Friday, January 14, 2011

My version of recycling silver!

This has been a difficult year with the price of silver...it is now up to $29.37 an oz. I guess I shouldn't complain gold is $1,381.50 an oz....a considerable difference, but then it is relevant to each designers metal of choice and customer preference!

Yesterday a blogging friend, Pearl, from The Beading Gem's Journal, did a post on the price of silver and an interesting alternative...silver filled wire. I'm sure most of you are familiar with gold filled as I was but that was the first time I'd hear of silver filled wire...take a peak at her post it is very informative. I checked around for information to see if I could find any more information but haven't been successful so far...I'll keep looking and will post when I find info on this product.

The Blob!
recycled sterling silver and fine silver wire

I've been keeping an eye on the price of silver since the summer and have been somewhat frustrated with the rise in the cost of silver... so as you may have noticed in a previous posts I showed a pair of circle earrings to which I soldered scrap sterling silver pieces...I've been making earrings, pendants & rings since the fall and have found them to be well received.

Hand cut argentium silver, with soldered scrap silver!

Customers like the originality of each piece as well as the idea they are recycling silver. I've also been using larger pieces of scrap silver and soldering them together to make pendants...I don't have any photos but when I do I'll post them.

Triple Pair!
Argentium silver with soldered scrap silver.
Enjoy your weekend...
Cheers

9 comments:

  1. Oh - I really like those earrings in the last photo. Your work is very unique.
    Have a good weekend.
    N

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  2. Soooooo smart to use the scrap silver...the pieces are WONDERFUL...I didn't realize that the cost of silver was so expensive ...

    I checked out the link for the new header, but I still wasn't clear on how to do it...must have been an 'off day' for me w/ computer stuff...still love the way yours came out...I'm definitely due for an update!!!...have a great (albeit...coldddddd) weekend...:))))))

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  3. Why thank you Norma...my goal has always been to be as different as possible from the main stream! Nice to know others feel I'm working in the right direction!

    Thanks Amy...I could ship my scrap back for cash/silver but then I loose money as the cost is so high right now...this works nicely and everything is a "one of a kind".

    Thanks for stopping by ladies...
    Cheers
    Cheers

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  4. I just LOVE the way you incorporated scrap silver into your pieces! I'm going to link in my Facebook. I too have been saving silver (and even copper) scraps but haven't any idea what to do with them yet!

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  5. I have always saved my scrap metal and have two little mason jars filling up with copper and silver scraps. Maybe someday I will learn to reuse them. Thanks for the tips, great pieces, I too love the originality of your designs and the idea of reusing the silver.

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  6. Hey Pearl, thanks...if you work with a torch give it a try...as I mentioned we could send it back for a credit but would loose money due to the high cost of silver!

    Thank you Regina...give it a try...it certainly makes for original pieces.

    Reusing scrap silver isn't new...as a matter of fact it is something I did at the one and only course I took, four years ago...I forgot about it until this fall!
    Cheers

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  7. What a great idea to recycle those precious pieces of scrap silver. Kudos for so many reasons! I really like the texture and look of the pieces you've shown here Heather!

    Hope you are staying WARM!!!
    {Hugs!}

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  8. That's great you're working with recycled silver Heather! And as always, you're pieces are lovely!

    I too read Pearls blog on silver filled wire. Very interesting indeed. Might have to think about it if the price of silver keeps going up.

    Have a great day!
    -Stephanie

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  9. I like the earrings you featured here. I also have some silver pieces at home and was thinking on how to recycle them too to make them useful again. :)

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Thank you for taking the time to comment...it is truly appreciated!
Cheers