Of course, redesigning a piece of jewellery will cost more in the short term than just plating it, but there are so many factors to take into consideration with plated jewellery. If you want a piece to last forever and not require regular maintenance, it is best to avoid plating and consider using the stones from the original piece and reimagining them into a new piece. I think there is something very symbolic about taking an element of the original piece you have been gifted and using them in a new design.
You can, of course, sell on the metal from the original piece to get some of the cost covered! Why is my white gold tarnishing? Every design tells a story. Discover beautiful bespoke designs and get inspiration for your next timeless piece of jewellery. Every piece of jewellery tells a story. Environmental factors Rhodium plating is a nasty process that involves harsh chemicals like sulphuric acid and occasionally cyanide solution.
The original ring Our designs In production The finished ring. The design for the redesign which is more inkeeping with Tracys style The opal and diamonds ready to be made into the new design. Love Beautiful Jewellery?
Subscribe To Our Newsletter. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Engagement and Dress Rings. Necklaces and Pendants. Other Jewellery. Precious Metals. Rhodium Plating System Affiliate Link finishing. Hi, Jaynie. It is perhaps not impossible for this project to be successful, but it is highly unlikely to work. The plating is very thin and rings are very high wear items, so the life will probably be unacceptably short.
More detail can be found in the responses to letter In response to why white gold turns yellowish the answer is quite simple: there is no such thing as white gold. Gold is gold in color to make it white alloys are added. Hence the yellow tint. Rhodium plating solves the problem but will wear off in time and need to be replated.
Thanks for the effort to simplify things, Carmine, but I think you have simplified it a bit too much Yes, pure 24 karat gold is always yellow. And when white metals and bleaching metals are added, the resultant 12 karat or 14 karat alloy is "whitish". The over-simplification is that some such alloys are rather yellowish whereas other such alloys are white enough to be left unplated.
One need only look at rings from 40 and more years ago to see that most were sufficiently white that rhodium plating was not necessary. They were certainly not as white and brilliant as rhodium plating, but much whiter than most of today's "white gold".
This is not a subjective matter either; rather there are ASTM and jewelry association whiteness scales for white gold, and a clear realization that some alloys are white enough to remain unplated and some are not. Thanks again. Jaynie, I'm interested in hearing whether you decided to try this and, if so, how it turned out. I'm about to buy a yellow gold diamond ring not knowing if my girlfriend prefers white and am thinking about the plating option if it turns out she does.
Ted, I have read through letter as you suggested. Do you think success is unlikely because yellow gold's color will unavoidably show through the rhodium or because the abundance of poor quality plating will not be good enough to cover the gold's color?
In other words, would the project be a likely success if one was to go to a top-notch plating expert? Hi, Rod. The thicker the better and the higher quality the better. The yellow substrate does not 'show through' when it's plated; rather it will show through as the plating starts to wear away. But rings suffer a great deal of wear, and even the thickest rhodium is measured in millionths of an inch thick.
You'll certainly get much longer life from the best plating at a wet laboratory equipped, instrument controlled plating shop, than from a jeweller working in a teacup -- but even then the life will be measured in months, not years.
Engagement rings often wear all the way through over the course of a long marriage. Good luck. Is rhodium more expensive than gold? Rhodium is a precious metal — like gold, silver, or platinum — only more expensive! In fact, it is the most expensive of all the precious metals. Well, because it is very rare in nature, it is only found as a by-product of mining for other metals, such as platinum.
Are yellow gold engagement rings tacky? As you can see, yellow gold engagement rings are not tacky. They will and always be a great choice for your engagement rings or wedding rings. Is Platinum better than white gold? The biggest advantage of white gold over platinum is certainly the cost. Platinum is more expensive because it is rarer and mined much less than gold.
Also, platinum is more dense than gold, so the same ring will weigh significantly more in platinum than in gold and precious metals are priced by weight. Do diamonds have to be removed for rhodium plating? The luster will last longer with rhodium plating and some jewelers have this capability in-house. The diamonds do not need to be removed.
Is white gold more expensive than yellow gold? Rhodium plated ring with black sapphire by Delarah. Yes, it is. This is because rhodium does not contain any allergens such as nickel. In fact if you have a piece of jewelry that is causing you skin reactions, rhodium plating the piece can eliminate this problem. However, note that while rhodium itself will not cause any rashes, white gold often contains nickel in its alloys.
As the rhodium plating wears off, you may be exposed to nickel allergies as your skin comes into contact with the original metal of the jewelry. Rhodium is plated using an electroplating process. For a piece of jewelry to be plated, it must first be thoroughly cleaned to remove all contaminants. If there is any dirt on the piece, the plating will not hold. Distilled water, steam cleaning and electro cleaning are some ways that the item is cleaned before it is dipped into the rhodium solution.
A positive electrical charge is then used to fuse the rhodium onto the base metal. Care must be taken, because if the electric current is too high, the rhodium plating will turn black. The process takes roughly around an hour and a half to be completed. Many shoppers believe that rhodium plating is permanent. While it is permanent, like any other metal used in jewelry, it tends to suffer wear and tear with exposure. Rhodium plating wears off over time and will need to be re-plated.
Typically, a ring would need to be re-plated once every 12 to 18 months, but this can vary depending on the wear and tear the piece sustains as well as the thickness of the plating and the color of the base metal. Sometimes the body chemistry of the wearer is also a factor that can affect how quickly the plating wears off.
If the base metal is yellowish, there is a high chance that the color will bleed through before the 12 months is up. This depends on the gemstone. Some softer gemstones such as peridot , pearls, opals , topaz, turquoise, coral and treated or heavily included rubies and emeralds can be damaged during the process.
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