state by a molecule, atom, or ion.
Huh?
I looked up "oxidation" on Wikipedia. Why on earth I would do that? Ok, there is something you don't know about me yet. In 11th grade my chemistry teacher didn't even know my name - and I sat in the first row. Oh, you didn't mean why I had to look it up, but why I would want to do it at all? Oops, forget what I just said. I was a brilliant student *cough cough*


Before I joined SATeam, I didn't really think about oxidizing silver or copper on purpose. I had always been a shiny kind of girl and I was convinced that wouldn't change. After all I had put many hours into cleaning silver chains, rings, earrings ...

However sometimes times change, people change and opinions change, so let me show you a few of my favorite pieces that were oxidized and still shine. In their very own and beautiful way.

Aqua jade and kyanite are teamed up with sterling silver in this necklace by Envy Jewels for a beautiful contrast between light and dark.


This ring is not called Her Majesty Stacking Ring for nothing. TwoChicksToo combined a beautiful Mabe pearl with lightly oxidized silver. Royal indeed.


This pendant too is all about contrast. Raspberry and dark silver, absolutely irresistible, great work, Azoho!


Do you now want to know what the picture of the egg up above is about?
Being too chicken to touch chemicals, somewhere along the line I did my own first step oxidizing experiments - with a boiled egg. Yes, it works. Not as fast as Liver of Sulphur aka LOS, but it does.
The shiny girl has moved over to the dark side ;-)

By Cat's Wire

The SATeam blog features artisan handmade creations by the etsy starving artists jewelry team. SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current etsy shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com.

9 comments:

mcstoneworks said...

Beautiful examples of oxidized jewelry. Oxidation adds another dimension. Much easier to take care of oxidized jewelry, too. :)

Carole said...

I am a big fan of oxidation. I haven't tried the egg technique, but I just might soon. Love that kyanite necklace.

Cindy said...

See? Chemistry isn't that scary after all ;). It can even lead to the gorgeous jewelry selections that you've chosen for this post.

Caron Michelle said...

Very interesting - I love oxidising and love the gorgeous examples you have provided.

Islandgirl said...

My LOS always expires before I get around o using it... might just have to try the egg! THen I have a bad habit of throwing things in the tumbler which removes the LOS finish so I'm back at square ONE again!

Then there is that evil black patina that nothing removes!

Lovely pieces of jewellery

RitaJC said...

A fun read and a lovely selection of oxidized pieces! Thank you!

Happileerving said...

welcome to the dark side. Liver of Sulfer is one of my favorite tools.

Stacie @ azoho.com said...

LOL- welcome to the dark side...you'll love it here! Great examples (Thanks for the Azoho love!), I love the depth of oxidized jewelry. Therefore I've embraced chemistry- but I loved it in school. ;-)

Gwenbeads said...

Beautiful pieces. I really like oxidized sterling, and I especially like the ring.