[Jewelry making - Article 00073] - Re: [Orchid] Material choice for Body Jewelry

[Zoe Hardisty]

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    When making body jewelery I think the largest thing to consider is
    how long it's going to be worn. You can use more conventional metals
    in the body if it for a special occasion wear (this will effect your
    design as well, you can push conventional body jeweler design further
    if it not worn all the time). What I mean by this is if the person
    wants a say gold nipple ring with a shield to wear now and again then
    it might work for them. They may however still have a bad reaction so
    warn them and have them sign something saying you have warned them
    about the possible risk. Infected/ swollen piercings are nasty (trust
    me on this one). 

    It can be hard to judge, and depends on the person, and very much
    the place the jewelery is going in. You wouldn't want a silver tongue
    ring for example or say anything not surgical implant grade in
    genital piercings. The grade of surgical metal will matter to. There
    are a lot of "surgical steel" piercing jewelery out there but I was
    taught that you should use LVM surgical steel ( more expensive, yet
    only a very tiny part of the population will have issues.) You may
    wish to try using surgical implant grade titanium, it's hard to work
    with and you will dull many tools, but it's light (good for bigger
    gauge pieces) and all though the super polished finish is a bit of a
    dull gray, it can be anodized to make very stunning pieces. 

    How this helps a little as there are a lot of things to consider. 

    Zoe Hardisty 

    ps. Inspect your piece with a loupe to make sure there is no dents
    or scratches as these are places bacterial will thrive and cause
    infections. Get your client to take the finished piece to a body
    piercing place to get it autoclave before they put it in, this will
    sanitize it properly and severely reduce chances of infection (the
    piece should be put in sanitary as well to further this- sounds like
    common sense but so many people just don't know.)

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