Many of us these days are looking for ways to save money, and that is especially true with our jewelry making supplies. Sure, we can make great jewelry that would cost more to buy, but once you get into this form of art and craft, you can easily start racking up the jewelry supply bills. One option is to rethink findings and wire. Have you seen how much gold-filled wire goes for these days? Yikes!
Plated wire and findings is an option that many jewelry makers at least consider since you get the look without the cost of the real thing, but is plated a good idea? Share your thoughts on this topic by taking the poll below. Also feel free to elaborate by posting your thoughts in the comments section and/or over at the forum on a thread I started concerning the same subject.
Comments
I use plated more than gold filled or sterling. It looks the same and holds up well. The platings I buy are over copper or brass, and I don’t see what’s wrong with those metals, they’re just less expensive. I do use sterling when I am making a piece of jewelry that will have a higher price point.
If you’re going to the time and trouble of making something you want to keep or give to someone you care about, then quality products that will hold up and not have the finish wear off after a short while is more important to me. If you’re purposely making quantities of jewelry to sell at a profit for nondiscerning consumers, then that’s different!
After having to break down and recycle too many vermeil-accented pieces of jewelry, I am DONE with plated metals. Also after working in a bead shop, I had to tell far too many people that I couldn’t fix their beloved plated piece – the color change is permanent; you can’t solder base metal etc.
I couldn’t bear selling a plated piece that will disappoint someone further down the line.
I have always used plated findings as I think Sterling and Gold filled are overpriced. It is even more expensive thant the beads I am using so what is the point. Like Dee, I use mainly copper and brass as they ‘age’ well.
Although, I do have 20-22 gauge sterling wire which I use ocassionally to make clasps or bead units for a bracelet.
At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters what type of findings you use unless you are allergic to plated.
When I first started out making jewelry I used plated findings just because I wanted to get experience at a cheaper cost so I didn’t ruin good quality expensive materials. I only use sterling silver and gold fill/vermeil as I found that here in the UK plated jewelry is not highly thought of and couldn’t sell that much so I put up with the rising costs but I wouldn’t go back because I like working with these materials.
I use Sterling or fine silver for most of my custom findings, but once in awhile I get a request for gold. I do my own plating and get great results on all jewelry. I have notice a few of my clients are pretty hard on their rings so I make sure the gold deposit ( 14k-18k) is put on very thick . A plating set up is good investment, relatively in-expensive, and not hard to use.
I’ve used some plated findings in the past, but now I prefer to stick with natural brass or copper if I’m looking to save money. Or make my own findings, or recycle them from vintage pieces. I know that a lot of the vintage pieces use plated metals, but you can at least see if they’re going to hold up
I wish it were possible to know the quality of plated findings before buying. The plating on some commercial costume jewelry such as Monet or Trifari is very durable, and I’ve sometimes re-purposed beads and bits from pieces that I’ve grown tired of, with great results. TierraCast findings also hold up well in my experience.
If it were possible to RELIABLY buy good quality plated metals, I would do so more often. None of the bead vendors I’ve found seem to promote their plated findings as high-quality and/or durable (except the TierraCast), which I don’t understand. I guess maybe they’d rather we pony up for the sterling and gold-filled? Or plated findings are now mostly imported and made as cheaply as possible?
When I was learning to make jewelry everyone told me to only use “the best”-SS or gold-filled. And to only use gemstones, maybe glass for “impulse buys”. Never plated, or brass or copper-they were strictly for practice. Well, guess what, I have gotten over it! Now that’s all I use! I even make stretch bracelets & use acrylic beads.What I have found is that outside of the jewelry artist community most people really don’t care. They buy what they like.I watch HSN & QVC to see what’s “in” & they both are showing a lot of plated jewelry.
I’m glad you posted this survey and am very interested in the responses. I am very new to jewelry making. So I have to research everything including what does it mean to be gold and silver plated. Am I really sacrificing quality. Well I do have a concern when I read that sometimes gold and silver plated materials are on top of plastic. To me this doesn’t feel right. If I am going to make a qualty product then I would want to make sure the beads are not made of plastic with a plated material on top. How do you tell the difference? That’s my dilemma.