What are the pearls used at Nini’s Colours?
For our Boho collections we work with faceted and rocaille/seed beads. We also often work with natural stone pearls, freshwater pearls as Swarovski pearls. The first two come from nature and have the charm that each pearl is unique. This is not the case with Swarovski pearls, but then again these are perfect and identical.
What materials does Nini’s Colours work with?
Sterling silver (925)
The precious metal silver in its purest form (also called fine silver) cannot be used for jewelry. Because pure silver is very soft. Therefore other metals are added to the pure silver.
Sterling silver is an alloy and consists of at least 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The addition of another metal serves only to improve its quality and in no way detracts from it: it is necessary to give the soft silver strength and durability so that it can be worked and made into jewelry, among other things.
The Sterling Silver standard requires that the alloy Sterling silver 925 has a silver quantity of 92.5% pure silver. Often you will find a ‘925’ sign engraved on Sterling silver jewelry, jewelry parts, tableware, silver or other valuables. Of course, Sterling silver is nickel-free.
Vermeil and gold-filled
As with silver, pure gold (24kt) is too soft for jewelry making. Therefore jewelry is made from alloys, i.e. gold is mixed with other materials such as silver, copper or zinc. Because we find it important that the gold layer stays on as long as possible, we work with durable quality, or vermeil, gold-plated and gold-filled.
To be called vermeil, the base must consist of pure sterling silver, hence ‘gold on silver’. Only gold and silver must be involved and no other metal. The gold layer must be at least 10 carats of gold or higher.
The gold layer sooner or later wears off the silver. But by taking good care of vermeil (see care advice), you can enjoy it as long as possible.
Gold plated
Vermeil is not the same as gold plated: gold plated means that one or more layers of gold have been applied to a nickel-free metal. The advantage of this is that it cannot oxidize so no black deposit can occur.
Is the jewelry nickel-free?
For sure, all materials are of course 100% nickel-free.