What is Jewelry made from?
In creating jewellery, a variety of gemstones, coins, or other precious items can be used, often set into precious metals. Common precious metals used for modern jewellery include gold, platinum or silver, although alloys of nearly every metal known can be encountered in jewellery -- bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Most gold alloys used in jewellery range from 10K to 22K gold (24K or pure gold is generally too soft for jewellery use), while platinum alloys range from 900 (90% pure) to 950 (95.0% pure). The silver used in jewellery is usually sterling silver, or 92.5% fine silver. Other commonly used materials include glass, such as fused glass or enamel; wood, often carved or turned; shells and other natural animal substances such as bone and ivory; natural clay, polymer clay, and even plastics. Beads are frequently used in jewellery. These may be made of many different substances including silver, gold, glass, gemstones, metal, wood, shells, clay and polymer clay. Beaded jewellery commonly encompasses necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and belts. Beads may be large or small. The smallest types of beads commonly used are known as seed beads; these are the beads used for the "woven" style of beaded jewelry.