How to Make a Unique Purple Gold Ring at Home

TL;DR

Purple gold is an alloy of gold and aluminum, and the standard mix of about 78.5% gold and 21.5% aluminum is as brittle as glass. To build a wearable ring, the creator followed a patent recipe that raises the gold to 81% (roughly 19 karat) for added strength, then melted, degassed, and molded it. See how a $5,700 gold bar became a rare purple ring.

Transcript

this video has been sponsored by Opera back in 2019 I was sent some old jewelry from a viewer and I was able to turn it into these pure 24 karat gold bars which I thought were pretty nice since then though I've been really interested in gold in general and a couple years ago I stumbled onto a form of it that I'd somehow never heard of before it was... Read More

Key Insights

• 🏅 Purple gold is a rare form of gold created by alloying gold and aluminum, resulting in a distinct purple color.
• 😋 Making a ring out of purple gold is a challenging process due to the fragility of the metal and the difficulty in finding resources and information.
• 🫠 Melting, degassing, and molding the purple gold requires careful experimentation and precise techniques.

Questions & Answers

Q: How is purple gold made?

Purple gold is made by alloying gold with aluminum. According to the video, the typical mixture is about 78.5% gold and 21.5% aluminum, which produces the distinctive purple color but is as brittle as glass or porcelain.

Q: How do you make purple gold strong enough for a ring?

The creator relied on a patent explaining that altering the composition slightly, or adding metals like palladium or nickel, makes purple gold significantly stronger. He chose the simplest recipe, which uses only gold and aluminum but raises the gold content to 81%, making it roughly 19 karat.

Q: Is purple gold real?

Yes. The creator initially assumed it was a scam because the color looked unnatural, but a little research confirmed it is real. According to Wikipedia, it is a genuine alloy of gold and aluminum.

Q: Why is it so hard to buy a pure purple gold ring?

Purple gold is a huge pain to make and to work with, so almost no one produces it. The creator could not find a single company or person selling a pure purple gold ring, and Lee wa was one of the only companies that even made purple gold jewelry.

Q: What sparked the creator's interest in purple gold?

In 2019 a viewer sent the creator old jewelry, which he turned into pure 24 karat gold bars. That project made him interested in gold in general, and a couple of years later he stumbled onto purple gold being sold as jewelry.

Q: How much did the gold cost for the project?

The creator ended up buying a 100 gram gold bar, which cost about $5,700 US or roughly $7,800 Canadian. This immediately put him over his original budget and was likely more gold than he needed.

Q: How did the creator break the gold bar into smaller pieces?

Instead of chiseling it by hand, he dissolved it chemically. He placed the bar in a beaker with concentrated hydrochloric acid, heated it to boiling, then added concentrated nitric acid, which reacted to form a stronger acid mix that could break the gold down.

Q: What are the main steps in making a purple gold ring?

After settling on a recipe, the process involves melting the gold and aluminum together, degassing the metal to remove impurities, and then carefully molding it into a ring. Each step required experimentation because the patent gave the ingredients but almost no instructions on technique.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The creator becomes interested in purple gold and decides to make a ring out of it.

• They research and experiment with different recipes and techniques to create the purple gold.

• After multiple attempts, they successfully melt the gold, degas it, and mold it into a ring.

• The final result is a unique and beautiful ring made entirely out of purple gold.