Reproducing niello

Renita Ryan <ryan.renita [at] saugov__sa__gov__au> writes

>Does anyone have experience in reproducing niello on a silver item
>that has been stripped back to silver metal?

I have seen an article in Crafts Magazine about Yoko Shimizu
<URL:http://yokoshimizu.alchimia.it/>, a Japanese jeweller based in
Florence, who has researched the technique and has developed a way
of treating silver with it. Quoting from the article (No. 204,
Jan/Feb 2007, p17) "Shimizu treats the entire surface of the silver
with it [niello]. An alloy is melted over this, and fired so it
fuses. The silver turns a lustrous black; darkened areas remain in
the crevices after it's polished."

Becky Tabram


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:43
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 6, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-20-43-003
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