You are correct in thinking that it would be hard to get a matte finish on shiny metal. Have you thought of tumbling your parts? The process (if done with the right media) can give nearly identical results to sandblasting. Tumbling is less labor intensive and much safer. With a big enough tumbler you can do massive quantities of small parts. Depending on scale it can be way cheaper to start up than sandblasting. An acid etched surface might do what you want too but it is not quite as flat a finish as tumbled or sandblasted. Fire scaled surfaces might also serve your purposes... usually you have to remove the scale itself by pickling or tumbling but the roughened and distressed surfaces beneath can be very nice looking. Applying your liver of sulfur to hot metal will help you to get intense color and soft finish sheens. IME the liver of sulfur tends toward the brownish blacks. You could use paint of course... when I want a REALLY FLAT sheen with paint I use a gloss but apply it in thin fog layers so that the paint dries in the form of tiny droplets. This approach nets a harder, thicker finish than one with a lot of flatting paste in it and is flatter in appearance than the flattest factory sheens. Spray can chalkboard paints can be extremely flat too, if you wanna go cheap and simple.

You might consider using shakudo for the black areas. You can do a Google search to find out how make it or where to purchase it ready-made. Another possibility might be niello, though that is usually used where a gunmetal greyish black is desired with a high sheen. Still, it could be etched after firing to develop a deep matte black.

If I wanted a dead matte absolute black to contrast with gold, I'd probably use porcelain enamel for the black. Fire it and then sandblast or etch with hydrofluoric acid to develop the matte surface. Or, you can matte the surface by stippling it with a carbide engraving point in a vibrating engraver. Lots of possibilities so you probably need to do some serious experimenting.

Rich

You will not be able to color gold with LOS but any metal with copper in the alloy should color. You can also use lime sulfur from garden supplies and use it the same wayl LOS degenerates rapidly in the presence of air and is hard to keep. To get the swede look, use multiple dips in the hot solution and brass brush with water and deterg afterwards. When the color that you want is present, dry and use whichever one of the polishing papers that are available now gives the effect you want. It's not a bad idea to seal the surface to stop the darkening process.

Hello Carolyn,

~You can get a black finish with rhodium plating although it is normally seen as a polished finish. I don't really think it is what you are looking for and it is not cheap. It's a recognised jewelry route to a black finish.

Good luck.

Nick

Thank you all for the thoughtful suggestions.

I will try each of them.