anodizing

Lately I have been working on a commission for 3 candlesticks. They are made of aluminum, stainless steel and sterling silver. I thought I would have them finished by Monday or Tuesday, but nothing is going well with the anodizing. I have 18 parts to anodize, but of the 10 or 12 attempts to anodize I only have two parts that anodized well. First I had trouble getting a good connection to the part, then I was getting blotchy coloring on the part, I thought the anodizing bath was contaminated. I changed the anodizing bath and the rinse. I still had the problem. The uneven color only happens at the top of the part near where it is connected, so last night I tried connecting it at two points and suspending it horizontally in stead of connecting it at one point and suspending it vertically. It worked better on the one part I did like that last night. The part was usable. So I tried again tonight on another part, but one of the connections came loose less than half way through. I finished anodizing like that, and got the usual blotches near the connection. I have another piece in right now, connected at two points. I'll see how it comes out in about 35 minutes.
I am so angry about this. I have never had this sort of problem with my tank before.

anodizing a candle stick part:

1st post

I am starting this blog to try to document my work a little better. We'll see how long it lasts before it gets abandoned.