Adding Color to Our Coin Rings
In our last blog post, we talked about handcrafting our powder-coated and colorized coin rings. You can read that article here: How We Make Our Colorized Coin Rings — Part 1.
Today, we're going to continue the process by adding color to the rings. Read on to see how we make our colorized coin rings!
Our colorized coin rings are available here:
Colorized Morgan Silver Dollar Coin Rings
What Is a Powder Coat, Anyway?
Powder coating is a coloring agent that is applied electrostatically as a dry powder over metal. It is then cured with heat until it flows and forms a hard layer. This coating is very resistant to damage.
Setting Up to Make Colorized Coin Rings
Once I've created the ring (see Part 1 of this blog), I place it onto a silicone plug with a copper conductor attached to it. The conductor must also touch the ring because I use an electrical charge to attract the powder coating to the metal of the ring.
I tape off any section that I don't want to powder coat with high-temperature tape. Although I'll be removing small portions of the coating later, it's easier to begin by masking off larger areas.
Since I'll be using an electrostatic gun attached to an air compressor, now is the perfect time to get everything set up and ready to go. I attach my gun and set up the stand with the ring. I also preheat my oven. The powder coating I use flows at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Applying the Powder Coat
Remember that conductor I attached to the silicone plug? It touches the stand and grounds the ring. As a result, when I spray the powder, it is attracted directly to the ring. It doesn't take much to get a good, even covering.
Since the powder isn't adhered to the ring at this point, I need to gently transfer it to the oven and watch closely until the powder flows.
If I were to let it cure for the full 20 minutes here, it would be difficult to clean the coating off the raised surfaces of the silver that I carefully retained when I created the ring. As a result, I'm going to watch the powder flow, wait just one minute, and then take the ring out and let it cool.
Polishing and Finishing
At this point, the powder still isn't fully hardened, so I use traditional jewelry filing techniques that I discussed in the last blog post to bring the raised areas of the silver coin back through. The coating and color remain in the recessed areas.
I then continue curing the ring in the oven. This makes the coating durable, which is particularly important for jewelry such as rings that receive a lot of wear.
Finally, I cool the ring and finish polishing it using steel wool and a polishing cloth. Perfect!
What Colors Are Available?
We have offered our powder-coated coin rings in a variety of colors, including:
- Blue
- Black
- White
- Red
- Copper/Brown
- Gold
- Patriot (Red, White, and Blue)
Watch the Coin Ring Process
Want to see the process in more detail? I have a two-part video showing how these rings are handcrafted and colorized.
Watch Part 1: Handcrafting the Coin Ring
Watch Part 2: Powder Coating and Colorizing the Coin Ring
You can also visit the CoinCrafters YouTube channel for more videos showing our coin ring craftsmanship and process.