Yellow gold turned white

[carbon lover]

Hi there everyone. And thanks for all of your great ideas.

I have an existing yellow gold pendant necklace. I want it to look like white gold (to go with my platinum E ring). A jeweler told me I could just have the thing dipped in rhodium...rhodium plate it I guess. Does anyone know if this is so? Pros, cons?

Sure would save $$!

 

[niceice]

You could rhodium plate the pendant and it will look white for awhile, but it will eventually wear off and need to be re-plated, the frequency depends a lot on the exposure to cleaning agents and the acidity of your own skin. However, it is unlikely that rhodium plating the necklace would (1) look "right" and (2) stay plated for very long...

 

[hoorray]

This was discussed a while ago with jewelers saying yes and no on whether it would really work or not. I just tried it on a necklace that has 20 or so white gold prong set diamonds in the center and a yellow gold 2mm omega style chain. (I was originally just going to change the chain, but the quotes were surprisingly high, so I figured I had nothing to lose trying having it dipped.)

I took it to a jeweler who had redipped a white gold ring of mine, and done some other work that I was 100% happy with. When I picked up the necklace I had to ask them to redo it. From the polishing, there were major spots of yellow gold showing through. In sunlight it looked just awful. They were nice about redoing it. The result is a better polished chain, but it still has a yellowish tint, and they tell me the dip will rub off over time.

It was a good experiment, and I can wear the necklace as is since it is a special occasion type of piece, but I assume I'll eventually just replace the chain with platinum or white gold. I would not bother dipping yellow gold pieces as a way to change their color again. The yellow tint is too strong for me, and it is supposed to wear off or look worse over time. If you are not color sensitive, it might work for you. The lady at the store had a bracelet she had dipped and was really happy with. I could still see the yellow tint. Color is a personal thing.....

 

[Griffin]

It also depends how it was plated, how heavily, and if they put a base plate underneath it.
You shouldn't have any yellow tint come through at all if it was properly done.

Of course, it will still eventually wear through. On a pendant it should last a while, but it will need to be periodically redone.

In any case, it should be entirely white. It should also not have to be polished after the plating. This would explain the burn-through you describe, but it shouldn't have needed to be polished at all after the treatment.
This would indicate contaminated solution, improper voltage, or improper electro-cleaning beforehand. Plating is a difficult science to master, and most jewelers have very basic and occasionally used plating rigs.

 

[hoorray]

Interesting Griffin. What should I look for or ask about if I am looking for someone to do this again?

 

[Griffin]

>What should I look for or ask about if I am looking for someone to do this again?



I honestly have no idea. I do have a small plating system in my studio, but I'm not much practiced with it - I have my manufactured products barrel-plated in hundred gallon tanks. Totally different system.
I really don't know what to look for in smaller rigs.

Any bench jewelers on here with experience in small production plating systems? David might have known.
Otherwise you might check out ganoksin.com or similar jewelers resources for tips.