I can't get my ASE's to change color. They've been under the projector (until my hubby got mad at me for moving it so much), under my laptop (until it started overheating), in the window (until it got cold like this) and now it's above the heat registers on the floor, which still aren't hardly ever on. All this since June. Should I give in and bake them? I'm not trying to make them more desirable for anyone other than me; I only want my own little piece of art. If I were to bake them in those envelopes, at what temperature should I do it for how long? I don't want the envelopes catching fire.

Thanks!
TG

hahaha.... im glad this is the first post I've read today. can't start off much better than this.

I dunno though. Can an oven get hotter than a laptop battery?

I see what you mean... but I'd rather have my envelopes catch on fire than have my computer stop!

Gees, I can get my coins to do that, only because I only want them to stay white. Usually I am not a toning fan. So TG if you convert to only wanting them white, then they will tone. Believe me, it works.

I think humidity would help. In Houston stuff "tones" fast. Maybe try a few match heads wrapped in the napkin. (Not touching but a layer or two away.)

It is not only the humidity in Houston, but all the carcinogens belching out of all the petro-chemical plants there.

I would say you can set your oven at 220 but don't leave it longer than 15min without checking it. I've not tried this so I'm just guessing but the boiling point of water is 210 and paper won't burn at that.

AT.......

What you wouldn't like one like this?

(Don't know what the reserve was but he was proud of his paint job. )

Currently at ~225 with a tub of hot water beneath it hopefully to increase the humidity within the oven.

different metal but i tried a new pres dollor in the oven then put it in water over night( three days of this) and i had a purple pres dollor!!! it was a beauty but being me i gave it away.

different metal but i tried a new pres dollor in the oven then put it in water over night( three days of this) and i had a purple pres dollor!!! it was a beauty but being me i gave it away.

I've been wondering where you've been, Dustin! I expect you've been using all this time to write ScottishMoney's essay?

Place all coins in a metal pan. Put metal knives and forks next to them. Add baking soda and Venigar. Place in a micro wave oven and use top settings for one day.
I don't think this will do anything but shorten out your electrical system though.

You could always use chemicals, but uh......certain ones scream "IM AN A.T. COIN, LOOK AT MEEEEE!!!!!!!". Just avoid hot pink and electric blue and you'll be fine, lol. Seriously though, false toning is simple if you know how it's done. I can have a blast white coin go every color of the rainbow, even jet black if I want within about 5 minutes. I work with metal most of my school time, I make jewelry, mostly silver...so yeah....I don't like toned coins, too easily faked. However, I don't know if spilling the beans on what I use would be a good idea on a public forum.

"However, I don't know if spilling the beans on what I use would be a good idea on a public forum. "

I've read similar regarding AT'ing coins on public forums... and don't get it. What's the problem? Unless your methods involve illegal substances or processes which could endanger the forum public then I see no problem letting folks who want to create thier own AT'ed coin know how.... unless your one of the folks cashing in on creating them, then submitting them in mass to TPG'ers and reselling $10 toned coins for $250. Give everyone the knowledge of how to create near impossible to detect AT'ed coins and the fleecing just may be put to an end and we can all begin to discuss how to create blast white coins from neon colored coins.

My reasoning is basically this:

Method becomes common public knowledge
Everyone and their brother can tone NT looking AT coins
Newbies wont know the difference and get stuck with AT coins
Some jackass will claim their coins are NT when they are not Etc etc etc.....

You get my point, just because I know it, doesn't mean everyone else should. As long as I am not making AT coins I see no big deal. If everyone can create NT looking AT coins, the fleecing won't stop, trust me.

I have worked as a machinest most of my life untill I got hurt working on my on roof. So as far as toning metal I could do it and make it look good. I think I could get it to pass through PCGS but I wouldn't do that I don't care much for toned coins. But you do silver different than some of the other metals they are all done different.

That's very true, you can't tone certain metals the way I can tone silver, but it does work for copper, brass, and 10-14kt gold. Although the gold only changes to deeper shapes of yellow/orange. It all depends on the amount of copper the metal alloy has, it really only reacts with the copper atoms.

Gold is the hardest to tone. I would rather have shiny gold. I will agree copper is the key to the colors and it don't take much copper in a coin to change its color. I guess we better hold it off there.

Sooooo... Vfox, if I were to send you my ASE's, you could save me months worth of trouble and give me something that looked like this:




^^^ Thanks to drwstr123

And it wouldn't me a "monster" toner with scary chem lab colors?

Hey V and moneydog, could you guys post some of your AT coins in different metals? I'd love to see your handiwork and see what you mean by "deeper shades of yellow/orange." Thanks!

I don't have any gold coins and the silver I have isn't toned. And I don't tone coins.

I don't tone my coins, or any normally, but I will try and find some untoned silver amongst my junk to show the different color ranges that the toning chemicals can create. Currently I don't have any gold either, I'm just a poor college student afterall. But, I'll try and get some examples up shortly.

TreasureGirl, I don't know if I can get rim toning to look like NT or not, it is a submersive technique, but I may be able to apply it directly to the rims for that effect. I will play around a bit and let you know.

The thing about what I use is, it's a tricky mistress, a little too much can lead to a total gray-out of the metal, which is similar to gun-metal in color. But before it reaches that stage the colors go yellow, amber, red, purple, blue, brown, and then gray, black. Green is a little tricky and falls in between amber and red, and lasts in transition for a very short period of time. Basically this can be done slowly, and that is what I will try, a VERY dilute solution, and only momentary dipping. There are other, probably better chemicals out there for this, but the one I use isn't very toxic, and works well for my jewelry, which is its intended use.

Ah, I see. I look forward to your experiments!

Well I played around a little, but I surely need more practice before I can AT a coin properly, but have a look at these. Which ones are AT and which ones are NT? Btw, the overly glossy quarter was a found in change proof.

woof. they ain't the prettiest, are they? Did you place some on top of the bigger coins/rounds to get the crescent effect?

Nah, just brushed on the toning agent. Honestly though, with a little practice this can look fairly decent. Plus I need to dilute it more, it changed way to fast for me to control properly....hence the spotty ugly look.

Next time around I'll shoot for a little more toned down (no pun intended) coloration. Maybe some golds and reds?

To me those coins are ruined silver is ment to be shiny. That is why I would not even try to tone one all mine are shiny and that is the way I hope they stay. I don't even have any I would like to try that on.

All of those are already melted down and turned into silver sheet for some jewerly I'm working on. My own personal opinion is just like yours, silver is meant to be spotless.

I wonder if you could do that to hammered coins...

But don't try it!

I'm sure that with some practice they could look wonderful, but I prefer my silver just the way it is!

- Clive.

I've made my own hammered coins, and for the project I designed them for I needed to "antique" them with this method. I got some nice reds, purples, and blues from them as well.

Here are some pics:

Vfox did you make the one at the top. That is a nice looking coin its aged just right.

Yes I did, and thank you. That was one of the silver coins, I only made 6 of those, along with 3 14kt gold, 35 copper, 20 brass, and 3 bronze. I still have the dies, so I plan on making more when I get the time, I had fun making them.

I really like your hammereds! Must have taken a while, might have a hand at it myself.

Vfox, do you have a website or blog of pics of your jewelry, hammered pieces, dies, etc? What you're doing sounds like SO MUCH FUN to me! I make beaded jewelry all the time because I have no idea how to shape metal even though I'd love to learn, and minting your own coins is just downright cool.

YOC, once I had the dies make, which took about an hour to punch, it's like 15 minutes a coin. It takes about 10 seconds to press one (I use a roll press), and another 14+ minutes to cut the coin from its square blank, hammer the edges to remove the sharp edge and give it a more "aged" feel, and a moment or two to tone and age it.

TG, no I don't have a website right now, but I do have photos of some of the cockroach jewelry I made, haha. Like I said in other posts I raise and breed cockroaches (Dwarf giant cave roaches, not a pest species) and scorpions, and I love to use them in my designs. And yes, I love making jewelry and working with metal, but I am really going to school to be an art teacher, not a jeweler. But, I have fun anyway.

Here is some of my stuff: I'll take more pics later, I have loads of different things.



Here are two of my roaches, B. dubia, and the big one is B. fusca (hybrid of fusca, craniifer, discoid, and giganteus)

nice ring!!

Thanks Dustin, but I actually took the roach off of it, it was too busy. I cast somewhere around 25 of those small roaches, and only about 15 of the came out nice, the rest were full of pitting. I did cast one of the large fusca like in the photo and turned it into a pendant. I'll get a pic of that once my student show is over. I can't seem to find my dang camera right now either, I'll try and find it tomorrow to take some more pics.

Very, very nice indeed!

- Clive.

Whoa, V! Warn us when you're going to post pics of your roaches! lol

^^^ Yeah! Cool stuff but when I scrolled all the way to the bottom and giant cockroaches flashed on the computer my skin started to crawl! Rofl.

Haha, sorry about that guys, I keep forgetting that everyone else thinks they are creepy/gross, lol. At least I didn't post a huge pic of one of my scorpions right?

I dunno. Scorpions arent as far on the icky scale as roaches.





PS. when was the last time you heard a 21-year old dude say 'icky'

I prefer scorpions, I've had some bad experiences with cockroaches whilst on holiday... lol

I never knew that icky was a real word, you learn something new everyday eh?