Silver Filled and Gold Filled Wire

Today I thought I would start the new year talking about silver filled wire and gold filled wire.  I want to let you know the difference between the types of wires and what to expect when you are looking at artisan jewelry.

It can be very confusing with all the different types of wires jewelry artists have available for use.  Let's see there is gold plated, silver plated, copper plated, brass, bronze, red brass, gold, sterling, fine silver, gold filled, rolled gold, sterling silver filled, argentium silver, and a mired of different craft wires .  Whew, that's a lot of  wire no wonder a few of my clients have glazed over eyes when I start talking about the wire I used to make the piece they are looking at.

Let's start with plated and craft wires.  First and foremost plated wires have usually silver or gold kind of glued to the surface of another metal, usually copper.  This finish is not permanent and will wear off quickly.  You cannot clean plated wires like you would sterling or gold wires without rubbing the surface metal off and exposing the center wire.  This type of wire is rather inexpensive and should make the piece of jewelry you are looking at cheaper, but be aware that there are a great number of jewelry artists that use nothing but craft wire and plated wire and will charge you as though they used sterling or gold wire.  Always ask questions and if you can get a look at the end of one piece of wire check to see if you can see any other color, if you can you have craft wire or plated wire.  If in doubt and the artist isn't seeming to answer your questions truthfully, pass it by.  Don't get me wrong plated and craft wire definitely have their place in the jewelry world and if you are not going to wear the piece often or if it is a pendant that is not really in contact with your skin then it is the perfect type of wire to use and allows you as the customer the opportunity to get that artist's talents at a reasonable price.

Moving on to sterling silver, argentium silver, fine silver, and gold.  Well what can be said about gold? Gold is gold, if it is white gold it have sterling added to it to make it white and in white gold wire you will notice that it is slightly yellow but not as golden as yellow gold.  Rose gold has copper added to the gold to make it pink.  You can also find green gold but I'm not sure what they added to the gold to make it green.  Fine silver is 99% silver and is used by silversmiths and fine jewelry artists for wire wrapping.  It is a very soft wire which makes it easy for the wire artist to manipulate the wire into amazing shapes.  Sterling silver is 92.5% silver with the balance being usually nickle or zinc.  If you allergic to sterling it probably isn't the silver but the other metal that was added to make sterling silver.  This wire is widely used by jewelry makers and comes in a variety of shapes and gauges as well as tempers from dead soft to hard.  Argentium silver is the new sterling silver.  This silver is 93% pure silver and has argentium added to the silver.  This metal like sterling and gold is available in a variety of shapes and gauges as well as tempers. Argentium does not tarnish as quickly as sterling and gold, yes gold tarnishes, which allows the jewelry artist to have less cleaning and polishing when creating a piece.

Now the newest kid on the block for jewelry making is silver filled wire and sheets, but I want to tell you about gold filled first so you have the history and knowledge of how it is made.

Gold filled or rolled gold jewelry findings have been popular for years. Gold filled is made by using heat and pressure to apply a layer of karat gold to a base of less costly metal. This gold layer is many times thicker than a standard plating – anywhere from 50 to 100,000 times thicker. The law, gold filled items must be at least 1/20th gold by weight.  Gold filled wire is considered an heirloom wire, meaning you can pass it down from generation to generation without the gold layer wearing off. Of course you must use the proper care to help prevent the layer from wearing off by not using abrasives on your metal, which can also damage the stone in your piece of jewelry.

Silver filled jewelry findings are created the same way, but as of date, there are no industry standards for silver fill, which can make it hard to tell what you’re getting. Most silver filled wire or findings contain 1/10th sterling silver by weight. As with gold fill, the sterling silver layer is hundreds of times thicker than a silver plating.

Silver filled wire can be manipulated just like sterling silver wire. The silver is bonded to the core metal and does not flake off the way a plating might.  Silver filled items look identical to sterling silver, and can be antiqued just like sterling silver.  There are some people whose skin is so acidic that within a few days of wearing a silver plated piece of jewelry the plating will be gone and the base metal will be showing.  One company actually has some employees with this problem and when asked to "test" the silver filled earrings they had no problems and the finish was not flaked off.  The earrings wore exactly like sterling silver.  Below are two photos, the one on the right is a ring I made using argentium silver and the ring on the left is using silver filled.  I wore both of these rings for 3 months never removing them, not even when gardening!  Can you tell the difference?

If you use sterling silver in your jewelry or you purchase sterling silver jewelry, you have felt the pain of rising silver prices. Although the market always fluctuates up and down unpredictably, it feels like it has only gone UP lately. 

Many jewelry designers have switched materials or use less sterling silver in their designs to compensate for the increased costs. However, the quality and look of sterling are popular for good reason that has given the rise of affordable new silver filled wire and jewelry findings available to jewelry makers.

It is up to each individual artist to decide what materials to use in his or her jewelry. Some people will always want pure sterling, no matter the cost.  Since silver filled jewelry findings cost 40-60% less than sterling silver findings, while offering the same look, I think it won’t be long until SF jewelry is as common commonly used as gold filled wire and findings. I have made that switch from argentium silver or sterling silver to silver filled in my wire.  Because my customers want the look of sterling or argentium silver but just won't pay the price for it.  In order to continue to market my jewelry designs I switched completely to using gold filled and silver filled wire and I have carefully explained to my customers why I made that switch and what they should expect from the silver filled wire I am using.

I hope you have found this little blog worth your time and you have learned something.  If you are an artist and you are thinking about whether to switch to silver filled, try a test like I did and make something you can wear everyday for weeks on end and see what you think.  

Happy wiring! Kris

Let's Talk

Don't you just hate it when you are treated like a second class citizen?  Well that's how I felt when I was participating in a local art show.  First of all let me give you some background.

This event is put on by a huge nonprofit for the benefit of their patrons but it is also open to the public so there is a large variety of people shopping and spending money.  50% of my sales go to the nonprofit, there is no money handled by me; it is all done by the nonprofit and then they send me a check.  There is no booth fee and you are only allowed to have one 8x10 space.  This event is 15 years old and also includes a competition between local restaurants for display and soup they cooked for the show. 

Originally this show asked artists from local art studios to participate in the show and drastically limilted the number of items you could display.  In particular one studio is where most of the artists came from.

Anyway, a few years ago the nonprofit decided not to restrict the number of items you could display and began taking applications from other sources, such as Facebook, where I found out about it.

Two years ago when I signed up for the show for the first time I went through the jury process like everyone else and was selected.  I was deciding how to set up my display when I was asked to spread out because someone wasn't coming and the nonprofit didn't want an empty space.  My booth was packed with customers and we were so busy we could hardly keep up.

This year I only had the one space, which is fine but instead of a table I was given a stand up grid to hang things on.  This won't work so I asked that is be removed.  Instead of having a table supplied I said I could use my own tables and that was fine with the organizers.  I set up by booth in an open U with a small table out in the center.  The open U would allow my busy booth to accommodate the large number of customers like I had last year.

I went around talking with the other artists and boy were they rude.  First of all I am a wire wrapped and beader.  My roots are in beading and it seems to be what my customers like the most.  I don't have a studio outside of my home because I just can't see paying for the rent for it.

One example of how the others were is when I stopped at a booth and asked if she did well selling earrings.  She said they sell as well as anything else she guessed.  We talked about it for a bit and then went on to stone cutting and how my husband was interested in learning how to facet stones.  She asked if I cut my stones and I said no.  Then I mentioned an article I had just read in an art jewelry magazine that was reviewing new tools.  It was a small machine for making cabochons and I mentioned a name brand cabochon machine.  She told me she had never heard of that and even called another jewelry artist over to see if she knew of it.  Both of them had never heard of the machine.  They just kept saying that over and over and asking me where I had seen that and on and on.  Basically calling me a liar without actually saying that.  I just walked away in the middle of all this. 

I was told talking with another jewelry artist and told her I was a wire wrapped and beader and that at my booth I did have rather cheap items like $5 jeweled fobs and she told me it wasn't worth her time to sell anything for that price.  The least expensive thing she had were a couple pairs of earrings for $18.  I went on to say I would love to get away from beading but my customers purchased more of this style than anything else.  She actually said that she doesn't do what it trendy or popular she makes things that make her happy.  Can you believe that?  I guess if you don't like what makes her happy too bad.  I'd rather make what makes be happy and sells.

This jewelry artist told me she was going to come by my booth to see my wire designs.  I was looking for her when I noticed she was stopped at the booth right behind me, another jewelry artist that had a studio in the same space as her.  One of them pointed over her shoulder at my space and they looked over then they both walked out the door.

The next thing I knew artists were complaining about how much space I was taking up and this happened.



Please let me explain, my tables are 3'x6' and 2'x3' long.  I was using the 6' and 2 of the 3' tables. The smaller tables were slightly angled out but were still within the 10' space.  I just switched it around instead of being 8' wide and 10' deep I worked the other way.  Ended up they were happy with me taking down the center table so it all worked out.  I was just irritated that it waited until 5 minutes before the show began to become a problem.

After that the show began my booth was humming and I sold just under $700 worth of jewelry in just 4 hours!  I overheard others saying how it was terrible they hadn't sold anything.  Guess that idea of making what makes you happy isn't paying off so well.

Most of the other jewelry artists are silversmiths and offer something completely different from what I design.  I don't overcharge for items to pay for overhead.  If I get beads or materials at a good price I reflect that price in how much I charge for a piece.  I love working with wire and beads and if that means I'm not an artist then that's fine.  My customers love my work and I love making it.

Just something to think about when you are working a show with a bunch of snooty artists.  Just because it makes you happy doesn't mean your customers want it.  Most of us want what is in style right now.
I was all done setting up and resting up before the show opened when, after several times having officials stop in my booth and talk to me; I was told that I had to take my display down and condense it because some of the other artists were complaining that I had more space.  So I removed the small table in the center and that was it.

Almost the End of the Year!

With the end of the shopping season coming to an end this Saturday at Papillion LaVista South High School Fall Arts and Crafts Show, I have to admit it has been an up and down year, mostly down in sales.  I had a few really good shows and festivals but mostly I crossed them off the list to skip for a few years.  There are just so many crafters out there making jewelry.  I honestly think that people think it is a piece of cake and any monkey can do it.

I have to agree with some of the things I've seen.  If you can buy or take notes from a magazine on jewelry making you go to the hobby store and pick up the exact same items and put them together in the exact same way then you copied a piece of jewelry, but what most of us do is use the magazines as an inspiration for a new design.

Here's how I work: I browse the jewelry and art jewelry magazines and books looking mostly for the latest trends in jewelry in order to keep up with the fashion desires of my customers.  Then I look at the different ways things are put together but again I am mostly looking for a new technique to use in making jewelry.  I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a design that I loved so much that I made it exactly the same way with the same type of materials.  All of my pieces that I offer for sale or that I keep for myself are my own original designs and combinations.

Retro Fun Set

What I find the most rewarding is when I combine materials and colors that you just don't think of putting together.  For instance, I have a piece named Retro Fun.  It is a necklace and bracelet set but what is unique about it is that I put lime green and AB (aurora borealis) finished teal colored seed beads with some lampwork beads that are simply blue and green with a little black detailing.  You probably wouldn't think to put lime green and teal together but they work and look fantastic with the simple lampwork beads. This set is available for just $25.

Another way I work is when I'm out shopping at bead shops.  I normally don't have a specific type of bead I'm looking for I'm just shopping for what catches my eye.  Sometimes when I see a strand of beads I know exactly what to make with them.  I say they are talking to me and yes I do spend time standing in front of the beads "petting" them waiting for them to tell me what they want to be.  That might sound strange but for those of us that create things this is pretty common that what we are using we say is speaking to us.  Maybe that's why people think artists are crazy or insane, you decide. 

 

Anyway, when I was shopping in Kansas City a couple of months ago I found a strand of stick pearls.  I had never seen them before and had never seen any designs made with them but these were a beautiful peacock color and I picked them up right away, and they were the last strand.  My daughter was with me and said "What are you going to do with those?" and I just said these are a collar laying

Freshwater Stick Pearls

around your neck.  I have to find some little pearls that match to finish out the back of it.  I made that necklace and earrings set and the next day at a festival they were gone.  Since then I see hundreds of others making the same design selling them online but yesterday I just sold the 3rd set of stick pearls I have made.  This time it sold to a woman who when I started to explain to her they were real pearls she told me she knows.  She purchased a necklace exactly like the one I was selling for $300, mine sells for $55 and even though she already had that same design she bought it anyway.  I will be making my last set of stick pearls this week.  These are a beautiful cream color and the earrings will be slightly different but still dangling like the ones in the photo. 

 

But other times I purchase the beads with absolutely no idea what to make with them.  It could be I bought them because I love that stone, I liked the color, or maybe I had made something else with that material that was very popular like this rainforest jasper set.   These beads I purchased from a fellow artist that ran into trouble and was in the process of liquidating all of her supplies and they were such a good deal and I loved the colors in the stone I had to get them.  They sat in one of my drawers for a few months with me taking

Rainforest Jasper Set

them out and looking at them with no ideas coming to mind until I found the same stone in round beads.  Then inspiration hit and I made a necklace out of the larger Russian cross beads separated by the round beads but this left me with more of the Russian cross beads leftover to put back in a drawer.  When this set sold within a couple of shows, and the summer was ending I knew women would be looking for these colors so the next time I put this set together instead of  round rainforest jasper beads I chose a rather odd color of green freshwater pearls.  These freshwater pearls blend right in with the colors of the rainforest jasper beads and is for sale for just $35.

 

I have a story for everything I make.  I try to entertain my customers and educate them about the piece of jewelry they are purchasing with what the stone is, where is comes from, and sometimes I know what that stone is supposed to help you with like love or money or protection.  For the most part I find people are interested in knowing about the stones and appreciate learning about the jewelry.  Visit my shop at KL Jewelry Design at Etsy.com or  KL Jewelry Design at Bonanza.com.

 

Now it's time to get to work.  Hope you have enjoyed learning how I work and shop to your heart's content. 

Kris

One Step Crimper

http://www.kljewelrydesign.com/

So I purchased the one step crimping tool after reading about it and seeing it in magazines.  I purchased this not because I find crimping to be a pain but really there was so much talk about how great it is that I had to find out for myself.

First of all there are no instructions with the one step crimping tool except a couple of photos on the package showing how to place the crimp in the top and squeeze the bottom levers. 

The one step crimping tool has three handles; the top one is short and used to hold the crimp in place while the two larger handles are used to squeeze the crimp closed.  Sounds easy right?  That’s what I thought too.

At first when I used this tool I had a heck of a time keeping the crimp in place on my wire so that it was next to my beads and clasp.  Several times I got so frustrated I reached for my usual crimping pliers and finished the piece as usual. 

Sometimes I would get the one step crimper to work but the crimp was loose and my wire came out causing me to waste the crimp and use my standard crimpers again.  Other times I couldn’t even get the large crimping handles to work.

I thought boy was this a waste of time and money; why is everyone just raving about this tool?  So I turned to the internet to find some more instructions on this tool.  What I found was that I was making it very hard on myself and I learned by watching a video on how to use them the correct way to use this tool.  Like my dad always said, “If all else fails read the destructions.”  Another thing he would say to me is “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up” but that’s another story.

So here I will try to write out some instructions to help you use the one step crimper.

1. The small lever on the top is used to hold your crimp in place.  Push down on the small lever with you hand holding the top large lever and the small lever and place your crimp in the groove.  Center the crimp.
2. Let go of the small lever and move down to the two larger levers.  Squeeze these together and allow the one step crimper to do its thing.
3. Once you have done step 2 move back up to the small lever and squeeze it and the top large lever.  This releases your crimp and resets the one step crimper. 

That’s it!  After I watched that video from Rio Grande I really felt stupid for not being able to work the tool.  The first time I got the tool to work after watching the video the crimp was not tight and the wire came undone.  I tried again, this time making sure my crimp was centered under the small handle and the one step crimper worked like a charm.  My crimp was nice and tight, exactly where I wanted it to be and smooth. 

My biggest concern with this tool was what the crimp would look like when I used it.  Did it make my crimp flat like I had used a flat nose pliers to press the crimp in place or was it going to look similar to what my crimps look like when I use my crimping pliers.  Turns out this tool sort of rounds the crimp tube and while it is bigger than my crimps are when I use my crimping pliers, the edges of the crimp tube is smooth to the touch.  So whether you use your standard crimping pliers or the One Step Crimper is up to you but to me it’s worth the price to make crimping one step instead of two or three steps using the standard crimping pliers.  Chances are that I will reach for my standard crimpers out of habit but eventually I am determined to make the switch and put my standard crimpers in my show tool box for good.

Musings from Kris

This week I went out shopping at my local bead stores because I wanted to do some wire work with Artistic wire.

A while ago I bought the Lazee Daizee viking knit tool kit and it came with copper wire. I haven’t played around much with it but I will be today.

What I wanted to talk about today was the Wyr Knittr. I read a ton of really bad reviews about this tool but when I came across it in one of the stores I picked it up to give it a try. I found the little instructions that came with the tool easy to read but the photos are not much help and I happen to be one of those people who rarely reads the instructions because I look at the pictures. If I can’t figure it out by the photos then I read.
Anyway I ended up going to their website and they have much better instructions for using the Wyr Knittr.

The first time I tried to use it the stitches just wrapped around the hooks. I searched the website and found this information and thought yep that’s what I’m doing wrong.

Q. My knitted wire gets bunched up around the top of the Knittr! What am I doing wrong? (This happens only if you have a Wyr Knittr with one clip.) Mine came with three but I was only using one.
A1. Pull down gently but firmly on the nose of the clip that’s holding the wire more often.
A2. The weighted clip may not be hanging freely. Be sure that it does not rest on the table and there is weight on the wire coming out of the machine.
A3. The stitches being knitted are not falling below the latches. Make sure you push EACH STITCH below the latch (see close-up of instructions) or the wire will not knit properly.
A4. It could be that your wire broke around the needles while you were knitting. Look down the tube to see if this has happened and, if so it would be best to just start again.
A5. If you are using 28-gauge wire, you will need to pull down a bit more often since this wire is thicker and less resilient.

Okay so thanks that makes a little more sense, but when I tried it I found that the stitch on the hook didn’t drop below the clasp so I had to find out about that and what to do.  Here’s what I found out, if it doesn’t go below you clasp on your hook you have to push it down.  No other solution for that problem and I had to push it down on every single stitch.

Push down stitch

I started using the Wyr Knittr but I quickly found that holding the wire in one hand and not putting tension on it, turning the handle with the other while holding onto the Wyr Knittr, pushing down each stitch and making sure I didn’t bump the weights and cause them to fall off was just too much to do.  I don’t know about you but I was only born with two hands and even though all moms learn how to multi-task and do things that used to take two hands with only one because the other is holding the child, I still couldn’t do all this.

So when my husband, Steve, got home from work I told him about what problems I was having and the looked around my studio work bench and said, “If you have a dowel that will fit the spool of wire you could put the dowel in your vise and drop the spool on that.  Then you wouldn’t have to hold the wire and your hands would be free.”  Genius, I knew there was a reason why I’ve kept him around for 32 years.

This morning when I got to my studio I got out one of my dowels and put it in the vise, dropped the spool of wire on it and just looked at it and the Wyr Knittr.  I was thinking okay I don’t have to hold the wire but I still have to turn the handle, push the stitch down, hold the Wyr Knittr, and not bump the weights causing them to fall off.  Still too many things with only two hands.

I have figured out what to do with it and here is what I did.  I got out the clamp I use to hold my rotary cutter when I am making jump rings, placed my vise on one side of my bench and the Wyr Knittr on the other side; I angled the Wyr Knittr so that the handle was free to rotate and the wire could drop through the center without restriction.  Now all I had to do was guide the wire with one hand and turn the handle with the other.  As I said before with every stitch I had to push the stitch down but found I simply turned the handle, pushed the stitch down, and turned the handle.  While I would rather that I didn’t have to push the stitch down each time I found it was easy and quick to do.

I did have  a problem of the wire breaking.  I was using the wire that came with the Wyr Knittr and the only thing I found on their website was that it breaks when you are using too thin of a wire.  What I did was when it broke at the beginning I just kept going and cut it off when I finished, but when it broke in the middle I had to quit and I ended up with a shorter piece than I wanted.  Since I work a lot with wire I know that sometime I’ll need a smaller piece of this and I will get it out of my scraps and use it so it’s not a waste.

Now it was just like it should be and I was free to stuff beads into the mesh or coil it or do just about anything with it.  I decided to draw it down using my Lazee Daizee Viking Knit draw plate.  I pulled the mesh through the draw plate drawing it through a smaller and smaller hole.  I ended up with a slightly longer piece of mesh than I started with but what was the best is that is looks like a chain.  It’s very flexible and just beautiful.  I can’t wait to use this tool with all the colors of 30 gauge wire I have and see what it looks like.

For what it’s worth I would recommend this tool.  It’s so much easier than actually knitting wire in the round and what you end up with is so versatile you are sure to come up with thousands of ideas for your designs.

Here are some photos of my Wyr Knittr set up and the mesh I ended up with.

The bad, bad, terrible, horrible, very bad show

On Friday, the 20th the Woodmen of the World Lodge 6011 held a craft show from 7-3.  This had to be the absolute worst show I have ever been to.  First of all there was no advertising done except within the company itself.  Second they provided food for employees in the hopes that while they picked up the food they would shop.  Last but by far not the least; the employees were only allowed to do any shopping while they were on break!  Yep that meant that at 10:15 a few people walked through; the big rush at lunch was 5 people at 11:30.  Then the next rush was supposed to happen at 2:30 so most of us stuck around in hopes that would be true but alas I saw one person come in during that break.  They had a big training class on the same floor but they were not breaking until 3 and the show was over by then. 

Oh I almost forgot to mention that we weren't in the Woodmen of the World tower we were in the World building next door on a floor that was completely unoccupied!!!! 

The way I found the show was that the organizer actually contacted me to be a vendor.  I asked the usual questions, how big was the booth, what size was the table, how many vendors, how many making jewelry.  Well I was told an 8' table, enough room to be behind the table, three jewelry vendors including myself and about 20 vendors total.

What I didn't ask was how wide is the table.  You would think it is a standard table, you know, 3' by 8' right?  Hold on for this, the table was 1' wide!  OMG that was terrible. 

I sat there until 2:30 in the afternoon and then packed up and left.  I did have a few sales but mostly tire kickers walking through killing time for their breaks.  The booth across from me didn't have a single sale and left around noon, another on the opposite corner of me had no sales and left about 1pm.

For what it's worth take it from me if you hear about this show in the fall in October run do not walk away from this one.

Check out my Facebook page to see photos of the latest designs. Soon the new pieces will be at http://www.kljewelrydesigns.etsy.com/ so please do heart me in Etsy and friend me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001263081321

So I've been working myself up to start blogging again after almost a year off. 

In 2007 I was diagnosed with MS.  Not really a big deal until it decided that the best place to affect my life is by interrupting the transmission of what I see to the part of my brain that processes what I am seeing.  That means I can be looking at something like an agenda and not see changes that need to be made at all on one side of the page.  That happened over and over again when I was working as the Assistant Grants Administrator for the Omaha Community Foundation.  In 2009 I was let go and applied for disability.

Now for those of you who don't know about getting disability I'll explain a bit about it.  I applied, was denied like most applications applied again and was denied again; then I hired an attorney to represent me mainly because this stage involves a hearing and most claims with an attorney are approved.  To my disappointment my attorney told me I could not be self-employed.  I never looked at myself as self-employed making jewelry and selling it at arts and crafts shows but that is exactly what I was. Lots of steps had to be taken to remove my name from the company and any reference to me being with the company.

This was supposed to take over 3 years from August 2010 but with the huge number of claims waiting for a hearing date some of them were assigned to Sr. Attorneys with the SSA to see if the claim could be approved without a hearing.  I was lucky to be one of those claims so now I can start blogging again.

That all said I'm ready to start blogging about my favorite thing; JEWELRY designing and making.  Yea!

Since I first started making jewelry in 2004 I've learned a lot and realized a lot. I started out making jewelry with glass beads in kits, then started buying beads on ebay and selling on ebay.  Now I find beads just about everywhere, even when I'm on vacation.

A quick update on how far KL Jewelry Design has come 7 years.  Starting selling on ebay, then to co-workers, Etsy, local school craft shows, and then Artfire.  Now you can find KL Jewelry Design at the Corning Center for the Fine Arts, more fine art shows and juried shows, and hopefully at New Realities in the Old Market.  How exciting is that?

Check out my facebook page to see photos of the latest designs. Soon the new pieces will be at http://www.kljewelrydesigns.etsy.com/ so please do heart me in Etsy and friend me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001263081321