Fashion jewelry, imitation jewelry, which is beautiful, various styles, people like it, since it’s looks great but not as expensive as real jewelry which made by silver or gold.
There is one thing which concerns us a lot is the metal part of imitation jewelry is easily to tarnish, colors of metal will be fade… because for imitation jewelry, the metal color like silver, rhodium, gold, rose gold, gun black, all those color is not the original metal color, all are plated.
Metal part of most of fashion jewelry/imitation jewelry is made by below:
- Iron;
- Brass;
- Stainless steel;
- Zinc alloy;
- Aluminum;
And for the plating on the metal part, normal are below, some easy to fade and can keep color for long time;
- Rhodium plating, this plating color can keep the color long time;
- Silver plating, this color very easy to get off;
- Gold plating, also easy to fade;
- Rose gold, same as gold, easy to fade;
- Gun back, easy to tarnish;
So, for all the plating color, except rhodium plating, all other plating color is easy to tarnish if we didn’t apply some protection for the plating.
How we take anti-tarnish test in production line
As we got experience for Wal-mart, for wal-mart orders, we must pass the anti-tarnish testing before delivery, and we will take some pcs out from production line to take the internal test, we use potash to do the testing, details as below.
Testing Steps:
1- mix 296ml of water with 9.33g of sulpurated potash;
2- suspend item in solution for 2 minutes, remove and rise with clean water;
3- if the items has any discoloration of the tarnishing, the fails;
4-if the products looks the same as before, then pass.
How can we protect the metal parts from tarnish
There are several ways we can take to protect the metal parts from tarnish, mainly are spary the oil out of the metal after plating, then the plating color will be well protect, and keep the color last much longer. Below is the ways we use:
1) Normal oil coating
Hang the plated products on the stand, then use high pressure gun to spray the oil on the products surface, then put the products into the drying oven make the oil dry.
This is most popular way we use for fashion jewelry in Yiwu market, Most economic way, but with normal quality standard;
In order to let you more clear about cost, let’s say the cost of one simple necklace with this kind of oil coating is $1.
2) E-coating, (Electrostatic oil spraying)
Hang the plated products on the stand, then use high pressure gun to spray the oil to the products under the electrostatic, then put the products into the drying oven make the oil dry.
Difference between the a) is this way the oil will be evenly distributed on the surface of the products under the function of electrostatic. We use this way for most of the Wal-mart silver plating products, normally can pass the test, but sometime will fail. And need to use good quality oil if want to pass the test.
A little bit expensive than way a), but the quality is better;
Let’s say the cost of products under this kind of oil coating is $1.1 a little bit expensive than normal oil coating.
3) E-coating, (Nanotechnology e-coating )
Not sure if I translate it right, but this is another way we use for e-coating, better tech, and better quality.
Most of the plating factory cannot do this kind of coating by themselves. Need to ask other sub-contractors to do this. more expensive, but the quality is better, and more stable, easy to pass the testing.
The cost of products under this kind of oil coating is $1.2 compare with the normal oil coating.
4) Electrophoresis/ Electrophoretic
Best and most expensive way to protect plating color, Most of the plating factory cannot do this kind of coating by themselves. Need to ask other sub-contractors to do this. The cost of products under this kind of oil coating is $1.3.
Above are 4 most common ways we use to protect metal from tarnish, so, you can see there are about 30% cost difference between the cheap way and expensive, and so far, most the our customers including those chain stores for fashion accessories, they choose 2) way.
By David Fan
Fanstyle Creations Co., Limited
Whatsapp: +86 18857996328
Email: david@fanstylejewelry.com
Web: www.fanstylejewelry.com
