liver of sulphur

[Ro]

any one used it, i mixed some last night, didnt work:( im trying to patina some stained glass bases. brushed it on let it sit even, nothing happened. can i leave it in the glass jar i mixed it in? should i store it outside? i made 2 cups worth, maybe mix was off. i measured according to directions. 1 oz to 2 cups hot water.
suggestions please,
ro

[Emily]

1 oz to 2 cups hot water.


What does your liver of sulfur look like? Mine is little gray rocks in a can. If it's in that form, you use a pea-size lump in very hot water. (I never measure, but I never use more than about half a cup to a cup.) You want it to make a bright yellow solution. (OK, you want it to look like pee and smell like farts. Sorry, that's the way it is.) Even if your liver of sulfur comes in a different form to start with, once you mix it up, it should probably look and smell the same. If that's not what you're getting, maybe your solution is old. I know mine has all sorts of warnings on the can about keeping it out of the light. It has to be in an opaque container. Yours might be old.

When the solution is hot, it should start changing the color of the metal almost immediately. If it doesn't, either there's something wrong with the solution, or something wrong with the metal. Are you sure your metal is clean? You say you're trying to patina "stained glass bases" -- not sure what you mean. Are these new metal, or something reclaimed from an old piece? Is it possible they've got a sealer on them? Do you know what metal they're made from? I know LOS will patina silver and copper, but I guess it's possible that it might not react with some base metals. I don't know.

Once you mix up the solution, you have to use it. It doesn't keep, so throw out what you've mixed up. If it didn't work already, it's not going to work.

[Ro]

its brand new liver of sulphur, rocks same as yours. the stained glass pieces i made within the last 2 days so they are new, no sealers. i think im confusing this for silver with specific patina for solder. ill have to get the other stuff and save this for silverwork.
thanks for the reply
ro

[fourpawsglass]

I struggled for some time to find the right formula to use when trying to get the beautiful array of colors (ambers, purples, blues, etc.) when using liver of sulphur. The solution should be a light green color and it should be warm (not hot), the piece should be cleaned and polished, and have another container of ice cold water. Heat the piece - I flash it briefly in a hot flame, dunk immediately in the LOS solution and as soon as the colors are what you want, put in the ice cold water. The cold water stops the process - otherwise the piece will continue to process and turn black. Of course, if black is what you want, then you can leave it alone. There is a "wealth" of LOS information on PMC sites such as this one or www.pmcguild.com.

If you are talking about a stained glass piece, then you need to look at a patina for lead and solder. The patina comes in black, copper, and brass. The most popular brand of patina is by Novacan.

[Three Muses Glass]

Ro, you don't have to get a specific for stained glass patina really. You can buy copper sulfate crystals and mix your own. The crystals can be found in Ag stores, Agway, feed stores and sometimes even HD or Lowes. They also can be used for root killing in septic systems and you'll find them marketed for that purpose. Anyway, they're blue. Add some to warm/hot water. I don't have a specific recipe, but maybe start with your same 1oz to 2 cups hot water that you did for the LOS. It'll be a blue solution but turns the solder dark brown. A pretty nice patina IMO.

[Emily]

Since we're on the topic of LOS, did anybody ever add ammonia to LOS to slow the darkening down so you can control the color progression more? I swear I've heard of it, but have no idea of the proportion of ammonia to liver of sulfur solution. I've looked in the various books that I have, and none of them mention it.

[pipojasper]

Liver of Sulfer-
3 rotten eggs
1 Cup Flour
1 Lb Liver
-Whisk eggs till stench is overwhelming and eggs are frothy. Dredge liver in eggs then coat with flour. Fry 'till golden brown and enjoy


:lol: Sorry, couldn't resist

[Renee]

Aw, now that is just too disgusting for words! Blech!!!

[Ro]

thanks for the tips all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im going to look for the copper sulfate, brown would be a perfect color!'
thanks:)
ro