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Ammonium Hydrosulfide v Liver of sulfur

Ammonium Hydrosulfide
Recently wanted to to use Liver of sulfur in jewellery finishing. The cost of liver of sulfur was higher than expected and I was advised Ammonium Hydrosulfide would do the same job.
The warning on the bottle are such that I have not opened it yet.
Do you know if immersing silver in Ammonium Hydrosulfide would colour it in the same way as dissolved Liver of sulfur
Thank you.


Irene Pentelow
jeweler - Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
2006

Ed. note: Hello Irene. Maybe you need a more economical supplier rather than a different chemical. I'm seeing liver of sulfur [on eBay or Amazon] as costing about $3 for a 4-ounce bottle.

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It must work -- colour may be somewhat different but ... Instead this you can use 2 teaspoons copper sulphate/1 teaspoon kitchen salt/ 1 cup water mixture.

Good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
2006

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2006

First to sort out the archaic terminology.
Liver of sulfur aka sulfurated potash is a mixture of sulfides mainly K2S2O3 and K4S3 made by heating potassium carbonate with half its weight of sulfur [affil links] The name is (was) also applied to calcium sulfide. All this is chemical archeology, which probably explains the cost.
What I think you are trying to get is an "oxidised" finish on silver and you can get this with a wide range of sulfides. Potassium sulfide is probably the easiest to obtain and use at about 1.5 g/l. Ammonium polysulfide is also used.
Don't be put off by hazard labels but do be careful. Rubber rubber gloves [on eBay or Amazon] and wash off any splashes. The main problem with most sulfide processed is the smell!

Geoff Smith
Hampshire, England

Liver of sulfur is potassium sulfide and is readily available at gardening shops for adjust soil pH in gardens. I bought 5 pounds for roughly $4; mixing a only a teaspoon in a liter of water with good results for silver and copper blackening. Even that may have been too much I was told.

Steve Krevek
- Bismarck, North Dakota
2006

I would like to oxide a 3 foot x 4 foot sheet of copper to be hung as artwork above my mantel. A friend of mine did this to great success by using liver of sulfur she bought through a jewelry supply company. I do not have access to company and was wondering firstly, if anyone knows where I can get a similar product if not the same product and secondly, how do I apply it to the copper to achieve a rainbowed patina? Thanks

Deborah Graybill
Hobbyist - Jersey City, New Jersey
2007

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She doesn't sound like a very good friend if she teases you with her success but won't tell you how she did it :-)

But liver of sulfur [on eBay or Amazon] is commercially available very inexpensively by following the link. It darkens copper and should give a range of grays, but I don't think you'll get any rainbow coloration; that was probably done with heat. See letter 2662.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007