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About Thomas
Expertise
Have a question about jewelry repair or working with precious metal jewelry and gemstones? I am a working professional bench jeweler, involved everyday with setting stones in mountings, designing and making jewelry, repairing and limited custom manufacture. Over 30 years experience. If you work with jewelry as a hobby or as a profession, I might be able to help. I deal with the retail business, not mass production. Ask privately if you wish. See the box for that: It keeps your question between us. Please DO NOT ask MAKER'S MARKS, but metal quality marks are fine to ask. Please DO NOT ask diamond prices. See a gemologist for that.

Experience
I have near 35 years experience at the sort of jewelry work I do.

Education/Credentials
Education is English/Physics! Started in human resources, to advertising, to jewelry...wow, what a road. Now a jeweler for many years. I have had formal training in jewelry work and many shared experiences with top grade jewelers. We just never know were we will go or be. Follow your best, your dreams, with some discretion! Don't let the work tear up your body along the way.

You are here: Experts > Style > Jewelry Making > Jewelry, Gems, & Minerals > goldplating too gold

Jewelry, Gems, & Minerals - goldplating too gold

Expert: Thomas - 11/3/2009

Question
Hello.I have a cheap ring that I really liked the style of, so I recently had it gold plated by a local jeweler. I should have mentioned to him beforehand that I would prefer a lighter yellow (although NOT white gold) than the very deep yellow gold that it turned out. Is there anything I can do myself to lighten up the yellow tone or make the plating wear somewhat faster? Since I've already paid a jeweler once, I really don't want to spend much more money on it by having to bring it back to a jeweler. Thanks in advance.

Answer
Hi, Lin. This is a good question. But, I don't think my answer will be the most pleasing to you. I have to tell you how it is and be straight up honest in my answers.

Generally, a local jeweler will have only one or perhaps two choices of gold plating solutions. The solutions are chemical mixes containing gold which are used with electrical current to plate an item such as your ring. The solutions are purchased with certain colors specified. There are 18k yellow gold solutions which make a fairly deep yellow. There are 14k yellow solutions which are a bit lighter than the 18k ones but still quite yellow in color. The jeweler will have on hand the solution they most likely will use and will not purchase other colors.

At the place I work, we have a nice 18k gold color solution. We use it because it very closely matches the richer gold color so much gold bracelet and necklace jewelry is given. The chains are very often plated with a brighter and richer yellow than the 10k or 14k gold would naturally be. We don't sell the plated gold jewelry but folks bring it in for repair service. In some rare cases we need to plate the item after the repair is done to make it look like it originally did. So, we have that color of gold plating solution and no others. We just don't use other colors.

Even if you had asked for a light color, there is a very good chance the jeweler would not have a plating solution made to produce the light color. Also, the color of the final plate can be affected by the color of the jewelry item. A lighter colored item can look lighter and a darker one can look darker.

Gold plate is one color through and through. Once the layer is thick enough to show the color the solution is supposed to make, more electroplating only makes the plate thicker and more durable. The extra plate does not make the color change much at all. What I am saying is that to wear away the gold plate will not make it lighter. IF the original ring is a LIGHTER color, the lighter color will begin to show when the gold plate is worn almost away! At that point, the color of the ring will be showing through worn off spots. The gold plate will simply wear the rest of the way off as you wear the ring and you are back where you started.

If you had mentioned the light color to the jeweler before the plating was done, the jeweler might have had what was needed to do that. If not, you would likely have been told the lighter color could not be done.

Lin, sorry you were not happy with the color of your gold plated ring. Eventually the plate will wear away or you can remove it with gentle sanding with a very fine sand paper but the result will the the original ring color. If sanded, you might cut through a color layer on the ring and even make it worse than it now is so I do not recommend trying to remove the gold plate beyond normal wear.

I hope this answer will help in some way. God Bless and Peace. Thomas.

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