Greetings!
It’s that time again. Time to sit down and write this newsletter (and blog, you can find the whole newsletter on my store, sometimes I don’t email the entire blog post.)
This week I’m taking a short break from writing about my life growing up. I’ll pick up again with my years in college. That is where I learned how to work with fine metals. (Fine metals encompass nickel, copper, brass, silver, gold, and a few other precious metals.)
This week I wanted to provide you with some useful information which may help you understand specific terms often used to describe the metal used in jewelry. Hopefully, this will help you better understand the long-term value of jewelry you may be buying as well as whether or not the price listed is worth it. (Though sometimes prices are more about the time an artist took to create it.)
Questions Answered
What's the difference between silver-plated and sterling silver? - There's often confusion about the distinction between silver-plated items (which have a thin layer of silver over another metal) and sterling silver (which is predominantly silver). Customers might ask about the differences in quality and durability.
What is sterling silver (and fine silver)?
Sterling silver is a solid metal alloy containing at least 92.5% pure silver. It is solid. Meaning that it is the same metal throughout. Usually the other 7.5% is copper which is used to make silver, a soft metal, harder as well as to give it strength.
Both sterling silver and fine silver are solid metals.
Any wear to sterling silver may weaken it over time, however, you will never expose anything underneath the surface like plated or silver filled metal. In addition, it maintains its value over time because it is an alloy containing 92.5% pure silver. The same is true for fine silver, which is 99.9% pure silver.
Often both silver and sterling silver will be stamped with a quality mark of either .999 (fine silver) or .925 (sterling silver.) I don’t believe there is a requirement for stamping either. Sometimes, there isn’t even room to stamp a small piece of jewelry, such as stud earrings. It is against the law to advertise and/or stamp silver and sterling as such if it isn’t.
What is silver-plated metal?
Silver-plated metal is metal, such as brass (just an example,) which has a very thin layer of silver over another base metal. Often costume jewelry is silver-plated. Over time, the silver will tarnish, and/or wear away. When silver-plated items wear, the base metal is often exposed. Silver-plated items are less expensive than solid silver and sterling silver due to the fact that the amount of silver in the overall piece is a fraction of the total weight of the item. Generally, the layer of silver is anywhere from 1 to 10 microns thick. For reference, the average strand of human hair is about 100 microns thick.
What is silver filled or sterling filled metal?
Filled metals, such as gold filled, silver filled, and sterling filled are made by mechanically applying the precious metal over a base metal such as brass, copper, or some other copper alloy, similar to plated metals. The techniques to apply the precious metal are usually different in that plating is a chemical process (and/or an electrical chemical process) whereas for filled metals the precious metal is applied using heat and metal to bond the precious metal to the base layer. This results in a much thicker layer of precious metal, usually between 5-10% of the overall weight of the metal. It is much more durable. Due to the thickness of the layer of precious metal, it is usually worth more, though not as much as solid precious metal.
Filled metals can wear, just like plated metals. However, due to the thicker layer of precious metal, filled metals will be more durable than plated metal.
Both plated and filled metal can not be used for casting jewelry because the base metal is the majority of the metal. The end result would be a piece with mostly brass or copper and very little precious metal.
Hopefully this will help you be more discerning about jewelry you intend to buy in the future!
News of late
- I’m now pretty much a fixture at Generator, a Burlington maker space. As the jewelry studio lead, you can find me there every Tuesday 4-7pm.
- I’m working on finishing up some odds and ends for my online store.
- I hand-wrapped some waxed cotton cord with sterling wire and will be planning to dedicate some time every week to that so that I have free necklaces to include with my pendants. I keep some sterling silver chains around for people who wish to upgrade.
- Taxes, because it’s that time of year and I don’t really want to wait until the last moment this year to figure all of that out.
- Even though it’s much too early to actually expect really nice spring weather, it’s over 60℉ today and sunny! (2/27/2024) It’s really nice to have this weather today!
In the Works
- I’ve almost finished a new amulet to sell (Yay!)
- I’m working to prepare a few of my earring designs for the laser machine at Generator. The end goal is to make some oak earrings with handmade sterling ear wires.
- Placing an order for sterling silver so that I can have designs engraved for bracelet cuffs.
- Beginning a hand pierced laminated bracelet cuff
- Prepping more designs for production (it’s a very slow process)
- Looking into Print on Demand options for my online store as I’d like to offer some of my designs on tee shirts and possibly other items.
Until next time,
Justin