glorycloud said:
I have been swirling the powder which has gone from the chocolate brown color to the more yellow brown color.
That's exactly what you should expect. As the gold sheds the dragged down contaminants, the color improves.
It is not sticking to the coffee pot at all.
I wouldn't expect it to at this juncture. I thought, from your original question, that you had finished the washing procedure. If that were the case, and you had force dried the gold without swirling it occasionally, residues in the rinse will often glue the gold to the vessel. They don't harm the quality because they are normally not metallic in nature, just the hard substances that come from water. If you used distilled water, that may not be an issue. All depends on how well the gold gets rinsed.
After the next three rinses, should I slowly dry it on the hot plate being sure to not lose any of the powder to steam explosions?
Yep, that's the drill! Start out with a very low heat, so the water slowly evaporates. Swirl occasionally, so the gold will clump up and keep wiping the vessel free of fine residues. The swirling also helps prevent the steam explosions. If the gold is clean enough, when it starts drying, it will all stick together in small clumps. Be advised that on occasion it fails to do so, so you end up with fine powder that is a bitch to handle. Even so, if you can get it to the melting dish, it will melt fine, you just have to use a low velocity flame, which you can accomplish be holding the torch well back until the gold starts to melt. A very light sprinkle of borax can help cause the tiny beads to flow together, but don't overdo the flux.
When dry, should it just "pour" the powder out of the coffee pot and into the prepped 3" melting dish provided my thet lazersteve fellow?
Again, that's pretty much the drill.
One thing on drying. You'll notice that the gold will lighten up in color considerably when it starts losing the last bit of water. Don't stop heating at that point. Allow the gold to get fully dried, with additional heat. You'll notice that smells leave the gold----traces of things that don't evaporate with the water.
Luck!
Show us your button when you're finished.
Harold