Sterling silver is a commonly used form of silver in jewelry making. It consists of 92.5% pure silver alloyed with 7.5% other metals. In the United States, an alloy that is 92.5% silver can be called sterling silver, regardless of what the other 7.5% is; however, the standard alloy is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper.

There are several non-standard alloys of sterling silver on the market today. These alloys are formulated using metals other than copper for some or all of the 7.5% that is not silver, and are usually intended to be more tarnish resistant than the standard silver-copper alloy.

Spiral Earrings made from argentium sterling silver

One of these alloys is argentium sterling silver, which has a very small amount of germanium mixed with the copper. Argentium resists tarnish better than regular sterling silver, and in addition has some properties that (in my opinion) make it a better alloy to work with when doing torch work. It costs a bit more than regular sterling silver, because germanium is expensive — luckily for jewelry makers, the amount of germanium used is very small, so it isn’t a huge price difference.

Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, which has not been alloyed with any other metals. It is softer than sterling silver, and therefore not suitable for certain jewelry applications, but it has a beautiful color and as a jewelry maker, I have to say it is wonderful to work with using a torch. Fine silver is a little bit more expensive than sterling silver, generally costing about as much as argentium silver.

Silver metal clay, which is sold under a few different brand names, is a form of fine silver in which ultrafine particles of silver are mixed with an organic binder, and can be worked on like clay (hence the name). Metal clay has to be fired, using either a kiln or a torch, and because the organic binder burns off during the firing process, it will shrink a bit when it is fired. How much shrinkage occurs depends a lot on the brand and variety of clay used. Once metal clay has been properly fired, the resulting metal is 99.9% pure silver – in other words, fine silver. It is more expensive than other types of silver, but allows designers many options for their creativity that would be far more labor intensive, if not impossible, using solid silver to start with. Jewelry designs made with metal clay often feature intricate textures and shapes. Metal clay is also available for some other metals, including gold and bronze.

Gold – 10k, 12k, 14k, 18k, and 22k are commonly used in jewelry. Gold jewelry is generally referred to by a number followed by “k” which stands for karat. The higher the number, the higher the actual gold content. 24k is pure gold, and like fine silver, is quite soft. Many people consider 14k gold to be the lowest gold content that should be used in fine gold jewelry. Higher karat golds, such as 18k and 22k, tend to have a richer gold color than lower karat alloys. They are also more expensive due to the higher actual gold content. The part of the gold that isn’t actual gold might be copper, zinc, silver, or other metals. There are many different alloys, resulting in a lot of color variation, from rose gold to green gold to white gold.

Gold filled and vermeil – These two metals are not primarily gold, but incorporate some gold and look like gold. Gold filled is created by bonding a thin layer of gold to a brass core. Vermeil is gold plated sterling silver. There are significant differences between the two. Although gold filled metal is primarily brass, the layer of gold must equal 1/20th of the total weight of the metal if it is labeled 14/20 gf, and the gold layer in that case is 14 karat gold (14/10 would mean 1/10th of the metal is 14k gold, and 12/20 would mean that 1/20th of the metal is 12k gold). Gold plated metal, such as vermeil, on the other hand, can be a nearly microscopic layer of actual gold, and is frequently 24 karat. Both gold fill and vermeil do have some inherent value – in the case of gold fill, because there is some actual gold content, and in the case of vermeil, because it is sterling silver underneath the gold plating, and sterling silver is a precious metal (although much less expensive than gold).

Copper Earrings

Copper can be used for many jewelry applications. Because it oxidizes relatively quickly, it’s a good metal to try with patinas, and is also often enameled on. Some people believe that copper jewelry has health benefits, such as aiding people with arthritis pain, while others wear it for its rich, warm color. If copper jewelry has not been coated with something to prevent oxidation, it will need to be cleaned and/or polished frequently in order to keep it from turning green or black.

Brass is another non-precious metal that is often used in jewelry designs. It is an alloy metal and there are several different formulations for brass. It is sometimes sold shiny and other times with an oxidized “antique” finish.

Stainless Steel – steel, particularly stainless steel, is becoming popular as a jewelry metal. It is very hard, and melts at a very high temperature. In fact, a lot of jewelry tools are made from steel. I haven’t worked with steel very much except a bit in wire form. Memory wire made from steel, which is sold in coils for making bracelets, necklaces, and rings, is fun for stringing beads onto because it “remembers” its shape. Very thin steel wire can be used for weaving, knitting, or crocheting wire. Many metal artists are using steel sheet to fabricate designs as well, and mixing it with more traditional jewelry metals like silver and gold.

Platinum – of the commonly used metals in jewelry making, platinum is the hardest and the most expensive. I’ve personally never worked with it, so I don’t know much more than that. It has a lovely silver color and is popular for wedding and engagement rings, and high-end jewelry with precious stones such as diamonds.

Base Metal – a non-precious metal, not copper or brass, may contain metals like nickel that people are often allergic to, or lead, which is known to cause cancer and other health problems. Some base metal jewelry will be labeled lead-free or nickel free, but if it isn’t, there’s really no way to know if it contains these (or other) harmful materials.

Silver or gold plated – this could be any metal that has been electroplated with silver or gold. Depending on how thick the plating is, it might last a long time, or it might wear off quickly. Unless it is specified otherwise, the underlying metal is probably some kind of base metal.

**If your favorite jewelry metal isn’t on this list, or you have more information to share about one of the metals I’ve listed, please leave a comment! Thanks!**

Silver, copper, and gold do not contain lead. Some metals that may contain lead are silver plated, gold plated, and pewter.

Pearls and gemstones do not contain lead.

Most glass beads do not contain lead, but many crystal beads such as Swarovski crystal, are made with lead. Unlike plated metal, however, the lead in Swarovski crystal is not ingestible, according to this notice on the Rings and Things website about lead in jewelry products. In other words, it appears that Swarovski crystal is safe despite being made with lead, because it is impossible to ingest the lead. I recommend reading the entire article on the Rings and Things site about lead – it is very informative.

When purchasing jewelry or other gifts this holiday season, use common sense, and never put something in your mouth if you think it might contain lead – and don’t give jewelry to young children if any of the materials could contain lead.

I use a product called Ph minus for pickle, which is an acid that lowers the Ph level in pools and hot tubs. I dissolve a little of this in water, and it works well for me. I don’t bother heating it, since it works fine cold, just takes a bit longer.

Other DIY versions of pickle that I’ve heard of include using Simple Green (the household cleaning product), lemon juice, and vinegar. I can’t vouch for how well these work since I’ve never tried them, but they are all inexpensive and safe, so they might be worth a try.

To use pickle, drop your oxidized metal in and wait for the oxidation to come off. Avoid touching the pickle in any way with steel (such as steel tweezers) because this will automatically copper plate everything you are trying to clean. Copper tongs are available for dropping items into pickle and then fishing them out later. Since pickle is an acid, even if you use one of the milder at-home versions, you might not want to get it on your skin, so copper tongs or even some wood chopsticks are useful to get your jewelry in and out of the pickle.

There are different systems, so I’m just going to talk about the gauge system commonly used by U.S. jewelry supply companies, since that is the system I’m familiar with.

The bigger the gauge number, the thinner the wire. 14g (g = gauge) is thick, sturdy wire. 24g is thin, and 30g is so thin it’s almost hair-like. The thickness of wire normally used for earwires is usually between 22g to 20g. Really small gauge numbers, like 3g, are more like dowels than wire.

Obviously, a variety of gauges of wire can be useful for different aspects of jewelry making. I use very thin wire if I’m wrapping around a frame of some sort, and I use much thicker wire to form the frames of my wire pendants. 20g is my favorite for earrings. If I’m making headpins with wire, the gauge I use is usually the thickest gauge that will fit through the hole of the beads I’m using in my design.

I use a slightly different technique depending on which type of silver I’m using – sterling, fine, or Argentium. Whichever metal you use, you will need a torch. I use a propane torch, but butane torches also work, although for thicker wire it can be hard to get the flame of the butane torch big/hot enough. Other options are acetylene/oxygen and oxygen/propane, but butane and propane torches are cheap & available at the hardware store.

Using fine silver is the easiest, because you don’t need flux or pickle, just a torch and some tweezers to hold the wire. A heat-resistant surface to let your headpins cool is desirable, and always be safe and use proper ventilation and eye protection when using a torch. Cut a piece of wire slightly longer than you want your headpin to be – maybe 1/2 inch longer. Hold one end of the wire with the tweezers, with the other end of the wire pointing down. Point the torch flame at the end of the wire that is away from your tweezers, and watch a little ball of metal appear! The longer you keep the torch there, the bigger the ball will be – but if it gets too big, it might fall off, so be careful.

I like to use Argentium silver for making headpins. With Argentium, I use basically the same process, except I used the tiniest little bit of flux on the wire end where I’m making the ball. If you use too much flux, you’ll have flux residue, which has to be removed, but if you use just enough, you’ll end up with a nice looking head pin that doesn’t require clean-up at all. If the wire above the ball gets slightly discolored, quickly passing the flame over the discolored part will usually turn the wire silver again.

With regular sterling silver, there is always some clean-up involved, unless you are going for the oxidized (black metal) look. I don’t bother with flux, and start by following the same process as for fine silver. You end up with a head pin that has a very blackened end. This can be cleaned up by soaking in pickle, or by using an abrasive to polish off the oxidation. I like to use a piece of a green kitchen scrubber sponge to polish off most of the oxidation, leaving a slightly rough look. If I want my headpins to be perfectly shiny, I don’t usually use sterling, since it’s easier to get nice shiny head pins with fine silver or Argentium, but if you want clean and shiny sterling head pins, use pickle to remove oxidation, and then toss the finished head pins in a tumbler with stainless steel shot and water for a few minutes.

You can also make head pins by bending the end of a piece of wire into a nice looking shape, such as a spiral. All you need for this method are some pliers and a little practice bending the wire into the shape you want without marking it. When I make head pins this way, I like to lightly hammer the shape I’ve made to harden the wire a little bit.

One problem beginning wireworkers have is that when you cut a piece of wire, the ends feel sharp and jagged. To make wire jewelry look and feel smoother and more finished, it is necessary to smooth out the ends of the wire.

Luckily, this is not difficult, it just takes a little bit of time.

Here are just a few ways I’ve smoothed wire ends:

• Using a cup burr – cup burrs are used with dremel-type machines or flex shafts, and come in different sizes for different wire gauges. If you use a cup burr to smooth the end of your wire, they will become slightly rounded, so this is a good method for finishing ear wires. Cup burrs & flex shaft machines are available through jewelry supply companies – but there are several simple methods that don’t require special eqiupment.
• Using sandpaper – wet/dry sandpaper can bu used to smooth out wire ends. I especially like the sanding pad that are sold at hardware stores. A relatively fine grade – 300-400 – will work well.
• Jeweler’s files or needle files from the hardware store – using files is quick and easy and with a little practice, you can get very smooth, flat wire ends using files.
• Sharpening stones – a lot of wireworkers I know swear by using sharpening stones. There are special stones made for sharpening fish hooks that have a little groove, and you just swipe the wire through the groove a couple of times for a smooth, slighlty rounded end. Flat sharpening stones also work, but won’t automatically shape the wire end the way the grooved stones do.
• Fingernail files – this is one of my favorite tricks, if I’m working away from my studio. Fingernail files are great for smoothing wire ends, and they come in many different grades, and are easy to find at drug stores and grocery stores.

Flux is a liquid or paste applied to metal when heating the metal. There are many different kinds of flux on the market, and they all work for different temperature ranges. In jewelry making, when using a torch to solder or fuse metal, it is important to get a flux that is intended for use at very high temperatures. This means that flux sold for use with soldering irons probably will not withstand the amount of heat a torch gives off, so make sure that the flux you buy is appropriate for use with a torch.

Flux protects silver from firescale while heating, and prevents oxidation of metal. It is always used when soldering, as the solder will not flow properly if flux is not applied to the solder & the area it should flow into. Flux can be applied with a paintbrush, and should be applied before heating the metal. As you heat the metal with your torch, the flux will bubble and then start to look glassy. If you notice that some of the metal is not covered with flux, you might want to add a little more and then re-heat the metal.

Flux is almost always used when heating sterling silver, whether soldering, fusing, or annealing, because it helps prevent firescale from forming. It is not necessary to apply flux to fine silver when heating it, since fine silver does not get firescale. However, if fine silver is being joined with silver solder, you should apply flux to the solder and the spots that will be joined with solder.

With Argentium sterling silver, some people don’t use flux except for soldering, while some people also use flux for fusing. It is not necessary to use flux when annealing Argentium. In my personal experience, a tiny bit of flux (less than I’d use with regular sterling silver) helps a lot if I’m fusing or making ball-end headpins with Argentium.

Flux is also used when soldering gold. Since I have limited experience soldering gold, I won’t comment more on that right now. If you want to use silver solder to solder copper, using more flux seems to help, since copper oxidizes easily.

I use liquid flux. A brand I like is Batterns, and I also like a very similar product called My-T-flux. Some jewelers prefer to use a paste flux, but I find that it’s harder for me to see what I’m doing if I use paste flux. Whatever you decide, I recommend buying flux from a jewelry supply company – and make sure you get one that is intended for use with a torch. I’ve heard that people have had success making a paste flux from denatured alcohol and borax, but I’ve never tried this myself.

After you complete your soldering/fusing/annealing, you might notice that there is some glassy flux residue all over the metal. This can be removed by soaking the metal in an acidic solution known as pickle. I’ll be writing about pickle in a future article, so stay tuned!

The key to preventing tarnish on silver is keeping it clean, and storing it sealed off from air, humidity, and chemicals. Anti-tarnish cloth lining in jewelry boxes also helps.

The key to caring for pearls is to avoid contact with chemicals and anything acidic. Pearls are beautiful, but delicate, and can be damaged by seemingly innocent things like hairspray, so keep pearls clean, but avoid using chemical cleaners on them.

My favorite way to store silver jewelry is in plastic zip-lock baggies. Since I have a lot of jewelry – most of it stock that I take to art and craft shows or deliver to the stores and galleries that sell my work – I need a solution that keeps my jewelry from tarnishing but also doesn’t take up much space. Plastic bags are the perfect solution. Tupperware-style containers also work well. Pearl jewelry should be cushioned, so I recommend anti-tarnish cloth pouches for silver and pearl jewelry, especially if it is stored in a box with other jewelry items that could scratch the surface of the pearls.

Another thing that helps, and don’t ask me why, is to put a small piece of aluminum foil inside the container you use to store your silver.

It might work for the same reasons this simple recipe helps to remove light tarnish from silver jewelry (and is one of the *only* safe cleaning methods for pearl jewelry):

In a bowl, place a piece of aluminum foil. Put your jewelry on top of the foil so that the silver is touching the foil. Sprinkle baking soda on top, and add hot water. Swish the water around for a few minutes, then remove the jewelry and dry with a soft cloth.

Another useful cleaning tip: wipe silver with a polishing cloth after wearing it, and if your jewelry comes in contact with sweat, perfume, hair products, or other cosmetics, it doesn’t hurt to rinse it in lukewarm water and dry with a soft cloth. Then don’t forget to store it away from air and moisture to keep it looking shiny and new!

Some don’ts:

*don’t put on your jewelry until you are finished styling your hair, doing your make-up, etc. Chemicals in beauty products can accelerate tarnishing, and damage pearls and some gemstones
*don’t get salad dressing on your pearls. Seriously – vinegar, which is a common ingredient in salad dressing, will damage pearls. If you do spill on your pearls, rinse them in warm water and dry with a soft cloth.
*don’t keep jewelry in the bathroom – it’s the most humid part of your house, and an area that usually has the most chemicals (in the form of cosmetic products and household cleaning products, which can damage jewelry).
*remove silver and pearls before cleaning your house – again, the chemicals can damage pearls and accelerate tarnish on silver.
*don’t use a silver dip on jewelry that contains pearls, shell, stones, and other non-metal materials. Silver dips are really intended only for silver – try the baking soda and hot water rinse for jewelry that combines silver and other materials – it’s much safer, if not quite as instant.

I’m gradually transitioning from using standard sterling silver to Argentium sterling silver and fine silver, both of which are less prone (though not immune) to tarnish. I hope that by using these alloys, my jewelry will be easier to care for, so although Argentium and fine silver are slightly more expensive than sterling silver, I think it’s worth it for jewelry that resists tarnish and therefore looks new much longer.

I just heard that in a recent Lapidary Journal, an article stated that Argentium does not contain copper. This is incorrect – Argentium silver does contain copper (as does traditional sterling silver – copper adds some hardness and durability to silver, which is desirable in finished jewelry) but a little bit of the copper is replaced with germanium. Germanium reacts with the air to form germanium oxide at the surface of the metal, which is what helps slow or prevent tarnish.