Pages

Ads 468x60px

Monday, July 7, 2008

Types of Metals used in Beaded Jewelry

Beginners in Jewelry Design
When handmade jewelry designers are just starting out in jewelry design, they may choose to use pewter, base metal, silver plate or gold plate metals. Some of the reasoning is their inexperience in the types of metals used in beaded jewelry; other times they choose lower grade metals to keep their costs down; or they simply may be choosing to design fashion jewelry only, which is typically made using lower grade metals.

Bridge Jewelry Designers
As a handcrafted beaded jewelry designer becomes more knowledgable and experienced in their craft, they may decide to upgrade the quality of the metal they are using in their designs. These bridge jewelry designers may then choose to upgrade to sterling silver, rhodium plate, gold fill or vermeil. A bridge jewelry designer is generally concerned with producing a quality piece of jewelry for their customer but they tend not to be so concerned with the costs of reproducing the piece multiple times over, since most bridge jewelry designers do one of a kind jewelry or will only reproduce a jewelry piece a few times.

Fine Jewelry Designers
High end designers will use only fine grade metals such as sterling silver and 24 karat gold. Using these metals offers the consumer a high-end piece of jewelry where the sticker price equates to the quality of the jewelry piece. The higher price tag might be a result of the unique materials used in the piece or it may reflect the costs of reproducing the jewelry piece multiple times over for the mass population.

If you happen to be allergic to low grade metals, you should definately look for a handmade beaded jewelry designer who uses sterling silver in their beaded jewelry designs. At times, a designer may also throw in a lower grade metal bead in their jewelry design simply because the style of the bead fits with the design and they cannot find the equivalent in a sterling silver metal.

For a more in depth explanation to each type of metal used in beaded jewelry, check out our types of metals jewelry article for metals used in handmade beaded jewelry designs.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...