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I routinely use sterling silver for jewellery loops. I am now making a series using embedded gold leaf - and the silver loops look out of place.

Does anyone out there know whether 9ct gold wire will work? Will it hold it's shape?

I've used 14K gold filled wire and it does work but even after putting into the tumbler to clean it still does not clean up very well. Turns black but some of the black comes off in the tumbler....

i wish i had the answer for you. i've got a similar situation: i have been asked to put gold wires on my jewelry for a museum, and also for one store. ordinarily i use sterling. for my dangle earrings, i have a nichrome wire coming out of the glass, which gets formed into a loop, and then highly polished. when polished, the nichrome is the same color as the sterling.

the gold wires dont match the nichrome, which bothers me. i didnt like the look, but have discovered (to my relief, i guess ...) that nobody seems to care. the museum likes the gold wires, the earrings sell very well, and the store that asks for the gold is delighted. go figure.

it kinda bugs me that the 2 metals arent the same, but maybe i just spend too much time looking at earrings. i thought about buying sterling wires with a gold ball to ease the transition, but i havent done it yet. maybe i'll try that out in 2004. the sterling with gold ball can be seen in the rio grande catalog, and probably in a lot of other places, too.

I'm dealing with similar problems. I'm trying to incorporate wire hangers into glass. Silver seems to discolor and can't take the heat, I tried covering with felt that seemed to help, maybe I need thicker wire. I may have overfired. I fear moving the wire will crack the glass, the heavy copper holds up but looks a little crude. I began the experimenting because I didn't want to have to design around the more conventional horizontal hole for a cord or chain or resort to glued on attachments. The glue is starting to look better. Any suggestions? Next batch I'll dare use a little more dicroic, there should be no problem flameworking it should there?Thanks to all for sharing information. I'm rather alone in my fused glass quest in burnt Ramona, Calif. Checked out some bottles in an area that must have burned like a torch most just shattered from the heat, the few that slumped seemed like out of Mexico glass, The few that slumped broke apart when moved, Mother Nature dosn't anneal? Lyn
http://community.webshots.com/user/lynfeu

Brass will retain its color, gold-like, but of course it's not real gold. Matches the ear wires a little better though.

gracias catalina -- i had no idea. i'll try that and see what it looks like.

Also, for those use sterling, try fine silver. It doesn't discolor.

I've been sucessful finally by tumbling again .....see my picture in the 2nd album in my webshots albums 1st picture. there's an explaination of how I did this also there.It turned out pretty good after I tumbled it again for a longer time....