Metals Used
For most people who start out working with wire it is not cost effective to jump straight to the precious metals such as silver or gold and so craft wires made from softer materials such as brass can be used. Once experience has been acquired in developing different designs and gaining the feel for how the wire works when it is handled and wrapped then progression can be made to the more expensive metals such as 925 sterling silver and 14k gold filled wire.
14k gold filled wire is a tube of 14k gold that has a length of jewellers brass running through the middle and is not like gold plated wire as there is approx 100 times more gold in gold filled than there is on plated wire. The gold layer is usually 50 to 100 times thicker as compared to that found on a gold plated item. With gold filled wire that is designated 14/20 it means that a minimum 20% of the entire wire is 14k gold.
As with solid gold the gold filled wire can come in at least yellow and rose colours enabling the range of jewellery that can be made to be expansive.
Read more about this topic: Wire Sculpture
Famous quotes containing the word metals:
“As in digging for precious metals in the mines, much earthy rubbish has first to be troublesomely handled and thrown out; so, in digging in one’s soul for the fine gold of genius, much dullness and common-place is first brought to light.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“When human beings have been fascinated by the contemplation of their own hearts, the more intricate biological pattern of the female has become a model for the artist, the mystic, and the saint. When mankind turns instead to what can be done, altered, built, invented, in the outer world, all natural properties of men, animals, or metals become handicaps to be altered rather than clues to be followed.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)