Choosing the right type of precious metal is one of the best ways to enhance your finished item. We Outline the advantages and disadvantages to each.
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Platinum is a naturally white metal that is extremely rare - even more so than gold. Platinum is considered the premium precious metal for jewellery making because of it’s superior strength and durability.
Platinum has this extra strength because of it’s density - the exact same ring made in platinum would be significantly heavier than the same ring made in gold. Because of this Platinum comes at an added premium, however will last significantly longer.
Yellow gold is the quintessential material for creating items of jewellery, gold lends itself perfectly to the creation of metal because of its malleability and the fact that pure gold never breaks down compared to other metals that tarnish and oxidise over time.
24k gold - essentially pure gold is too soft to be used alone however, so we must use other metals, added to the gold in the form of alloys to give the gold strength. 18 karat gold is the most common alloy we use, however for some pieces we use 9 karat gold.
White gold starts life as yellow gold - gold itself is always yellow and to make it white we use other metals in the form of alloys to turn the gold white. These alloys turn the gold very close to white, however it will still have a slightly yellow tinge therefore we coat the outside of the jewellery in a material called Rhodium - rhodium is in the same family as platinum and is an extremely hard wearing material.
The advantage to white gold is the cost - as white gold is the same density as yellow gold it is a more cost effective solution to creating a piece of jewellery than platinum while still being able to achieve the look of a white metal.
Rose gold is a metal that uses normal yellow gold, with an alloy of copper to create a golden material with a rose hue. Rose gold can be found in varying percentages however the most common ratio is 3 parts gold, to 1 part copper. Often less thought about than yellow or white gold rose gold is a beautiful warm material that looks stunning with both diamonds and other coloured golds.
