Silver-Filled Wire ~ An Affordable Alternative To Sterling

Browsing through the latest edition of Step By Step Wire Jewelry the other night I saw an article that mentioned silver-filled wire. I'd heard of gold-filled wire but not silver. I read a bit more and discovered silver-filled wire is pretty new and sounds like a great alternative to the much more expensive sterling silver wire.

So how is it different to silver plated wire I thought? Silver-filled has a thicker coating of sterling silver bonded to a copper or brass base. It can be hammered, oxidised and tumbled just like sterling and I should imagine it's less likely to wear off like plated wire can. I'm liking it more and more! Another plus is if you can wear sterling silver jewellery you'll be fine with silver-filled too.

I've just ordered some 20g from Etsy shop Cigarbox Supplies and at £4.36 for 19.5 ft it works out a hell of a lot less than sterling. I contacted another Etsy seller who uses it and asked her opinion - she loves it and said it behaves just like pure sterling wire. I'm not sure if it's available in the UK yet (probably not, maybe in a year or two!)

I can't wait for it to arrive so I can experiment and see for myself! Watch this space for an update in a week or two!

*Photo courtesy of Cigarbox Supplies

Tickled Pink With A Ray Of Sunshine :: Etsy Treasury

Tickled Pink With A Ray Of Sunshine ☼

A very pretty pink and yellow Etsy Treasury I'm in!  A big thank you to Adoruhbulcreations!

pink roses photobistro $3.50	Distressed Teardrop Earrings... janedean $10.00	Yellow and Pink Large Dahlia... strandedtreasu... $45.00	The favorite Cowl neck hood ... BessetteArt $39.00
Blushing in Pink ouma $840.00	Zohara-AAA Lemon Quartz,Pink... vanini $495.00	Embroidered Organic Silk Pin... BobkaBaby $55.00	Enamel Daisy Flower Earrings... CinnamonJewell... $29.00
Candy Stripe Warm Pink Gin... sandypaws $18.00	Yellow Flower Peach Pearl Sp... smilesophie $23.00	Rosette Bobby Pins Pink and ... Brydferth $18.00	Yellow and pink felt necklac... Feltik $45.00
Yellow and Pink Felted Heart... larsandaddie $10.00	Sweet pink and yellow blooms... vintagebroochc... $46.00	Big Pink Cardigan LoveandKnit $125.00	Bright Yellow Baroque Swarov... FizaDesigns $16.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Just Photographed!

I thought I'd make the most of our continuing freakishly good weather, although we may get rain in East Sussex tomorrow so they say which is kind of more like it, and photograph the last few pairs of earrings I've made. I hate taking photographs so am always relieved when it's over!

A couple of sterling pairs, a riveted copper disc pair and a pair of torch enamel discs.....................

Sugilite jasper, freshwater pearl and silver disc

Turquoise jasper and sterling silver

Riveted copper discs with green impression jasper

Opalescent green (which looks blue!) and opaque enamel discs



A Recent Commission & A Thank You Note

I very rarely make necklaces, preferring to focus on earrings and the odd bracelet, but recently a buyer contacted me to ask if I would make a necklace to match the stamped copper and green pearl earrings she bought for her Mum a couple of weeks ago. Of course I said yes!

She gave me pretty specific instructions for the design which was great and does make life easier. It was basically to match the design of the earrings with a copper chain. The pure copper chain I already had was a bit thick so I offered to order a finer one (most likely from the States) but in the end we decided to use some antique copper chain that I could order from a UK site (still took a week to get here though!)

I was a bit worried that the chain would be too dark but when I sent the photos to the buyer she said her Mum loved it so I went ahead and listed it in my Folksy shop.

Here are the original earrings the buyer bought for her Mum 

Yesterday I received a sweet thank you note from the buyer's Mum saying how much she liked her necklace and that she though my jewellery was gorgeous! I thought it was so nice of her to take the time to send me a note. She also wanted to know how much the pair of earrings on the business card I sent with the necklace were then promptly got her daughter to buy them for her as well!

All in all yesterday was a good day!



You'll Never Catch Me Copper! Artfire Collection

A lovely copper jewellery Artfire Collection by Artfire seller DLC Welch featuring a pair of my lampwork and copper leaf earrings!

Youll never catch me copper....

Curated By: dlcwelch

ArtFire.com

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