Description
These earrings are called “Silvered” because the beads are wrapped with Fine Silver wire as I make them. These drops are about 1 ½ in length.
About Silver Wire Wrapped Beads
Fine silver melts at a very low temperature, so the trick is to wrap the bead with the wire while still in the flame without melting it into oblivion...lol, then to heat it sufficiently to stay ON the glass once it's cooled down in the annealer. Usually, the silver beads up in a trail around the bead. If the bead is a little hotter when I actually wrap it, the silver may sink into the surface a bit, resulting in a solid wire. Both ways work beautifully and sometimes I get a spectacular silver/glass reaction.
About Beads:
I mostly use 104 COE glass – Effetre (formerly Moretti), Lausha, Messy, and assorted silver reactives like TAG and DH. Exceptions are my recycled glass beads, and those are specified as such. I work on either a Minor torch or GTT Lynx and anneal everything in either my Arrow Springs A-18 kiln or my Toolbox kiln.This means you don't have to worry about your beads breaking apart for no reason. :) It also strengthens them to more readily withstand the little accidents that happen, like drops or rolls off a dresser.
About Earwires:
I use Argentium Silver wire to form all my earwires. Argentium silver is a fairly new alloy of Sterling, retaining the traditional 92.5% silver...but replaces some of the copper in traditional Sterling with Germanium, a rare earth metal. The elimination of the copper, along with the addition of the germanium creates a lovely silver which is a little harder, resistant to "fire scale" and super tarnish resistant. It is far less likely to irritate those with sensitive skin. I can personally vouch for this, as I have always had a difficult time with any metals in my ears except gold, and I have absolutely no trouble with the Argentium Silver earwires. Earwires are tumbled for shine and work-hardening
General:
The picture is of actual item(s) for sale. I do my best to show the actual colors; please remember that monitors display colors differently, and while the color looks true to me, it may vary a little depending on your computer's graphic card and/or settings on your monitor
SRA #C11 and SRAJD #2871
Additional Details
- SKU:
- GBE22-5148