For Our Glass Fusers

A friend of mine has started up with silver smithing so that she can make bezels and stuff for her dichro. WOW! I love it. Wish I had the time (and the money) to take up just one more thing!

You're right. I love dichro and can't see any point in not putting it in something nice that will last!

I can fully understand your concerns. Unfortunately, the reality is a little different. Most of the sterling findings I have tried to use simply do not stand up against daily wear. For example, the sterling placque type bracelets used to glue on dichro cabochons have clasps that do not hold the weight of the cabs. Of course, you can replace the clasps with toggles, but given today's market, it is almost impossible to use sterling findings and sell your pieces at a profit. The bails for pendants, at least the ones I've found, have very small openings which will not fit larger chains which are popular today. I will keep looking for affordable and sturdy sterling findings. I've tried the usual sources and have not been satisfied. The interesting thing is that none of my customers really care, they must not be sensitive to plated metals. I also know a jewelry designer who sells placque bracelets made with disks from old cufflinks on plated bracelets (or they may be base metal) for over $100.00, and has no problem selling them.

I applaud anyone who can make their own sterling findings. I do not enjoy using a torch, so that is not an option for me.

Patti

I agree with Patti for another reason - I don't like silver b/c it tarnishes. I'm not too lazy to polish it, I'm allergic to the tarnex stuff too. I have a bunch of lovely rings that are tarnished and I can't wear them now. Those sonic jewelry cleaners don't do an adequate job. Anybody want to buy some [tarnished] silver rings?

IMHO If you are going to make jewelry, find out if your market cares either way, if it doesn't, then used plated and be up front about it. Or better yet - I find that in my designs a button[or bead]/loop closure is sturdier and works better with the design - so I ignore metal all the way around LOL

Or if you can afford it, make everything with real gold...

I also dislike cleaning my silver. I've recently learned that getting silver really clean only makes it tarnish faster. If they aren't too tarnished then washing with soap and water and dry with a terry cloth works. The rouge cloths (like Sunshine) are suppose to be good because they leave a thin layer of rouge on the metal forming a barrier to oxygen. I wonder if a thin coat of wax or oil would work. I can't seem to find any Renaissance Wax.

I am having trouble deciding what to use of not of metals also. Having been in jewelry a couple of decades I also have lost my patience with polishing silver. Gold is great if you can afford it, copper is real and cheap but it also tarnishes.

Copper can be fused into the glass which requires no torch, just get a heavy wire and bend a u shape or leave a straight pin sticking out of the glass for beading. I am not sure if silver or niobium works but I'm sure I've seen copper used that way.

I mostly am trying to avoid using metal in my beadwork for these kinds of reasons. Those anti tarnish strips and storing metals with a packet of silica to keep moisture down helps a lot.

Ingrid

Becki, I have to agree with you on this issue. I wont touch anything that is plated when buying components for jewelry making; either gold or silver plated. Why waste money on a product that is sub-standard? Once the plate wears off (which only takes a short time to happen), your left with something that could have been purchased for far less than what you originally paid and its not all that nice looking. When I am buying jewelry for myself, I wont touch the plated stuff either.... but then again, I don't usually buy jewelry at Wal-Mart or Nordstrom's and that's usually the caliber of jewelry you are going to get at those places. I've run across some jewelry that was absolutely gorgeous, but I didn't buy it cause it was plated.

My thoughts are - if you use good quality components, your designs are in fashion, and the quality of your work is excellent, then you can sell your product at a price that will still fetch you a nice profit.

However, I do understand exactly what the others are saying about the price differences. A co-worker and myself started making jewelry at the same time. We'd go to the stores together and shop for our components and tell each other what web sites had the best prices. Of course when you first start, you cant imagine paying $12.00 for a sterling silver clasp so you buy that cheaper stuff: base and plated metals, glass, stretchy cord, etc. We both sold our jewelry to the other co-workers almost equally. Some time later, I decided to go all precious metals and precious gems; high quality stuff with the higher price tag to match. No more stretchy cord for me. My co-worker stayed with what she could afford and she did sell much more to the other co-workers than I did but I refused to compromise my standard so I didn't sell as much. Only those who understood the value of sterling and/or precious gems bought from me. But you know, that's ok.... there is a place in this industry for everyone. For those people who can only afford a $10.00 bracelet, they'd buy from her and those who could afford to pay a bit more for better quality would buy from me. Not everyone is willing to spend $45.00 on a bracelet, and I understand that.

I guess what I am trying to say is stick to your guns and don't compromise your standard. As long as there are women on this world, there will always be a jewelry industry. (;-] )

Sterling

I love fused glass pendants. Love them. But not with "silver plated" or "gold plated" bails. Why bother? That stuff is crap to me, mostly because my own body wears off the plating on a bead or finding in no time flat and leaves me with a plain, ugly looking piece of metal.

Don't use them. Real jewelry makers will shun them. Can't sell jewelry for a good price with plated anything (unless you are Nordstrom or one of the big boys who routinely sells crap for big money).

Rant over. Thanks for listening.

Becki

I agree, Becki. No silver plate!!! NO NO NO.

On the other hand, I understand some of the other comments about price, tarnish, etc.

Still, there is no conflict between the two points of view. If you don't want to polish silver (and by the way, fine silver does not tarnish) and choose not to put money into Sterling, you can use good quality pewter instead. Or stainless steel? I've used Stainless earring findings, though I haven't seen much by way of clasps, etc. Has anyone else here?

But silver plate? Ick, no, fake, wears off, etc. No.

I can't afford silver plate. Yes, can't afford it. It doesn't hold up and needs to be replaced. And especially I can't afford the time.

This goes to what Sterling was saying about herself and her co-worker both making jewelry too. Her co-worker sold much more of the lower priced jewelry. Ah, but did she make more profit?

And in my particular, my illness prevents me from putting in as much effective time as I'd like to. So I have to work on fewer pieces and with better materials and designs. I just can't afford to use silver plate because of the unproductive time it takes.

To save time from resizing necklaces, I make the necklace on the small side ending in small soldered jump rings. Then, for a small neck I can attach the clasp with just a jump ring. Length can be added by inserting more rings or beads with wrapped loops, or even covering the small ring with a big holed bead and adding on several inches.

Tina

One of the problems is that, unless you have the setup to make your own bails, you are limited to SP or Sterling. Pewter bails aren't available. I've looked. if I put a sterling bail (at the current price of silver) on a polyclay cab, I can't sell it. The market just isn't there. I don't have a 'name' like some artists that can charge what their work is really worth. it's hard enough explaining to people that "No, it isn't painted".

Barbara

Bead & Polymer Clay Votary

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave Barry)

Christ>I agree, Becki. No silver plate!!! NO NO NO.

I hadn't researched stainless or pewter findings, but I thought I'd seen quite a bit of pewter stuff in some catalogues. FMG comes to mind.

But I think the real objection was not so much to the use of other metals, especially including plated metal, in a piece, but in buying a piece of art glass with plated material bonded to it, so that the buyer has no choice but to use the inferior material.

I hadn't thought of PC, which has the problem of having a perceived lower value. Actually, in PC I'd rather have a bail or "bead cap" in PC incorporated into it.

Tina

That's actually the main reason I don't put bails on my cabs... the sterling ones are hard to find, and I won't use plated ones. I've been messing around with glass ones, but I feel they're a bit cumbersome. For the most part, I find beaded or sterling bezels to be the most elegant way to use cabs, and since I can't do that I leave them plain for the jewelrymaker to use as they see fit.

I might try flatten> I followed one of the links here to "etsy" which was boring and took