aluminum, the other other white metal

red green textured triples
Originally uploaded by cosmosmoonjewelry

I love using Aluminum for earrings-

one of the big dilemmas we metalsmiths have when designing earrings is weight- How heavy to make an earring? Generally we want an earring to weigh no more than 7 - 9 grams, 9 being too heavy for most day wear, best kept to short "special occasion dress up" events.

Nobody wants to feel their lobes dragged down by heavy earrings (even if they are stunning) in fact- the only time I want to notice my earrings is when I get complimented on how cool they are!
Daytime? I prefer earrings that are pretty lightweight- under 6 grams is what I shoot for when designing my pieces...

(and then we get into the question of what metals....the heavier the metals are the engineering of their weigh becomes much more important..) you want to go BIG? better pick a light material!

The choice of aluminum in big bold earrings works not only because of the relative lightness of the metal- but also because it is really easy to add deep texture and the light color of the clean metal is a good base color for paint-
Aluminum- the other other... other white metal
with it's kissing cousins..
silver, pewter, white gold, platinum, nickel, palladium...........and so on..
:-)