Precious Metal Wire

Whether you are linking beads with wrapped loops or making your own jumprings and headpins, wire is a jewellery-making basic. We have .925 sterling silver wire and 14kt gold filled wire in a range of gauges. Our sterling and gold filled wires are available in the standard degrees of hardness of full hard, half hard and dead soft. 

* 14K/20 Gold Filled is a durable metal that lasts far longer than gold-plated and is less expensive than solid gold jewellery.  This metal is hypoallergenic and will not tarnish like gold plating.
* Sterling Silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper.  Pure silver is too soft so the addition of alloys makes Silver more durable and harder.  Sterling Silver does tarnish over time, however can be easily cleaned using a silver cleaning cloth.
* Argentium Sterling Silver is real sterling silver - it is 93.5% silver, and the 6.5 percent difference is made up of a trademarked combination of copper & Germanium.
It is highly tarnish resistant and is just a little harder to work with than standard sterling silver but this metal is increasingly unavailable.

When you want the best quality findings for jewellery designs then Gold Filled or Sterling Silver is the material of choice.  They are not plated and will last for many years. 

ABOUT TARNISHING:
Sterling Silver does tarnish and requires polishing from time to time, but Gold Filled is tarnish resistant as it is plated with real gold which does not tarnish.  Both of these are hypoallergenic also.  Some of our sterling silver findings have an anti-tarnish finish applied to them which provides a barrier against tarnishing however this does wear off over time and how long it lasts depends on how the jewellery is treated and what chemicals it is exposed to in the environment.

We recommend sterling jewellery be stored in tarnish resistant plastic bags or in airtight plastic containers with anti-tarnish strips as these will minimise oxidation.  Keep away from humid air and free flowing air.  Avoid exposing sterling silver to chlorine, lotons, salt water and other chemicals.  When you wear your jewellery often, that helps prevent tarnish developing.  To clean tarnished sterling silver we recommend using a soft sterling polishing cloth such as the Sunshine polishing cloth or other similar products.  Avoid abrasive cleaners such as toothpaste, baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice.

For your convenience here is the conversion scale of wire from the American Gauge system to metric (mm):

28 Gauge = 0.321mm
27 Gauge = 0.361mm
26 Gauge = 0.404mm
25 Gauge = 0.455mm
24 Gauge = 0.511mm
23 Gauge = 0.574mm
22 Gauge = 0.643mm
21 Gauge = 0.724mm
20 Gauge = 0.813mm
19 Gauge = 0.912mm
18 Gauge = 1.02mm

Click on sections below to see full range in each: