WHAT METALS ARE USED IN JEWELRY?

When you're starting out in jewelry, it's better to get your hands on non-precious metals like brass or copper. Indeed, if you start your apprenticeship, you will have to familiarize yourself with the techniques of sawing, filing, soldering and polishing.

BRASS

In my opinion, brass is the ideal metal for making your own hands. Brass is made only of copper and zinc. The perfect alloy for small pieces of jewelry. Indeed, it is not very expensive , it is easily found and it is relatively easy to saw and file.

THE COPPER

As for copper, I don't find it to be the ideal metal to learn how to saw. In fact, it tends to be “ clingy ”, which risks causing you to break more saw blades. On the other hand, if you want to practice forming , and make jewelry using foldforming , copper is ideal for this.

PRECIOUS METALS: METALS TRADITIONALLY USED IN JEWELRY

Once you are more comfortable with basic jewelry techniques, you can move into working with precious metals (silver, gold, platinum, palladium).

If you are anxious by nature, I recommend that you take it gradually, starting with money before tackling gold. Indeed, the latter is much more expensive, which can make the manufacturing process quite stressful when you have only worked with non-precious metals until then.

MONEY

The advantage of silver, apart from its lower cost than that of gold, is that it is worked in the same way as brass. It is even easier to saw and file than the latter. On the other hand, its big disadvantage lies in the appearance of what we call fire spots as soon as it is heated in the presence of oxygen.

GOLD

Gold is the precious metal par excellence in jewelry. In addition to being pleasant to work with, it is available in several colors . These are obtained depending on the composition of the alloys. For example, rose gold will contain a certain amount of copper, while white gold will be created from a mixture of yellow gold and other metals which will give it its "white" color, and whose Recipes may vary depending on the title and the company (or craftsman) making the alloy.

You will notice that I put the word “white” in quotation marks. Indeed, depending on the metals used, the color obtained varies from yellowish gray to gray-white, including just plain gray? Most of the time, it will therefore be subjected to rhodium plating to give it the color that is generally found commercially.

THE PLATINUM

Platinum is a very interesting metal for the jeweler, for two reasons. The first is that it does not oxidize . If you work with 925 silver, brass or copper, do you immediately understand the advantage? Indeed, the platinum alloy used in jewelry is generally 95% pure, which allows it to retain its beautiful color throughout the life of the jewelry. The second reason is that it has hypoallergenic properties, which is perfect for people who have sensitive skin. This is also one of the reasons why it is also used in medicine.