Plating pen

[Glitterbug]

Does anyone have any experience of using these? Cooksons have a special offer of £100 off and I've been thinking of getting one for a while. My plan is to make my normal silver flower pieces and then put gold on either the centre bit or the whole flower. I'd like to know how easy they are to use and how accurate?

[urbtaf]

Never used one but I talked to a friend who does a lot of plate and he uses one but just for repairs, he didnt rate it

[mizgeorge]

I've also got no personal experience, but I haven't heard anything great about them. I just wanted to say how gorgeous the flower pendant is though!

Could you gild the little bits in the middle with multiple layers of gold leaf for a similar effect?

[Glitterbug]

Thanks for your comments. I could gilt them but I'd be afraid it would wear off when it's being polished. I'd love to hear from someone who's actually used a plating pen.

[MuranoSilver]

I have used a plating pen but the plating was very thin & the colour
wasn't as rich as I'd have liked...
How about using Keum Bo to achieve the same result?

Nic x

[Glitterbug]

Thanks for the advice. Can you do keum boo on a curved surface, ie once the flowers are formed and attached to the piece?

[MuranoSilver]

Absolutely! As long as you can get the heat and the burnisher onto it then you can usually get the gold on, your flowers should be fine

[Glitterbug]

I think where I might struggle is depletion gilding the flowers as they're so small and easy to melt. What do you think?

[MuranoSilver]

Could you do it in a kiln? The temperature would be easier to control that way...or you could make them in fine silver (if they're that small it hopefully wouldn't make that much difference to the cost).

Nic x
P.S> There's a great "refesher" tutorial on Keum boo here http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/stepbystep/aug04.cfm

[Glitterbug]

I could try using the kiln, it should work. When I get around to giving it a try, I'll let you know how successful it is. Thanks for your help.

[shiner]

Thanks for that link nic. Guess what I'm going shopping for next pay day

[MuranoSilver]

Lol - you're welcome shiner
Glitterbug I thought of another thing which you could try, I sometimes use Aura 22 on my silver clay pieces which is a gold overlay paste. You paint it on and then you can torch fire it into place before polishing the surface.
It's made out of pure gold in a liquid suspension and is available from
PMC/Art Clay silver suppliers.
If you decide to go the fine silver route it might be another option for you....

Nic xx

[MrsMeow]

i used a plating pot when i was at uni , not sure if its the type you mean, but it was a lot like enameling, you put either silver or gold dust (great for bio jewelery you can use any dust made when making work) and it melted into place.

personally i found the process patchy and 'crafty' if you're wanting to plate things i wouldn't use this type.