On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:50:39 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Rick"
wrote:

You could also replace the silver band with one made from niobium- it can be
heated to produce a black oxide on the surface, which is quite durable.

Rick Hamilton

Or titanium, which also can heat treat to a nice durable oxide, though the
niobium black is a deeper/darker color. The titanium is somewhat harder and
more durable, which is nice, and a whole heck of a lot cheaper, which is very
nice.

Both metals, though, make poor suggestions for many people, since they cannot be
soldered via the usual methods used with silver, so fabricating a ring from them
can require major changes in the design to allow cold connections like rivets or
screws, machining parts from solid stock instead of forming from sheet, or other
means of not needing to solder parts together or seams closed. So a direct
substitution of these reactive metals for the silver is often not practical. But
it's still a good thing to remember that these metals can be colored like that.
Titanium in particular is interesting for heat coloring, since more modest
heating gives a lovely and fairly intense dark purplish blue, rather unusual by
itself, and impossible as a mere patina color on other metals.

Both metals can be given a wide range of colors by electrolytic anodizing.
Again, the colors on niobium are more intense, but the titanium, especially if
starting with a matte or sandblast or etches surface, is pretty darn intense
too.

Peter