[Jewelry making - Article 00459] - Re: [Orchid] Alternative metals

[Len and Judy Bjorkman]

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    I sent an e-mail directly to Jay, recommending the use of copper,
    brass, and  nickel-silver.  But I was disappointed in some of the
    on-line responses recommending silver instead.  For example, 

>     more rewarding, since they can clearly see that they are making
>     "real" jewelry. 

    Gee, Doug, and all these years I have been making and selling
    base-metal jewelry, I thought it was "real" (and so do my many
    customers).  It may not be expensive, but it is so much fun to
    experiment with and to wear. Brass is not gold, but on the other
    hand, I don't have to keep my jewelry (or my raw materials) locked
    away. 

>     Brass is a mixture of 2 metals and although you are looking for
>     the color it is not as easy to work with. 

    To the contrary, I find brass as easy  to work with  as sterling
    silver, and it is much simpler to anneal than sterling.  I don't
    have the fire-scale problem, either.  Nor do I have to  collect my
    filings. 

>     I certainly didn't like the OK gold solder ...I found [brass]
>     tarnished more rapidly than the silver and once tarnished was a
>     pain to clean. 

    The solder color is a problem.  I've commented on this issue many
    times already on Orchid  (ditto, on the matter of keeping base
    metals clean) and won't repeat things here.  Silver solders work
    nicely on brass, but they do show up in  the finished piece,  as Kay
    observed. 

    Nickel-silver is definitely a little harder to work with than either
    brass or sterling,  since it is intrinsically stiffer.  It looks
    reasonably nice when polished, but in the end does not have that
    wonderful  "glow" that sterling has.  On the other hand, a 20-gauge
    bracelet blank (1.5 x 6")  AT  16=A2 per square inch costs $1.44 in
    nickel-silver (less,  in either brass or copper),  whereas the same
    in sterling would be somewhere in vicinity of $17 (if my math is
    correct, and more, when you include postage,  etc.  This is one of
    the reasons I start my students off using base metal and, once they
    have acquired the basic skills, they can decide when/whether they
    want to switch to silver or gold.  Tiny pieces of jewelry in silver
    are not expensive, but if you like larger things (as I do),  the 
    cost  difference becomes much  more significant. 

    I still  recommend starting with brass and copper. 

Peace,
Judy Bjorkman

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