Patina

It takes a while to get the patina to grab on the fine silver.  I let those soak and soak in the liver of sulfur.  I've discovered that hanging the pieces on thread makes them much easier to move around in the solution and pull out vs. using plastic tongs.  Also makes for some musical entertainment while rinsing off the metal pieces.  They bump into each other and jingle-jangle!  The silver will discolor a bit, then have the AB look, then go almost black.  I use hard boiled egg on my sterling pieces with stones and pearls.  I wouldn't want to submerge my pretty pearls, opals or semi-precious stones in liver of sulfur.  It takes a while for the hard boiled egg to grab on the sterling.  You can see it just starting to change in this photo.  I'm going to add some wrapped brios to the bottom of some of the fine silver pendants.  A person could either pre-patina some sterling wire or do a gentle patina process of the entire piece one more time before finishing.  There are so many different ways of going about finishing a piece and you just have to find what works for you.  I go through all the various steps, layer the color and I work it right across the finish line!  To get a complete look, you have to take the time and not rush things.  Work through each step from inception to completion, then you'll have something that has the look and layers of a total work.  A total, tiny work.