Silver filled wire?!?!

There are soooo many different wires and variations on metals out there! I have just come across a new one to confuse people even more! Silver filled wire.Not really new, but gaining more popularity and with the rise of silver, it seems to some jewelers an economical way to make jewelry.
Many of you may already be familiar with gold filled. This is a "new" take on it.
So, what is it? Fire Mountain defines it as "wire made of a durable outer layer of sterling silver bonded to a copper core." it has a thick bonded plating of sterling on the outside, unlike plated which is just a thin layer of silver on base metal. Plated will tarnish and turn as the layer of silver wears. Silver filled wire, if you take care of it, will last a very very long time looking new. You must be careful not to scratch or nick the outer layer, though. The copper will show through and there is nothing you can do to fix it.
I think Fire Mountain Gems is the original distributor of it, but many people are selling it as the middleman on Artfire and Etsy for those of you wishing to work with it. It also comes in many gauges and tempers. They make jumprings and earwires that are premade.
Fire Mountain touts it as being cheaper than sterling. If you look at many other stores on the internet, Monsterslayer for one, you will find the price is not a whole lot different than sterling. I would rather pay the extra couple bucks and get the real deal. Gold filled, on the other hand. is a different story. With the prices of gold soaring higher and higher, using gold filled makes sense. You get the look of gold without the outrageous expense. I'll check back later after I have tested it out and let you know what I think.

More Than Bend, Hammer and Fire

I was fusing circles to put in a necklace or bracelet and my mind kept wandering as it has a habit of doing when I create. So, after I made the first circle, I shifted to a state of mind I refer to as autopilot. I wanted to make a few, because they take some time to do and it is nicer to work on them all together. Hammering on the copper and silver circle got me thinking about the universe and I saw it swirling, continuously, around and around like the connected circle I was working on . It made me feel very connected to the Universe and those around me in the beautiful moment. Funny how moments sneak up on you like that! So now fusing circles and hammering them is my favorite thing to do. Look for lots of cosmic circles coming in my jewelry.
With my jewelry there is almost ALWAYS a story about what inspired me or what I was thinking as it came into existence. I am so blessed to do something that I so truly love and have passion for even after 22 years. The process of bringing a new design is always more than just bend, hammer and fire- voila you have a piece of jewelry. There is a philosophy. Yes, I am the philosopher with a propensity for tools!

Vermeil is a base of sterling silver that has been gold plated. It is a more expensive option than gold plated, with better quality. Vermeil will not tarnish as fast as the plated, because it has a thicker layer of gold on it. The gold will still wear and eventually the silver will show through.
Gold plated has a thin layer of 10K gold electroplated onto a base metal surface. The base is usually zinc, nickel and copper. The gold layer is much thinner than gold filled wire or Vermeil, and tarnishes much faster than both. If shaped and hammered, it loses its gold color and the base metal will show itself. It is better not to wear your plated jewelry every day, because polishing and exposure to skin salts will wear the gold film off.

Gold filled or sometimes called rolled gold wire, gold overlay or rolled gold plated. This is an affordable alternative to solid gold wire. Gold filled jewelry consists of several mechanically bonded layers. A non-precious base, usually jeweler's brass, is covered with the outside layer of at least 10 Karat gold, usually a 5% gold content. Manufacturers usually mark their gold filled jewelry with fractions that show the relative amount of gold in proportion to base metal in a given piece, so you know what you buy. It comes in many shapes, gauges, tempers and colors(white, yellow and rose. Can be hammered and shaped without issue, just do not scratch it. Gold filled if handled with care will last a lifetime without flaking or color change. It is usually safe for people who have sensitive skin.

Metals-Help! What does it all mean?!?

Have you ever gone online and saw the term Alpaca silver used? What the heck does that mean? Was silver carried on the back of an Alpaca? How about Sterling plated? What in blazing tar-nations does gold filled mean and how is it different from gold plated? It can be quite confusing! If you buy online these phases are being used all the time. People use these catch phrases to pull you in, when in fact there are no such words. It is embellished. Sterling plated sounds more expensive than silver plated! In the next posts I will be explaining different metals starting with gold. So you can become a savvy shopper!
Gold is, of course, the most expensive of all the metals I will write about in these posts. It does go a long way though. An ounce of gold, or the size of a sugar cube, can be hammered into 108 square feet of gold leaf or pulled into a thread fifty miles long.
Gold is measured in karats. That indicates its purity. So, 24 karat or fine gold is 100% gold, 22 karat is 91.7% gold and so on down to 10 karat which is 41.7% gold.
Gold is almost always stamped unless you have gold that is an antique, then it may not be stamped.