Rhodium Plating an Eternity Band

[ArtistJess]

... does anyone know if this would be possible? I have found a yellow gold eternity band that I LOVE, but it is yellow gold and I would need it to be white.

Would this be a difficult/expensive process?

 

[Jim Summa]

If your wearing this by itself and you are careful it can work. With other rings against I would say no, it would wear off to fast.
I think the price would run $30-$60 depending.
Good luck,

 

[ArtistJess]

jim- i love your default photo.

thanks for the advice. i will be wearing it by itself as a right hand ring. my wedding set is white gold, so i was considering the rhodium so that all would match, but i am also pretty low-maintenance when it comes to jewelry. i am not sure i''d like to go back all the time and have it re-rhodium plated. i also don''t want a "silvery-gold" ring in a few months. i''d rather it were a really nice white gold color or a strong yellow gold. i''ve never had anything rhodium plated before, hence the reason for all the questions.

here are a few pictures of the ring. it''s an estate 1.00 ctw eternity with brilliant round cut diamonds- SI1-SI2. just got it today so i will take some more pics of it soon.

 

[ArtistJess]

one more..

 

[zhuzhu]

Hi!
I have a yellow gold diamond pendant that I rhodium plated to white a few years (at least 4)ago. I wore it to shower, swimming and never have a problem with it turning color. If you don''t bang your eternity band against hard surfaces (you shouldn''t do it because of the diamonds anyways), I think you will be fine with it.
Zhu

 

[ArtistJess]

thanks zhu.. like i said, i am not familiar with the rhodium process. i do know they dip the jewelry in the rhodium to create the reaction. does that "dipping" hurt the quality of the diamonds? i''m not sure how diamonds react to rhodium.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

Rhodium will not harm your diamonds. My understanding is that certian metals are used when creating "white gold" as they will form a more stable bond with the rhodium. I have yet to find a jeweler in my area who will plate a yellow gold piece - if you do try it out I''d love to hear how long it lasts!

 

[PinkTower]

I had my eternity band rhodium plated in Dec.08.
I have worn it 24/7 against a platinum engagement ring. It still looks perfect. My jeweler told me to be prepared to redo the plating every year, but that will not be necessary. I''ve a feeling, from what he said, that the quality can vary significantly with this procedure. I had developed an allergy to gold, and the rhodium took care of that as well.

 

[Jim Summa]

ArtistJess,
The rhodium process is actually pretty nasty..."dipping" means dropping your item into some nasty chemicals with electrodes hooked up to transfer the rhodium in the bath to whatever you want plated.
Anything organic gets trashed (pearls, shells, etc)....anything else you have to be sure won''t get trashed. I have never seen a problem with diamonds.

If you were in my store I would try to sell you on leaving it alone...mostly because I really like yellow gold and I think your band is pretty cool as is.

 

[ArtistJess]

thank you guys very much for the advice. i appreciate it!