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Hi Melody! I recently recieved a mother Kirin who is in good shape…but her horn is rough and dull and seemes tarnished. I know the horns are plated in gold with pewter underneath…but which kind of cleaner do you think would be safe to clean her horn with? Pewter cleaner or gold cleaner? I’m afraid too, of taking some of the plating off by using a chemical that’s too harsh. Any advice is welcome 😀
This was actually asked recently, in this thread. (You’ll need to scroll down, some on second page too)
http://www.windstoneeditions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3872Here’s the question and all the info I could find on it. Gold plating is a funny business and once it gets weird or rubbed off or ‘tarnished’ you may not be able to restore it without re-plating it (which as I understand involved immersion of the base metal into a solution and the plating process is electroplating).
Jennifer wrote:PhoenixTears wrote:The answer may be starring me right in the eye, but since were talking about horns here, can I ask (anyone) if you have a tarnished gold horn, what is the best way to get it back into shiny like new condition? Go beyond paper leaf because I dont have that at the moment! 🙂 Can it be cleaned, so to speak? Or does it have to be redone, for lack of a better phrase?
As for silver horns, sure! Im up for that when it can be made available. Cool suggestion!
I looked around and I found this link. If you scroll all the way to the bottom it describes cleaning gold plated jewelry. Though obviously a unicorn horn isn’t necessarily jewelry, the gold plating process should be very similar.
http://www.colorspark.com/clean-gold.html
The way I understand it is once the gold plating wears off, you’re pretty much done. :/ You can try using a nice gold paint pen or once you’re able to, apply gold leaf.
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My art: featherdust.comThanks Nam! Maybe I could try re-leafing it in gold or a gold paint pen (you suggested in the other thread a silver paint pen over the gold) …or maybe I’ll chicken out and leave her as is 😆
WolfenMachine wrote:Hi Melody! I recently recieved a mother Kirin who is in good shape…but her horn is rough and dull and seemes tarnished. I know the horns are plated in gold with pewter underneath…but which kind of cleaner do you think would be safe to clean her horn with? Pewter cleaner or gold cleaner? I’m afraid too, of taking some of the plating off by using a chemical that’s too harsh. Any advice is welcome 😀
Those golden horns shouldn’t tarnish, but they do apparently. We need to do some experimenting ourselves and see if we can find something that helps polish these. Until we try some things ourselves I don’t have an official recommendation. I’d try a gentle silver or gold polish. Don’t rub it with a gritty substance.
I’ve used the dry jewelery cleaner cloths (disposable) from Wal-Mart that is made for gold and silver (red box). They have a powdery substance on them so when you’re done you just wipe it away with a soft cloth – no liquid. They worked pretty well, but I will say that it leaves the horns a lighter color than they were before.
I have noticed that the horns get naturally darker, but I wasn’t sure if that was a coating from the factory becoming tarnished or not? Good luck in your search.
Melody wrote:WolfenMachine wrote:Hi Melody! I recently recieved a mother Kirin who is in good shape…but her horn is rough and dull and seemes tarnished. I know the horns are plated in gold with pewter underneath…but which kind of cleaner do you think would be safe to clean her horn with? Pewter cleaner or gold cleaner? I’m afraid too, of taking some of the plating off by using a chemical that’s too harsh. Any advice is welcome 😀
Those golden horns shouldn’t tarnish, but they do apparently. We need to do some experimenting ourselves and see if we can find something that helps polish these. Until we try some things ourselves I don’t have an official recommendation. I’d try a gentle silver or gold polish. Don’t rub it with a gritty substance.
I don’t think they’re tarnishing Melody. I think that the plating is being rubbed off (gold does not tarnish!) either through shipping and age (this only seems to be a problem for older pieces), or more likely through someone trying to polish them and not realizing they are gold plated. If you ever polish gold plating with anything other than a very soft gentle cloth, the plating will rub off eventually (or, quickly if you use a chemical to do it). I suspect the ‘tarnish’ is actually the gold rubbing off and the dullness of the pewter starting to show though.
I’ve also read that a polluted air environment can somehow cause the gold to wear off over a long period of time. Meaning if the piece was stored in a smoking environment, or one that used lots of candles or incense (or was outdoors, though this shouldn’t be happening I hope!).Polishing cloths should not be used on gold plated items as they are designed to buff and polish metals, which can rub the gold plating off. Use a soft cloth such as fleece instead. Also I’ve heard that Selvyt cloths work well to gently clean gold plated items.
I have researched this further and have read to never use any kind of polishing solution, paste, chemical or general jewelry polish. All jewelry polishes contain some sort of abrasive agent- which works really well on solid metals such as silver or solid gold, but the micro abrasives will rub the gold plating right off of gold plating items.
Melody, do you know how thickly your electroplater puts the gold on the pewter? If so I can further research safe ways to clean it.
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My art: featherdust.comwow…that’s good to know, I usually just wipe off my windstones with a soft damp cloth…I’ve never actually used any cleaners. But it’s good to know in case I ever did consider polishing the horns. Thankfully no one smokes here, but the occasional incense or candle does get burned.
Don’t feel bad. I didn’t know either until I researched! If we ever get that official FAQ going I’d love to include this sort of info in there so collectors know.
I did some research and sometimes gold plating over a silver base can tarnish if a quality process is not used. The silver atoms intermingle with the gold and over time (years and years) rise to the surface and can cause tarnishing effect.
However, this should not happen with gold plated over pewter, because unleaded pewter is a ‘barrier’ metal and should not migrate into the gold.
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My art: featherdust.comJennifer wrote:Melody wrote:WolfenMachine wrote:Hi Melody! I recently recieved a mother Kirin who is in good shape…but her horn is rough and dull and seemes tarnished. I know the horns are plated in gold with pewter underneath…but which kind of cleaner do you think would be safe to clean her horn with? Pewter cleaner or gold cleaner? I’m afraid too, of taking some of the plating off by using a chemical that’s too harsh. Any advice is welcome 😀
Those golden horns shouldn’t tarnish, but they do apparently. We need to do some experimenting ourselves and see if we can find something that helps polish these. Until we try some things ourselves I don’t have an official recommendation. I’d try a gentle silver or gold polish. Don’t rub it with a gritty substance.
I don’t think they’re tarnishing Melody. I think that the plating is being rubbed off (gold does not tarnish!) either through shipping and age (this only seems to be a problem for older pieces), or more likely through someone trying to polish them and not realizing they are gold plated. If you ever polish gold plating with anything other than a very soft gentle cloth, the plating will rub off eventually (or, quickly if you use a chemical to do it). I suspect the ‘tarnish’ is actually the gold rubbing off and the dullness of the pewter starting to show though.
I’ve also read that a polluted air environment can somehow cause the gold to wear off over a long period of time. Meaning if the piece was stored in a smoking environment, or one that used lots of candles or incense (or was outdoors, though this shouldn’t be happening I hope!).Polishing cloths should not be used on gold plated items as they are designed to buff and polish metals, which can rub the gold plating off. Use a soft cloth such as fleece instead. Also I’ve heard that Selvyt cloths work well to gently clean gold plated items.
I have researched this further and have read to never use any kind of polishing solution, paste, chemical or general jewelry polish. All jewelry polishes contain some sort of abrasive agent- which works really well on solid metals such as silver or solid gold, but the micro abrasives will rub the gold plating right off of gold plating items.
Melody, do you know how thickly your electroplater puts the gold on the pewter? If so I can further research safe ways to clean it.These horns were supposed to be well plated, like jewelry, so the gold wouldn’t rub off. I have a hunch that the plating company short changed us on the plating of these…or some batches of the horns accidentally were under plated.There is no way to tell by looking at them, so they would of gotten shipped that way. I suspect the horn “tarnishing” has something to do with the environment the horn is kept in, but it still shouldn’t happen. The only way I know of to really restore the horn’s shine, is to replace it. We need to work out our repair dept. when we get moved, so that we can help replace horns that have gone dull.
You can polish gold if it is not pure, which most jewelry isn’t. A good friend of ours was inventing a polishing solution and demonstrated it to us at dinner on his wife’s solid gold bracelet. After rubbing his solution on it, the bracelet became so shiny, it looked fake! She was really mad at him.
This doesn’t mean that I would recommend using a harsh polishing solution on plated things, but if the horn is wrecked anyway I don’t think it would hurt to try.The other thing that you can try is dry baking soda on a soft white cloth. That’s what I use to clean sterling silver beads for the jewelry I make. It’s very gentle and the nice thing is you don’t have to rinse it off; just blow it off.
twindragonsmum 😀
tdm
I guess this is dragging an old subject out of the closet, but! I need a little help!
I didn’t think I’d ever find a light peacock oriental (but I did, with Rusti’s help), so was happy to have one even with a bit of damage. I knew his horn had some ‘paint’, as the online shop described it, coming off, but wanted him anyways. =) I received him today, and here is a pic of the plating peeling off :
The other horn already has hairline cracks going across it the way this one probably started out.
Basically, I’m wondering, what do you guys think I should do? I don’t want to just paint over it, because I’m sure it’ll peel back eventually anyways…should I sand it down a bit and THEN paint or leaf it? Ah, decisions…I don’t want to mess him up, he was hard to find! = I see that it’s been suggested that environment can affect the life of gold plating, and I suspect that might have had something to do with this, since he smells a bit like incense…
I’ve dealt with this before. Here’s what I did.
I deliberately flaked off the gold plating that was loose, then used some AS to fill in the area, then sanded it after it set up to get a smooth surface.
I then gold leafed it, it wasn’t as smooth as the rest of the horns, but it looks pretty good, especially if it is only on the tips, and you do both horns so they match each other, then it looks like it was deliberate.
Good luck.
Kyrin
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