People ask me all kinds of questions when I do the various arts and craft stalls, and one of the main questions, is why do I make my designs with silver or copper?

At a time where the price of precious metals are at an all time high, a lot of crafters now are creating their designs with either craft wire or silver plated wire, and so it would seem to some that for me to design with sterling silver wire is a crazy idea!

But bear with me with my madness....

There are a number of reasons why I design my jewellery using predominately silver, of which the cost come fairly low down the list.

As a teenager my jewellery choices was gold, but as I got older I found that silver showed up better against my skin, and I could get a wider range of unique and alternative designs in sterling silver.

Gemstones all have unique healing properties and energies, which I am trying to harness in a wearable way, so jewellery is an ideal way to do this, rather than having various gemstone knocking about in ones various pockets, purse, or the odd piece of citrine in the bra trick.

Silver magnifies the gemstones healing properties and/or energies, while gold tends to dampen them, so it makes more sense to give my jewellery as much bang for your pound!

In addition to this as silver is a neutral colour I personally find it does not fight or detract the natural beauty of them gemstones in the pieces like gold can.



It is also the reason why I have used copper wire in some of my designs that contain the gemstones turquoise, azurite and chyrosocolla as in these cases silver would actually detract their healing properties and energies.



Personally I cannot wear craft wire, silver plate, or any plated metal for that matter, as I am allergic to them, and once the plate has worn away it makes the jewellery unattractive and unwearable.

Yes silver and gold tarnishes over time, but it can be cleaned to bring it back to its natural glory.

It is also interesting when talking to customers how many of them are actually allergic to the various metals, including precious metals gold and/or silver, but most tell me they cannot wear any plated metal.

So although it seems crazy on ecomomic reasons that I work with sterling silver for the majority of my jewellery designs, in real sense its a no brainer.

Yes it means my pieces are more expensive, but surely you are worth it?

What do you think?

Joolz xxx

0 Comments

May 13, 2014