Metal Allergies and You

"Slipstream" earrings with nonallergenic niobium hooks - available at youvegotmaille.net

Metal "allergies" are common.  I get a lot of customers who say "I can only wear sterling/14k gold/whatever."  Usually, they are talking about earrings, because people react far more often to earring metals than other types of jewelry.  Apparently this is because there is no air flow inside the hole where an earring post/hook goes.  However, there are people who react to things you wouldn't think about, like the back of a watch, or the back of the snap on their jeans.

Allergic contact dermatitis can occur to all sorts of substances, but nickel in costume jewelry is a pretty common one.  If you're not sure what you're reacting to, you can have a dermatologist test you to find out what the exact culprits are, but for most people, it's enough to just avoid cheap jewelry, or make sure you know what is in your jewelry.   Contact dermatitis can cause symptoms including itching, rash, redness, irritation, blisters and eczema.

The problem is that "surgical steel" comes in several grades and some of them contain nickel, so whether it says "hypoallergenic" or not, you may or may not be safe.  Sterling silver, also an alloy, can also contain small amounts of nickel, so unless it says nickel-free silver, if you have severe reactions, avoid it.   Even white gold can contain nickel unless labeled "palladium white gold."

Best answer?  Niobium and titanium.  Both of these are elemental metals (Nb & Ti on the periodic chart).  While gold and silver are also elements, both are too soft for most jewelry applications, and definitely too soft for earring posts or wires, so they are mixed with other metals to create an alloy.  That's where your nickel sneaks in, especially in cheaper jewelry but sometimes even in more expensive jewelry.

Niobium and titanium are much stronger and they make fantastic hooks and posts.  Personally, I didn't realize I had any metal sensitivity at all until I wore niobium and realized how much more comfortable they were for me.  Be aware that items marked titanium CAN be an alloy, so you are safer with niobium, which is almost always a pure metal.

Niobium bracelet options available at youvegotmaille.net, or contact for custom designs

Even better, they both can be anodized in a rainbow of colors.  I use niobium in shades of copper and bronze (they contain no acutal copper or bronze) for earrings made of copper; most "copper" ear wires are also cheap alloys. 

Here's a little more about my favorite metal, niobium.

• Anodizes in iridescent colors I can't quite capture on film; my supplier even has a  rainbow ring where each ring has multiple iridescent colors on it, creating an "oil slick" effect when woven into chainmaille patterns.
• It's commonly used in body jewelry and also in pacemaker parts, since very few people react to it.
• It's nearly as strong as steel but half the weight, so it's very comfortable to wear in an ear or elsewhere.
• Anodized niobium is easy care and doesn't tarnish, although the finish can scratch if you're rough on it.

It's awesome stuff!  If you've got severe metal sensitivities please make sure to let me know when ordering jewelry; I do use steel clasps, sterling accents and head pins to hold beads that are made from other metals, but if you react I'll make sure all of it is nonallergenic.

 

Most of my niobium earrings are made with hooks, and chainmaille designs, so they tend to be dangly.  If you're a post kind of girl (or guy), I recommend that you drop by Wear Earrings Again; Maggie has lots of designs, and starter earrings, that are made of high-grade titanium and pure niobium, which she also guarantees.

Finally, I guarantee my work.  If you have a reaction to a pair of earrings with niobium hooks I will gladly refund your money.  If you have a pair of earrings that I made with surgical steel hooks, I will upgrade them to niobium for you for $3 plus shipping.  Just send an email.  My plan this year is to shift to all-niobium hooks, so all of my earring customers can experience the comfort and ease of wear and care.

What is Niobium?

Electric Rainbow Earrings at You've Got Maille

This weekend I sold a pair of these earrings online and a pair at the Renaissance faire. Last night, as I worked on an argentium and niobium choker, I decided I needed to talk about niobium.

It's my favorite metal. It's cooperative to work with (it won't break your hands like steel or titanium and it closes seamlessly without an argument). It anodizes in glimmering colors no photo I seem to be able to take does justice. Unanodized, it's a grey-silver color with just a touch of a glimmer that gives no hint of the iridescent rainbow it can become.

This is a relatively "new" metal, having been discovered in 1801. It's used in alloy with titanium and steel for lots of technology applications, including the space program.

The glory of niobium is the color. When it takes color, it takes it in a subtle range. I get a packet of multicolor rings and for some projects sort them into colors, and often there's no clear division - for example the bronze has purple highlights and the violet has gorgeous blue. As a result, you can get a beautiful gradient effect when weaving it into chainmaille.

The other tremendous benefit is that the stuff is as hypoallergenic as you can get. While a few people react to niobium, it's extremely rare. As a result it's used extensively in body piercings. So if you've got sensitive ears and you haven't tried niobium hooks, try them. A search on Etsy should turn up several. Niobum and titanium alloys, unlike surgical steel, should be free of nickel (which causes most metal reactions).

As I said, a search on Etsy should turn up quite a bit of niobium, but if you're a jewelry maker you're probably wondering where to get this great stuff. The suppliers I know of include The Ring Lord, Blue Buddha Boutique, and Spiderchain, although I cannot attest to their niobium because I haven't bought it from anyone. I bought first from someone on eBay but since the rings were "snipped" niobium wire, they had rough edges that weren't colored.

Every bit of niobium I buy now comes from C&T Designs, and I'll tell you why. One, customer service is the best. Secondly, Curt takes great care in winding, cutting and anodizing his wire, so you end up with very few "trash" rings (unlike TRL; I haven't bought the niobum but sometimes I'm disgusted with how many aluminum rings I have to throw away). The ends are carefully anodized and the color is gorgeous. Third, as far as I know, C&T is the only place you can get "rainbow" niobium rings, where each ring has 2-3 colors on it, and this makes for some beautiful stuff, and even prettier ear hooks. And finally, he does custom rings and custom anodizing so pretty much, if you can imagine it and he can manage it, he's up for it. Prices are really reasonable, too.

Niobium Ear Wire Selection from C&T Designs (rainbow bottom center)

I really love the mostly circular shape, they hang very nicely.

People seem to like "cheap" earrings so I'm still using surgical steel wires. If I had my choice, though, I'd go to all niobium and to eliminate reactions, although sometimes they don't look right on silver earrings. Also, if anyone knows of a good supplier of niobium or titanium posts with loops, I'd love to hear about it. I've found a few here and there but no reliable supplier.

Chainmaille: How We Got Here

Judith at Second Renaissance

Since I have a lot of people breezing through who might not be familiar with maille, I thought I'd say a word or two on the state of chainmaille in the world today.

Of course, in ancient times it was made of bronze, brass, or steel and worn as armor. It's much lighter than plate armor and much easier to fix if damaged.

Some time in the last couple of decades the Renaissance faire-going and SCA-attending crowd started making their own armor out of coiled rings. Usually steel. But steel's heavy, and if you're fighting with PVC swords, or not fighting at all, you don't really need all that much protection. Aluminum is one third the weight of steel, so it was a natural choice. From there it was a short step for the ladies of said geeky persuasions to start wearing bits of their own chainmaille... necklaces, headdresses, that sort of thing. The guys made themselves rings and bracelets. They experimented with the weaves and started inventing amazing new ones.

Along came the hobby jeweler (probably just behind scrapbooking in the hobbyist craze, to judge from the amount of inventory at my local Hobby Lobby). They were using a lot of wire anyway... I don't know who started it, but really, chainmaille is a natural fit here. It requires a minimum of tools, and done in silver is mesmerizing. Plus... if you've never had a piece of well made chainmaille in your hands you're missing out. The feel is extremely sensual and incredibly fun to fidget with if you've got restless hands. Chainmaille went from the bits of "geek" jewelry to sleek creations in glimmering precious metals. And the jewelers carried the experimentation even further, and added other jewelry making techniques and materials into the mix.

I guess I wouldn't call chainmaille "mainstream" yet, although it's made its appearance on the fashion runways in the past few years (wait... that's not mainstream, never mind). But that might be a good thing, because "unique" is the word I hear most often to describe my work, which I like. And you want to wear something unique, too, right?

So whether you're looking for something to wear with your Renfaire costume, a stretchy bracelet to wear to high school, a slinky choker to wear with that little black dress, a sturdy stainless steel bracelet to wear to your blue collar job, or armor against the mundane, you'll find it in chainmaille.

So here's my suggestion: head on over to Etsy and search "chainmaillers team" or go to our Etsy Chainmaillers' Guild blog, where you'll find an amazing array of styles and materials to fit your mood and your personal style. And of course, I'd love to work with you personally to make a custom item exactly the way you want it.

Diamond Rings for meeeeeeee.....

Look what's on the way to my house! These are ultra shiny copper jump rings made of square wire cut on the bias so that they're "diamond" shaped (ha, fooled you didn't I). Tell you what, though, I think I'm more excited than I would be if a "real" diamond ring were headed my way (unless it was everything I needed to make my OWN diamond ring).

These are coming at me from C&T Designs. They are cutting edge. Urban Maille is the only other site I've seen that does odd-shaped rings and I can't find any gold ones on their site (although I seem to recall that they had a site specifically for GF rings that I can't seem to find a link to.)

This is where I put in a plug (since it occurs to me that I haven't blogged one although I have raved pretty much everywhere else about them) for C&T. Are they the cheapest? Nope. If you want Wal-Mart, go to The Ring Lord, where you will find very decent rings mass produced, (please don't buy machine cut!) cheap, and I have to say it, their customer service sucks. I have twice emailed them about orders, once about something that was missed being sent to me, and got no reply. Zilch. So... I use them for anodized aluminum because their prices are unbeatable for it, sometimes enameled copper because they have more than one size, and a few other random things (I was using them for my bright aluminum as well because it was chrome shiny, but the last batch was dissappointingly dull... grrrr!). I use Blue Buddha Boutique for small batches of multicolored anodized aluminum, 20g 1/8" enameled copper (please make other sizes!) and neoprene. For pretty much everything else, C&T. If they're not the cheapest, why?











1) I'm a sucker for shiny. C&T's rings are on the left in both pictures above (copper and stainless steel, respectively), TRL's on the right. Curt tumbles all his rings before he sends them out, then you get a little nontarnish tab in the baggie with any tarnishable metals, to keep them glowing till you make something gorgeous out of them. I am talking SERIOUSLY shiny.... so shiny that when he sent me a picture of the rings at the top of the post I thought they were gold!

2) Customer service. I can email and ask for a specific gauge rings for a project, and Curt will experiment and calculate (something I suck at, so this is hugely valuable) till he finds the perfect aspect ratio. If you want to make a bracelet, he sends you enough for a bracelet, with a little extra. Then I get the stuff, make something stunning, and get to take all the credit. It feels like cheating. (although there is SOME creativity involved on my end ;)

3) Neat stuff. The square and diamond shaped rings are a new thing, but C&T is also the only place you can get rainbow anodized niobium, that is, a rainbow of color on each ring. Recently he sent me a toggle closure made of anodized niobium that was two colors, twisted... without any naked wire ends, which means he'd taken the care to anodize even those. Which brings me to...

4) Precision and care. When I order those TRL AA rings, sometimes I throw out TONS of them because whoever does their anodizing kind of sucks. The colors are not right, the colors rub off, they scratch really easily. C&T saw cuts everything, which means perfect closures (closures are EVERYTHING in chainmaile), even steel, which is nutty :) Everything anodized is completely anodized, and perfect. If I throw out any rings it's because I mangled them myself.

5) Custom service. This fits in with the customer service, but you can ask for pretty much anything round and made out of some sort of wire, and C&T will do their best to get it or make it.

6) Free stuff with every order. Rebecca at Blue Buddha does this too. I tell ya, I'd much rather get a little bagful of free rings than 10% off my order. It's like Christmas every time I get a package in the mail. And since I chat with Curt about the stuff I'm doing on a regular basis (because of the custom thing), he always puts the coolest stuff in.

7) Humbleness. Not too willing to sing his own praises, so I make up for it. :)

Base Materials

[Photo of The Ring Lord's anodized aluminum colors]

I'm just going to review a couple of base metal materials that I've worked with, how they are to work with, and how they wear as far as long-term life. There are several that I have not worked with, including precious metals, and I suppose I'll get around to them later.

Bright Aluminum
When I'm done working with BA my fingers are black. As a result, I haven't used it for jewelry at all, because I can't imagine it wouldn't do the same to your neck if you wore it as a choker. It washes off easily enough, but a blackened band around your neck doesn't exactly make for oohs and aahs. What I have and will use it for is anything that doesn't touch a lot of skin:

• dangly earrings
• belts
• headdresses
• decorative items, bags, etc.
  

Since aluminum is the most plentiful metal on the earth (in fact the most plentiful element after oxygen and silicon), BA is cheap and therefore terrific to work with for learning new weaves. It is also light weight (one third the weight of steel), so it's great for costume maille shirts, coifs, etc. It's not difficult to work with in terms of opening and closing rings at all. TRL claims that there's "little to no noticeable ruboff" from it. I may have to test this. Bonus: it doesn't corrode.

Anodized Aluminum
I love the stuff. No, the colors aren't as vibrant or metallic as niobium, but it's easier to work with, much less expensive, and I actually like some of the colors better (green being an example).
Anodizing apparently triples the price of aluminum, at least at TRL. It's worth it (and still no more expensive than copper). I especially love working with their black, which has a silky finish on it.
I have no ruboff on my fingers when working with it, which I assume means it won't rub off on the wearer, either. There is only one drawback to AA as far as I can tell: how durable is the finish? It can't be cleaned with ultrasonic or harsh chemical cleaners, although I'm not sure how much cleaning it would need since it won't oxidize or corrode. I intend to test the longevity of the anodized finish, as well, by making and using a keychain out of the stuff. More info on that to come.
I have had to throw out a few rings because my pliers popped off a ring and damaged the finish, but I'm using bare pliers (no tool dip or masking tape). Planning on trying out the tool dip.
Verdict: might be my favorite base metal for the cost.

Oh, by the way, check out this nifty studio doing a variety of jewelry and seriously cool mobiles out of AA: HSU Studios

Copper
It's supposed to help arthritis, wearing copper jewelry. There's no scientific evidence for this, but hey, it can't hurt, can it?
Copper's major drawback is the fact that it oxidizes quickly. You can tell an old penny from a new penny instantly. Some maille artists use this to their advantage and mix various-aged coppers in the same piece. It looks cool, but will they all look the same eventually?
Copper can oxidize by just darkening, or greening. It will turn some people's skin green, depending on body chemistry.
Since I like to mix metals (copper and some colors of AA are so pretty together), I am conducting an experiment: I dropped BA, AA, and copper rings into a mixture of white vinegar and salt, which I have seen recommended for cleaning copper, and another with lemon juice. Stay tuned for the results. What I am after is something that will clean copper without destroying the anodized finish on the aluminum. Preliminary investigation makes me think it's gonna eat the anodized layer. A rock tumbler will also polish up your copper, but that definitely will eat the aluminum's color. I'm starting to think my mixed metal pieces are going to have to be disassembled for cleaning. Ick.
Copper is, for the record, very easy to work with as far as malleability.



Steel
I haven't worked with it yet. You've got options for galvanized steel (affectionately known as "galvy"), stainless, or mild steel. Stainless shouldn't rust, so it may be a nice option for jewelry. "Mild" steel is meant to look "medieval", and it will rust. Quickly, I think, especially exposed to moisture or in this humid Tennessee air. Galvy has a zinc surface layer that will keep it from rusting, but it has a dull finish I don't care much for. More experimentation needed here, as well.

Anodized Niobium
I'm in love with this metal. No pictures do it justice. It anodizes in gorgeous metallic, almost iridescent hues. It's hypoallergenic. It's easy to work with (except, I think maybe, for cutting your own rings, which I haven't tried). Once again the only drawback is the longevity of the anodized layer and propensity to scratches. I'll need to wear it more to talk about this stuff.

Anodized Titanium
Doubt I'll be buying much more of this, though I may try a different supplier. Titanium is stiff and hard to work with, the cuts were not flush (I assume because it is so very difficult to cut), and it's hard to make the rings close back the way you want them to because of its "memory." The plus side is that it anodizes in really pretty muted hues.

Bronze, Brass, Silver and Gold, Inconel, Enameled Copper
Haven't worked with any of these in chainmaille, so stay tuned. I have used some brass findings, and EC wire (impression: lacks strength because of the enamel coating). Since I want to play with Vintaj products a bit, I may make some brass things to match them. And I'm considering winding my own silver rings to save a few dollars. Stay tuned for part 2: Precious Materials.

The rings have a mind of their own

I finally managed to steal a couple of hours to weave last night. I had some very pretty rings I'd just ordered -- bronze-colored niobium and a color mix of titanium, which anodizes very pretty pastel hues.

I knew exactly what I wanted the niobium to become -- a choker, with delicate brass hued-chains draping every direction. I wanted to weave it in a traditional European chainmaille pattern, but on the bias, so that it came to a point in the middle. That in itself, with 7/64 inch rings (yeah, about like this: O ... 2.8 mm... ), when I had never joined maille on the bias like that.. well, honestly that worked out okay when I sorted the rings out, but when I was finished the design I had in mind just didn't hang right. So.. it's a ring now.

The titanium, on the other hand... I had no idea what I wanted it to be, but if you weave and you haven't worked with titanium at all before, be forewarned: they don't make spaceship parts out of it for nothing. It's stiff. The links decide when they want their ends to meet, not you. And they may be lined up perfectly and still not meet. I decided the best I could manage was some mobius flower earrings, and I'm still not entirely happy with the way they decided to lie, though they are rather pretty and Victorian looking... I love it... space age materials used to make a Victorian necklace. Can I list that as Steampunk?

By the time I was done the set of napkin rings I intended to make turned into a simple pair of earrings, as well.

Nothing goes the way you plan, but most of it turned out all right.

Pictures to come when I get a chance to take them.

First Sale!

It's been a big day.. started a blog (wait, was that yesterday?), applied to start Etsy Chainmaillers' Guild, opened a Flickr account...

... and made my first sale! A lady bought a pair of niobium chainmaille earrings from me because she has metal sensitivities. Definitely planning on catering to that crowd since I'm in love with the niobium anyway.. the colors when it's anodized are gorgeous. I got in some bronze colored niobium links today as well as some titanium... titanium gives these lovely muted pastel colors, not nearly as vibrant. The brain gears are grinding.... I've been sitting here all day doing my typing with my sketch book open in front of me. Needless to say I'm not burning up the keyboard. Besides, the forums on Etsy keep calling me.


Next project: a necklace in bronze niobium with lacy chains... keep an eye out for it.