pyrite beads

[oriole6]

Anyone have experience with pyrite beads naturally oxidizing? If they do, is there something I can do to prevent it?

~ Robin

[Renate]

Hi Robin, welcome to the forum! ;-) ,

I'm afraid I don't know anything about natural oxidation of pyrite, but I have read that it rubs off some dark oxyde to the skin or clothes, and therefore should always be coated.

[Vicky]

Hi Robin,

I have been googling your question this morning and the best results I could find was by using "do pyrite beads tarnish" as my search question.

Some results are below - they may not answer all your questions but there are some good tips (Let your clients know they shouldn't clean the necklace with water too often if they want to preserve it for longer without having the beads broken)

cs.jewelrymakingmagazines.com/BAJCS/themes/beading/forums/thread.aspx?ThreadID=16675&PostID=69119&PermaPostID=69119

www.mindat.org/mesg-19-186968.html

www.beadingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2009/04/24/do-you-torture-your-beads.

This last link has a link below the article to an article entitled "Bead Torture". There is nothing specific to pyrite in the article but it is quite informative in its own right.

Hope it helps a bit

Cheers

Vicky

[Robin]

Thanks for the welcome (and warning) Renate! I had suspected the pyrite might turn on me... reading through the articles Vicky provided, it seems your coating idea is the ticket.

Vicky, I appreciate the time you've spent on hunting down this answer. The links you provided gave me not only the information I needed, but some new forums to peruse! Thanks! p.s. I have Ragdolls, too... aren't they wonderful?

~ Robin

[Vicky]

Hey Robin,

Ragdolls are wonderful but I must also say Scottish Folds have huge personalities! LOL - put them both together and you have (in our case) a very intelligent, large bundle of fur that entertains us no end

Vicky

PS Oh, almost forgot, I'm please the links helped

[Tela]

Sorry, I'm a little late to the post.

I have some pyrite beads that are about 10 years old. They do oxidize. I throw them in the tumbler to shine them back up. I could use a polish cloth, too. But, since it a bunch of them, I tumble. It takes a real long time for them to start looking very oxidated.