At a recent show, while discussing one of my handmade beaded jewelry designs with a customer, the question was asked, "what is the difference between gold plated and gold filled metal?" After explaining the difference I thought this topic would make a great article to post on the website for general knowledge purposes, especially if you are looking to purchase handmade jewelry.

 

Each jewelry designer has his/her own preference of metal they like to use in their jewelry designs and some will even mix metals, making the design more unique. There really is no one good metal over another, in terms of the design itself. The choice of metal used in a design really depends on the purpose and interpretation of the jewelry piece, the designers preference, and at times, cost. It's a pretty simple equation, the better the metal, the more cost involved.

 

For the majority of people, wearing a piece of jewelry made with pewter components as opposed to sterling silver, makes no difference. It's really about the design of the piece and their connection to it. Although for some, the wearing of non-precious metals can cause skin irritation and/or a rash. For those out there in this group, they will naturally prefer a precious metal such as sterling silver or 14k gold.

 

Below is an outline of some of the more common metals used in handmade jewelry design, ranging from fine jewelry to fashion jewelry. At Crystal Allure Designs, we have worked with a few different metals throughout the years and although we have no particular preference of one over the other, our unique handmade designs currently showcase either sterling silver, 14k gold-fill and/or vermeil. There are times when a particular component we would like to use can only be found in pewter, silver plate or gold plate. When we use a metal other than a precious metal, we always state as such in the description of the jewelry piece.

 

Rhodium Plate - Rhodium plating is occasionally used on white gold, silver or copper and its alloys. A barrier layer of nickel is usually deposited on silver first, though in this case it is not to prevent migration of silver through rhodium, but to prevent contamination of the rhodium bath with silver and copper, which slightly dissolve in the sulfuric acid, usually present in the bath composition.

 

Rhodium is a metal derivative of platinum and is very white, reflective, extremely hard and virtually tarnish proof. It presents outstanding chemical inertness (will not react or change easily) thus, rhodium will not tarnish whereas silver will. It is very expensive, so only a very thin plate is applied to reduce the amount of metal used in the bead or component. If not subject to excessive friction and wear, rhodium plated jewelry will retain their look indefinitely.

 

Rhodium is also hypoallergenic. Rhodium protective coating is useful for white gold which often contains nickel to give it a white sheen look. It is well known that nickel is not biocompatible and approximately 15% of people suffer from some kind of allergies to nickel. Thus rhodium serves as an additional layer between skin and base metal preventing skin from irritation.

 

Rhodium is the most common plating material used to plate Sterling Silver because it provides a bright mirror like finish and it is also silver in color.  An article of yellow gold jewelry can be made to look like it is white gold by having it Rhodium plated. A Rhodium plated item may retain its finish for a lifetime or for only a short period of time, depending upon factors such as the type of metal being plated, the amount of wear the article is subjected to, each individuals body chemistry and the thickness of the plating.  The good news is that if the rhodium finish on a piece of jewelry wears off over time, it can be re-plated to look brand new and the process is not very expensive.

 

Sterling Silver - Pure silver, also called fine silver, is relatively soft, very malleable, and easily damaged so it is commonly combined with other metals to produce a more durable product. The most popular of these alloys is sterling silver, which consists of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. Although any metal can make up the 7.5 percent non-silver portion of sterling, centuries of experimentation have shown copper to be its best companion, improving the metal's hardness and durability without affecting its beautiful color.

 

Sterling silver is a white and highly reflective precious metal. It can be antiqued or given a high polish. Crystal Allure Designs uses both antiqued and polished sterling silver beads and components. A silver anti-tarnish cloth can be used to clean the outer edges of the sterling beads and leave the inner antiqued crevices antiqued. Do NOT use a Sterling Dip to clean your antiqued jewelry.

 

Sterling silver is the standard for beautiful high-quality silver jewelry. It's over 90% pure silver, mixed with alloys to add strength and durability. And it won't wear down, as silver plating can.

 

Pewter - Pewter is an alloy of tin, lead, antimony, and a bit of silver or copper. Pewter was the most widely used metal in America between the early 1700 and 1800's. The best pewter is achieved using a low lead content and a high tin content. As you would expect, U.S. pewter manufacturer's today are required to make lead free pewter. Both copper and antimony are added to the tin to make a harder metal alloy.

Base Metal - Non-precious metals used as a core for plating and gold-filled items. Brass and nickel are common base metals in jewelry.

 

Silver Plated - A fine silver film deposited on a base metal by electrolysis, in the same kind of electrically-charged bath used to make gold electroplate. The film can be as thin as seven millionths of an inch. A silver plate item cannot be called sterling or bear a marking of "silver".

 

Historically, silver plate was used to provide a lower cost version of items that might otherwise be made of silver, including cutlery and candlesticks.

Gold - A precious metal that does not oxidize or tarnish as most other metals do. It has been used for over 6000 years in coins, jewelry and ornamental objects. Gold is very malleable and can be melted and cast into both small and large objects. It is also forged into very thin sheets called gold leaf and used to cover the surface of less valuable ornaments.

 

Gold is alloyed with other metals like silver, copper or nickel to make it harder. The ratio of gold to other metals is what denotes the karat content.

 

Common gold alloys are made by mixing gold, silver, copper, and/or other metals to produce 14K, 18K and 22K gold, white gold (gold and nickel or palladium), rose gold (gold and copper), green gold (gold with silver or silver and cadmium) , and blue gold (a recent gold color perfected by only a few jewelers). Example: 14kt-by weight 14 parts gold to 10 parts other metals, or 58.33% pure gold.

 

Vermeil -(pronounced ver-may) is a process that combines precious metals to produce semi-fine quality jewelry. The inside core is .925 sterling silver, the outside is a thin coating of 14 karat gold plate. Where the gold plating has not completely bonded with the sterling silver, the silver will eventually tarnish. Therefore, overtime, expect vermeil to darken slightly with age. Since vermeil is electro-plated, not fused like gold-filled, the plating will eventually wear off. This usually happens in a year or two. It takes longer to wear off than costume gold-plate because the plating on vermeil is considerably thicker than that on costume jewelry.

 

The combination of metals in vermeil produces jewelry that looks and feels like pure gold.

 

Gold Fill - (also called "gold overlay" and "rolled gold") Gold fill beads are made by applying a layer of gold, using heat and pressure to permanently bond the gold, to a core of brass or other base metal. This produces a much thicker surface of gold than gold plating. The minimum layer of karat gold must equal at least 1/20th of the total weight of the item. Use care when buffing gold fill beads and components to avoid removing the gold layer.

 

Why use Gold Filled?

First, Gold Fill is less expensive than pure Gold - making jewelry more affordable. Second, of the alternatives (Gold Plate or Gold Vermeil), Gold Fill will not tarnish, turn green, or wear off and can be worn as "every-day" jewelry. In any case, gold-filled is a much more durable product than gold-plate or vermeil.  Gold-filled jewelry is economical, and enjoys the rich look of gold at a fraction of the cost.

 

Gold Plate - Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold on the surface of other metal, most often copper or silver but can be brass as well, usually by electroplating or an electrochemical process. A second chemical is used as a finishing to give the color a "brightness".

 

The gold color and brightness wears off pretty quickly, much more quickly than gold filled, when interacting with the wearer's skin salts or the pollutants in the air. On an average person in an average environment, the brightness finish fades in about 3-6 months, and the color fades in 6 months to a year. If the environment is very humid or very polluted, this can happen much more quickly. Some people have either ammonias or sulphides in their sweat. These chemicals dissolve one or both of the chemicals in the plating and/or finishing.

 

However, if you are on a handmade jewelry budget, or just want to experiment it’s the perfect metal to work or start with!

 

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An alloy is a solid solution or homogeneous mixture of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal, which itself has metallic properties. Alloying one metal with others often enhances its properties. This statement of information on alloy was referenced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloy