How to Use Liver of Sulphur to Oxidize Silver

After much experimentation, this is the way I use liver of sulphur to get the best results. You can use either the solid or the liquid version of liver of sulphur.

Fill two shallow bowls, one with the liver of sulphur solution, one with water. To get the best results, use room temperature or cool water. If you heat the water, the liver of sulphur will react faster to the silver, and that gives you less control.

Apply the liver of sulphur to the silver piece. You can dip the silver in the liver of sulphur or you can put the liver of sulphur on the silver. I usually dip my pieces using a fork or a slotted spoon to hold them. Dip them in and then out of the liver of sulphur to check the progress. The cooler the water is, the slower the color will change. When you think you are done, dip the piece in the clear water.

The clear water will stop the reaction of the liver of sulphur and the silver. Take a look at your piece. Are you satisfied? If so, you are ready for the next step. If not, go back and reapply.

If you completely hate the way the silver oxidation came out, you can reheat the piece in your kiln, and it will go back to fine silver color, and you can start all over again. It takes some practice to get the finish to end up exactly how you wanted it to be.

After you have completed the liver of sulphur application, you have some choices to make. Do you want to keep the finish the way it is or add some nuances to it?

This depends on what you want the piece to look like. If your piece has a lot of texture in it, I recommend taking a silver polishing cloth, and hand polishing some of the ridges that stand out from your piece. This will rub some of the liver of sulphur off that part of the piece creating light and shadow effects.

Once your silver piece looks exactly the way you want it to, you need to protect the finish. To protect the finish, use a solution of beeswax that has been softened with naptha. Both of these can usually be purchased at a hardware store. Naptha is toxic, and a solvent so keep your beeswax solution in a glass jar. You only need a very small amount.

The naptha will liquify the beeswax. Take a very cheap paint brush and apply a thin coat of beeswax to the silver. Let it sit for about 30 to 60 seconds, then rub it off with a paper towel or a rag. You will leave behind a very thin coating of wax that cannot be seen but will protect the finish.

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