More Playing with Niobium - sponging method

On the weekend I played more with Niobium -  the problem is its over so fast - what takes the longest is preparing your metal for dipping - as with any project its get it to its most final stage before  annodizing your metal -  with Niobium  you  cannot  solder  - I thnk you can spot weld or something but that is not in the current budget to find out as yet .  So its basically  straight forward single pieces or cold connections such as rivets or tiny tiny screws -  which I got from RMS (Reactive Metal Studios)

so I prepared some rounded edge square  and some small hearts for earrings - wire -crimped  - punched holes  and cleaned  - but this time dapped them in a wooden dap set I have  - I noticed that  when metal on metal mashing I get gall or a metal rubbing on metal sort of stain on the metal that is hard to clean up  - using the wooden dap set was way better

then I cleaned again and  I read that  if you want a nice shiny surface put them in the tumbler with some shot - I put in for about 1 hours as that is all you really need -  and they came out nice and shinny - which gives it a better reflective surface - I use dish soap - usually the blue  Dawn and put a squirt in and just enough water to cover the shot -  once out of the shot I rinse and try not to handle too much and put any finger oils onto the piece

Now this time I wanted to try the sponge method - this is  having the red anode attached to the piece - using that nifty   one I got from RMS that has a niobium tip that locks onto the piece  and  I put a piece of sea sponge  clipped into the black anode ( keeping the rubber sleeve over the clip )

I soaked it in the tsp/water solution (supposed to be distilled water and tsp but I used bottle water or my filtered well water that has no chemicals in  - I will buy a bottle this week and try to see if any difference in color application ) 

Now I got confused - cause it worked - about the stainless steel anode -  but I think the stainless steel on the alligator clip may be the secret to it working  as I've seen them put the piece on stainless steel to apply -  but I held the red with the piece in my hand  and dabbed with the black/sponge 

I did plain - crimped some and made some crimped earrings using this method - 

in the end I ended up  dipping the parts at 75 amps  to get the nice purple background on both sides (as sponging only colors the side you sponge )  then up to  95 and then to 115  to get some varigation of color - and I love it 

in love with this method