This special little dog tag is made for an young man attending his parents weddings. The bride and groom will be wearing soundwave rings and wanted a little something special for him.
In this picture I am using a brass brush to brush this silver dog tag in between applying layers of liver of sulphur ( which makes the sound wave turn black). It is important to brush the metal to insure even coverage and long lasting of the black surface treatment.
All pieces of Soundwave Jewellery are made with longevity in mind. It is important to me to celebrate life experiences and achievements with something meaningful which will stand the test of time and not go out of fashion.
There will be times in this young man's life wear he may wear his dog dog everyday, there will be times when he pulls it out for special occasion and there will be years which he doesn't even look at it. However it is not something that he will throw away or easily part with. It is a special gift from his mom that he will cherish for his life.
These sterling silver pieces have been oxidized to make the sound wave black.
What does oxidization mean? It is a surface treatment which use the properties of metal to change its colour. Basically the silver has been pre-tarnished using a chemical called liver of sulphur and form a patina on the surface. It is potassium sulfide and it smells like rotten eggs! If you have ever hiked a volcano you know the smell, its hard to forget.
As an interesting fact you can achieve this look by placing your sterling silver in a plastic bag with boiled egg yokes for a few days, the results of this method vary. The method used by professionals is a little more controlled. The pieces are slightly heated and dipped in the solution 3-5 times or so, heating the piece too much can result in the black fading, Alternatively the solution can be heated, it is a little more smelly this way. I usually create a double burner and heat the solution on an element under a fume hood. Inhaling to much sulphur is bad for your health so proper ventilation in key.
It is important to rinse and brush the silver between dippings to ensure an even coverage. Neglecting this step will result in a patchy look and affect the longevity of the treatment. Because the technique is a surface treatment it can rub off with wear on surface that come into contact with the skin. Beware is you are buying a black sterling silver ring which is flat and has no textural details on the surface. Most likely this will fade with wear and your ring will end up silver coloured again.
In pieces like this Soundwave Dog Tag and Soundwave Bracelet the engraving is quite deep so the colour stays in the grooves and will not fade.
You can see Soundwave Bracelet at the back of the picture is not quite finished yet. Because the solution is a liquid it is hard to target a specific area. You need to colour the whole piece and remove what you do not want to be black.
To finish the pieces the oxidization is removed from the surface of the metal using various grits of sand paper. The oxidization stays in the grooves of the deep etching of the the sound wave.
Now you know how its made! If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below.
