which I'll wire up possibly this weekend so I can start to accumulate more things for my show
Just playing with basic shapes like rounded squares and circles - the squares I cut from 30 G niobium that I get from Reactive Metals(same price rio grande sells as well- since they get through RMS) the hole punch tool is really nice from them much sturdier than the one I had before (the old one on same material broke after about 5 uses- I can still get the pieces to fit and repair ) this new one just seams more solid - got from RMS.
Actually anodizing takes such little time and prep time for the metal takes the longest - its so cool to see instant results !
The circles I bought as circles 7/8" from RMS - pumched the holes with the hole punch they sell and then domed them with my dapping block - one of the great things is the chemicals you use are household - tsp - is a soap - and that is the dipping bath - of course there is a sheet of stainless steel in the bath (cathode) attached to the black anode and the plastic sheeting that protects that sheet from you touching your positive pieces and causing and arc can be bought at michaels in the section where they do embroidery - (also check Caswell in the USA and Caswell in Canada for anodizing kits - includes anodizer - good price and comes with everything to start ) so after doming you need to take off any sharp edges with simple small files and sand paper/nail files then clean your pieces - Simple Green is one of the best products to take oils and dirt off - most metal is processed with a thin film of oil for cutting and this cleans it off - once done - if you want to have matching earrings you want to put them in side by side so that the lines of color are at the same level - to do this you must use either niobium or titanium wire to create a hanger (inverted V with little hooks on the end) of course size matters so that the ends fit into the holes you have punched and the red anode is clipped to the center ( rather than the alligator clip I got the cool clips RMS sells a mini grabber (the pushy thing has a niobium wire to clip to ) its smaller than the end of the alligator clip - from there its put on my rubber gloves and within miutes its done - rinse and voila - but its so much fun watching the bubbling action and the change in color is amazing such vibrant blues and purples, pinks and greens - I even tried resists - not great at it yet but getting there - resists is just a piece of plastic laminate - put onto the pice before you dip - just remember that the dolor you choose for your secondary will be at a lower voltage than what you do the rest of the non covered piece e.g the bigger portion was done at 85 or higher volts and the stars were done at 75 volts once I peeled the resist off - so many possibilities
both anodizing niobium and aluminum a great read with pictures
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