Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
- Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Need to reapply silver / gold rims onto crystal stemware
Quickstart: The original gold & silver traces on china and glassware are "fired" on, and surely the best approach. But for D-I-Yers unwilling or unable to fire on those traces there are at least bake-on paints made for the purpose, plus other approaches. Read on ...
I am in the business of antique restoration for glass, crystal, mirror resilvering, glass beveling, stained glass repair, metal refinishing, plating etc. Many times I get requests to re-apply the silver, gold or platinum rims to crystal stemware. I have hit a brick wall. Can anyone please tell me the procedure to apply metal overlay to glass rims?
I have researched this for many hours with top-of-the-line manufactures and they will not tell me the process. I'm sure someone out there can provide a detailed or simplified process.
antique restoration - Ocean Springs, Mississippi
2003
See letter 40228 to get started, Jon. Good luck.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Q. Jon,
I have been trying to find out how to put the gold back on the rim of a crystal piece also. I have had no luck. Did you ever find out how it is done?
- Fort Worth, Texas USA
January 2, 2009
? Hi, David. Did you happen to get a chance to pursue this with Hawking International or others? Although you can probably do something with acrylic paint, I think it would be optimum to start, not with a paint, but with a gold glaze which is made to be be fired onto the glass [adv: glazes for firing onto glass on
eBay or
Amazon [affil links]
.
But if firing the gold onto the glass is a little too much for you, I think second best to firing a gold glaze onto the glass is probably stuff along the lines of Pebeo Porcelaine 150 Ceramic Paint ⇨
which is baked at 300 °F.
Beyond that, yes, you can try various gold paints, but adhesion onto glass is problematical as you have discovered. The closer you can stay to the actual methods of glass makers, the more durable and more authentic looking your re-rimming will probably be. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 2009
A. Hi David,
I have been wanting to re-rim some vintage glasses with a gold rim. I started researching and I found a pretty good solution on Pinterest. One woman said she used either Krylon non toxic gold/silver spray paint, or Martha Stewart's glassware spray paint. She then taped off area on the rims to be painted and followed the directions on the can for spraying. The painted glassware must be allowed to dry for 3 weeks, and then they will be safe to drink from. Hope this helps. - Robin
- Arcata, California
December 20, 2023
Thanks Robin. If you decide to try it yourself, please let us know how it works out.
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
A. There are at least 3 ways to do it (without heating) -- electroplating, chemical plating (same process as mirror silvering), gold silver or platinum powder mixed with waterglass ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] . Hope it helps and good luck!
Goran Budija- Cerovski vrh Croatia
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