How to Choose Wires Metal?

Wire comes in different metals, hardness, shapes, gauges and colors.  Knowing its varieties, characteristic and purposes will help you to make better decision while working on style and design.

The common metals being used in wire art are copper, sterling silver, Argentium silver, pure silver and gold-filled.

Memory wires are not commonly use in wire art that it is 'unbendable' and 'un-shapable'. They are really hard and require a heavy gauge cutter when cutting. Common cutters for jewelry making will not work here and the cutter will probably be blunt after cutting it.

Natural Copper Wires

Antique Bronze Coated Wires

Metals often used in Wires and Wire Art

Copper wires comes in raw or coated form. Vast variety of coated colors cooper wires are available in the market and are inexpensive, hence it is very welcome among wire jewelries artisans.

Wires that made with real silver and gold are categorized as ‘Precious Wires’.

Sterling Silver Wires are well received by more advance artisans as it is great to produce a more valuable pieces. Very often too, sterling silver is being oxidized to create a more stylish design. The alloys of sterling silver are made with 92.5% of silver and 7.5% of copper. Hence it is also known as 925 silver.

Argentium silver is a very special type of silver and was invented only in the 1996 by Peter Johns, a professor of silversmithing at Middlesex University in England.  It is a highly tarnish resistant silver and when tarnishes, it can be wash with mild cleanser and turn white again. Its alloy contains of 92.5% of sterling silver have still categorized it in the category of 925 sterling silver. However, instead of making up the rest with 7.5% of copper, it replaces 1.2% of copper with Germanium, resulted the higher quality of higher end silver.

Gold-Filled products or components actually contain real gold. 9k and 14k gold-filled wires are commonly used in wire art that it give an expansive look  to the jewelries.

It is created with “Vermeil” Process, by which real gold is heated and bonded to a base metal. (Often a brass core) Vermeil involves a thick sheet of gold being mechanically bonded with the base metal.

Notations of 14/20, 14 Karat and 1/20 are actually refers to the ratio of the 14 Karat gold layer to the brass layer by weight, which is 5%. Hence, it is a superior product than gold plated as it contains much more gold and will not flake or peel off when bent, hammered or heat.

As Gold Filled wires are covered with real karat gold, hence, making it tarnish-resistant and hold much higher value than gold plated products. It is also very easy to take care of as it is tarnish free just like other gold products.

Jewelries that made with gold filled products or components are very economical and making it possible for everyone to enjoy the rich look of real gold at a fraction of the cost.

Other precious wires: Pure Silver, Silver-Filled. However gold or silver plated are normally not included in this category as they contains less precious materials than gold or silver- filled. 

You might like to invest into copper wires at a start and as you advance in your skill, you can move on to precious wires. Let me know if you have any difficulties in choosing wires, I am happy to answer any of your question here. 

~Maggie~