I received a request from one of my "Elegant Wire Jewelry" book readers to explain my gradient patina technique. Here's a verbal rundown... let me know if you want to see or learn more.
Have you used liver of sulfur before? That's what I use for all of my patinas. It comes in a dry chunky rock form, which is the best. I put a few chunks in a glass container (sized to fit the piece you want to oxidize; for big ones I have a round casserole dish that's pretty deep). I then fill the container with boiling water and use a little stick to stir the chunks so they dissolve. There's no exact science of proportion... the more chunks, the stronger the solution and the darker/faster the results. You might want to play around with some scrap metal to see how it all works.
Anyway, for the gradient, I dunk the piece very, very quickly and immediately plunge it under cold running water. The first dunk I go as high as I want it to go before I leave part of it silver. Then I dunk it again, leaving a little of the already slightly oxidized portion exposed -- also very quickly and then immediately rinse. Just keep repeating this process moving down the form until you are at the part you want the darkest. It may already be as dark as you want (the liver of sulfur builds up), but if not go ahead and dunk that part and hold it until it's the color you want then do a final rinse.
If you hold the piece too long in the liver of sulfur it gets a matte finish. You can then brush it with a brass brush to bring up the shine again. If you want to seal the patina so it doesn't change, you can try lacquer. I have played around with various types. I don't really love any of them so I just accept that it changes over time, an artful process. Some people have suggested a wax seal but I haven't tried anything like that... too hard to do on wire.
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