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Jewelry designer wants to plate teeth as jewelry

We have a very good client who has asked us to do something rather odd, and we're trying our best to accommodate her... she would like us to plate her newly-pulled wisdom tooth in 18k green gold and make it into a charm for her boyfriend to wear. We've found a plater who can do green gold, but we have to somehow coat the surface of the tooth in metal first, so that the green plating will attach. Is there a metal dip or paint we can use? I would appreciate any suggestions.

Jilienne Hart
Production Manager for a Fine Jewelry Designer - Los Angeles, California, USA
2007

Use conductive paint first, then copper plate it (tooth) first and then gold plate. Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
2007

Just a quick note to add. I would add a barrier plate between the copper and gold. If not the copper will migrate into the gold in a short time, then you will have a reddish - brown looking gold finish. Because nickel for a gold underplate in jewelry is becoming a thing of the past, a white bronze, or other nickel free alternatives would be the way to go. Now I'm on a gold plated shark tooth kick, thank you.

Mark Baker
Process Engineer - Syracuse, New York
2007