Stripes! Huh? How’d that happen?
This is the weirdest thing. Have any of you had this happen when soldering low dome wire? No polishing, this is what it looks right out of the pickle…
The stripes are on the outside AND the inside.
I use a salt/vinegar pickle that is relatively new (less than a two weeks old). What was really weird was that I had a bunch of stuff in the pickle last night, as I was doing a batch of stuff at once. There were several bezels, and melted balls, pendants, a selection of fine and SS stuff, maybe 25 pieces all together. Only the low dome wire turned out with that weird striped result.
I purchased the wire from Rio. I called them and sent a couple pictures. They sent me a label to ship the remaining wire back. Now THAT’s good customer service.
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November 24th, 2009 at 8:26 am
But I kinda dig the stripes!! Can I order one before you send it back?? lol
November 24th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Never underestimate the wonder of the happy accident! I think the stripe is neat.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:12 am
hmm. I’ve been working is silver for 9 years and i’ve never seen that kind of striping, straight out of the pickle. were those sterling or .999? if sterling, maybe it has to do with raising the fine silver as you soldering, maybe you accidentally raised the fine silver in perfect stripes. i wonder if those stripes would last or how they would stand up over time? maybe set those aside as an experiment - see what happens when you polish it, how it changes over time, etc. Did Rio offer any explanation for the stripes? I wonder if they sent you the wrong metal and aren’t admitting it; i’ve heard of that happening before. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rio, but everybody makes mistakes. curious. very curious indeed.
November 24th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Rebecca
know what is even weirder? I posted this on one of the jewelry artist boards I belong (www.starvingjewelryartists.com/) and someone in the UK had something very similar happen to her domed wire. She posted a pic at looked similar to the ones I’ve posted.
The wire is sterling not fine.
btw…. the stripes do disappear with some polishing. But, I wonder if they will reappear over time as the silver tarnishes naturally?
The rep I talked to at Rio was very very nice. She took the issue to their technical staff, and they didn’t really have any idea what caused it either. I think they were as baffled as I was.
Kristy
November 25th, 2009 at 7:14 am
I have a bunch of wire that did that… I annealed the wire in the kiln and it came out of the kiln with that stripe… It actually came off in the tumbler.. So I think it’s a heat thing.. do you have a tumbler… I got my wire from Thailand it was suppose to be fine silver but I don’t think that it was….
What I have noticed is that the wire doesn’t ever get as shinny as ‘normal’ wire doesn’t matter what you do to it!
Lynne