Silver foil & leaf

[JenniferB]

I would like to do a project with either silver foil or leaf. I have a sheet of each but I've had them for a long time and when I opened the packages I found the silver had tarnished. Can I fire this under a cap of BE mostly-clear streaky and expect the tarnish to burn off? Would it help to lay down some clear powder between the layers? If not, would anyone have a suggestion of how to remove the tarnish prior to firing? I'm leaning toward using the foil rather than the leaf.

[Buttercup]

Jennifer, note disclaimer: I haven't tried this with silver leaf but you can remove tarnish from silver by immersing it in hot water in a glass or plastic basin (non-metallic) touching a piece of aluminum foil. Add baking soda to the water and stir in. The tarnish will float off, along with a microscopic layer of the silver and attach itself to the aluminum foil.

If the silver is actually German silver, a melange of metals containing no silver, I've read that it too, can be cleaned this way. If it's German silver it will be unlikely to tarnish but it is possible. I've used aluminum foil fused between glass for a 'silver' effect.

Good luck with it.

[JenniferB]

Buttercup,
Thanks for this information. Although silver foil is slightly thicker than silver leaf, it's still only microns thick and I don't think it would survive being handled this way.
Jennifer

[Brad Walker]

I've used tarnished silver foil once before and it worked fine. Don't know if this is applicable to your situation, I was doing a reaction where the silver would change color anyway.

Given the thinness of the silver, I don't think there's any easy way to remove the tarnish.

[JenniferB]

Thanks Brad. I was hoping to have the silver stay its original colour. I guess I'll just have to run some tests with small pieces.
Jennifer

[jim simmons]

There is a product called "Tarnex" that works wonders.
Just dip the silver in and the tarnish comes off in about 1 or 2 seconds at the most.
Ten just immerse in hot water , pull out, let dry and you are good to go.
The other Jim

[JenniferB]

Jim,
I'm familiar with Tarnex and I know it works well on many silver items, but silver foil is just too fragile to handle in this way. Although it's called foil, it's nowhere near as sturdy as something like aluminium foil.
Jennifer

[JenniferB]

I finally got around to firing the tarnished silver foil. I put it on BE soft black, sprinkled a light layer of crystal clear powder across the whole surface and capped it with BE streaky clear/white. All the tarnish seems to have burned off.
Jennifer

[jim simmons]

Thanks for posting the results. That is one of the reasons that this board is so darned good.
People like you that have a question that needs answered and then discover a cure on their own, then publish the results for the rest of us.
Thank you so much.
The other Jim

[JenniferB]

I will say that while the tarnish burned off the silver foil, it did crack/split. The effect looks rather like Bob Leatherbarrow's crackle surfaces. It's not unattractive but it's not what I was hoping for in this case. My firing schedule was 300 dph to 1225 with a 30 min hold, 500 dph to 1490 for 12 min, AFAP to 900 to hold for 1 hour, 50 dph to 800, no hold, 100 dph to 700 and off. Was this too fast for silver foil? Would a slower ramp up allow the foil to stay intact?