Making Pigment Paints for Jewelry and Art.

Here I continue the idea and concepts of making jewelry and art. If you're lost please see my other Jewelry Instructable. An easy method is to take all different types of plating and coat a mixture of materials in Mineral spirits or some type of epoxy but I found that mineral spirits works a bit better and is LESS messy with a fragile coating of Nickel, chrome, etc over copper and steel. I am making stainless steel washers plated with sodium chromate and sodium dichromate-rust from iron onto the metal then sealing the resin to prevent this chemical from touching your skin. Since the crystals are toxic you must find a way of doing this.

Here some info on Nickel plating to start with. You can buy 99.95% Nickel metal sheets and make pure copper (Key) to plate silver to grey-black. Make sure Polarity ( Positive and negative is observed correctly) it can easily ruin an experiment.

You could add Nickel carbonate to paint and coat it onto copper or steel and Cobalt carbonate to paint (Clear) and even Copper basic carbonate (green-blue) color. Make sure it is at least 90% pure if too much water is present the lacquer may not form properly. You can make titanium powder (different colors) I think --- I have not tried it yet but it should work if it not soluble in water and mixes with paint. You can also use Vanadium oxide or Copper basic carbonate hydroxide as long as there is Min water in it.

Warning and Dangers: All metals oxides (Vanadium oxide) are very dangerous if inhaled, Cobalt carbonate and copper carbonate plus nickel carbonate are toxic through Inhalation too. Be respectful with them and DO NOT BREATH THEM IN!!

Instructions:

Plating Nickel. Use Nickel chloride salt 5 g per 100 ml concentrated diluted by half to get a solution. Attach the double plated Nickel sheet into solution (alligator clip must not touch the solution). Insert the Positive clip to the copper wire with copper pipes attached to it (like a hook). The electrodes of Nickel will corrode slowly and the copper will turn grey-silver sometimes where it concentrated it will turn black. Let it dry overnight and soak in epoxy or lacquer.

Sodium dichromate plating: Prepare 10 g of sodium dichromate to a Liter of water (I am using tap water to save Money). This works on steel plates and washer and bolts. The chrome solution turns rusty gold and yellow but it needs to dry and then plate properly. Negative is copper or brass (thick side) and Positive is the Metal on a rod or ring. Contamination and poor results can occur if other impurities are mixed. Sodium dichromate and Potassium chloride (Electrolysis enhancer) produce a crystal mixture of sodium dichromate, sodium chromate, iron rust and acids (weak hydrochloric). Chrome is very toxic (Chrome 6+). Chrome 3+ plating. Sodium dichromate in salt is added to dilute sodium metabisulfite and then Lye to form a green lime appearance that is conductive and will stick to steel type metals (do your research) it may corrode Zinc alloys like zinc steel and result in a bad product. Stick with chrome steel bolts. I have not tried this yet but it will probably work. You can plate chrome (III) chloride in Lye (90-99% pure sodium or potassium hydroxide) and do a similar process.

Before you begin to remember that these chemicals are toxic and wear gloves and Proper Protective equipment Always when working with dyes and toxic materials. Fire protocol must be in place and some of these chemicals is not a GOOD IDEA to allow them to burn. Keep them while drying and in use away from high heat. For Cobalt carbonate, Nickel carbonate, etc add 10 grams of powder to 10 g of lacquer. Do not allow the materials like the lacquer to freeze keep it above 20 degrees C and in a well-ventilated area. Dip without touching the liquid into a lacquer with these salts. You can also get Vanadium Oxide pigment for paint. Mix 10 g carefully without inhaling it (wear an N95 maks min) and mix with methanol and acrylics. Coat the material over copper pipes that have been previously dipped in another material. Vanadium powder in this form is toxic so handle it with respect.

A type of insoluble copper basic carbonate. Add 10 g -15 g of the powder to either white acrylic or Mineral Spirits and convert it into a paint. With white acrylic, it should turn light green. If combined alone with just mineral spirits it makes it dark green pigment. (Note there are lots a variation of this chemical (Copper basic carbonate).

You can mix Magnesium oxide, calcium sulfate to make a paint too. I have made magnesium oxide paint that glows blue under UV. Air dry the lacquer with each pigment dry for 10-12 hours with a fan. If you want you can add pigments that are powders that glow in the UV and mix them in the lacquer and add them to many metals to create a glossy look. I did this with Nickel plated copper pipes. Under UV it glowed green-blue-yellow that was too difficult to pick up with my phone camera. It glows (Phosphors effect) green after a few minutes of UV (Dark lamp exposure). Also, nail polish clear could work too. Note: This is ongoing so I will update different pigments that work and ones that don't.

If done properly you can mix 10 to 20 ml of Urethane pain to 10 g of a mixture of 50 percent glow in the dark pigments *any color you want) and get metals (Green, violet, etc) that glow under UV and glow in the dark.

Powders can work but liquid gels like above work a bit better. This is another factor in glow in the dark Pigments for copper or steel or brass. Any metal or even plastic (Not kidding) could be used with this epoxy-like material.

Some neat designs are to make them match (Green - glow green under UV, Purple- glow purple under UV etc).

Final words.

Remeber that these chemicals are toxic and do the laquer part in disposable jugs or glassware. It hardens and do not let the Laquer freeze either. You with different metals or PVC could get interesting designs. Although metal works a lot better in my Opinion.