Original design in gold filled, Sterling silver, and Fine silver Wire Wrap Pendants, Rings and Earrings
Original 14K, 18K gold handmade designs
Fine silver vs Sterling silver wire
The majority of the wire wrapped jewelry we sell, pendants, rings and earrings are made by Mike here in Arizona.
The wire used for this and most all wire wrapped jewelry we sell is called "fine silver" it is 99.9% pure silver.
Fine silver wire is most commonly used in the construction of enameled jewelry.
I use fine silver wire instead of Sterling silver wire for three main reasons.
The first is that it adds customer value to our wire wrapped pieces. It is of higher quality than Sterling silver which is 92.5% silver.
The second reason is that this fine silver wire in dead soft temper does not tend to spring back away from the piece being wrapped.
It lays softly and gently against the crystal or stone where I want it.
The third reason is that after making several thousands of pieces over the last 17 years I have carpal tunnel in both wrists
and the dead soft annealed fine silver wire is much easier to form and bend that even dead soft Sterling silver wire is.
I still use Sterling silver for some designs and in the last several years have been adding a thick gage Sterling silver jump ring for the chain loop.
The Sterling silver used for chain loops is much thicker and harder making it longer lasting when rubbing against a neck chain our other necklace.
The Gold Filled designs feature what is called 14/10 gold filled wire. 14/10 has twice the gold content as the 14/20 or 12/20 that
is commonly used by most other other wire wrappers. It is more costly because of the extra heavy gold content but again adds customer value
to our jewelry designs.
Our fine jewelry handmade designs feature 14 or 18 karat gold wire fashioned into pendant, earring, and ring designs.
Some times we are asked about why our prices seem a bit higher than others charge, well just remember that old saying,
You usually get what you pay for.
We always seek the best quality materials available to make our in house jewelry, not the lowest priced materials.
When you buy from our store you can be sure you are getting a quality piece of jewelry no matter the finished price.
Don't be among those That know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
Always buy the best you can afford, even if you have to save to get it, in the long run you will seldom be disappointed with quality.
Know that good quality is value - and that value is good quality.
Merchants that sell only on low price and razor thin margins have little chance of offering either quality or value.
In June 2006 we will begin our 17th year in business and could not have stayed in business that long selling low priced low quality merchandise.
We can't buy our Fine Silver (99.9% pure silver) and 14/10 Gold Filled wire for the same price as the lower quality wire others use, so yes, our prices may be a bit higher than others offer, but we know we offer a better quality product that we are proud to sell.
Mike & Diane McKnight owners
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