Jewelry

[Lipstickdiva]

I buy my jewelry for my pleasure and for me to wear it.  I don't buy it thinking I am going to want to melt it down for something else.  I've never done that.  I don't buy it with the intention of selling it or turning it in for money down the road.  And I certainly don't buy it thinking I'm going to pass it down to someone else or sell it to someone.  

I own a lot of costume jewelry because I like big, bold pieces of jewelry for the most part.  Delicate and dainty pieces don't interest me.  All jewelry is terribly over priced so unless you have an heirloom piece or some vintange piece of jewelry, the chances of you getting much on the secondary market for your jewelry are slim to none.  And it really doesn't matter what a piece appraises at.  A piece is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

I don't care if a piece is electroform, plated, bronze, solid, etc.  If I like it, will wear it and the price works for me, I buy it.   However, I have zero interest in a tinny, thin, hollow piece of silver when it comes to bracelets or rings that will bend the first time they are hit into a table or desk.  That is a waste of money.       

[esmeraldagooch]

I have several pieces of electoform gold jewelry .  They are not filled and are stand alone jewelry.  You could never wear them if they were solid as they would weigh way too much.   Electoform allows the creator to make dimensional jewelry instead of casting two sides and welding them together.   Electroform is not cheap and should not be confused with the silicone filled products that couldn't hold their shape without being filled.

[esmeraldagooch]

This is electoform 14K  2.5 inches and 3/4 inch thick.

[esmeraldagooch]

[SahmIam]

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@Lipstickdiva wrote:

I buy my jewelry for my pleasure and for me to wear it.  I don't buy it thinking I am going to want to melt it down for something else.  I've never done that.  I don't buy it with the intention of selling it or turning it in for money down the road.  And I certainly don't buy it thinking I'm going to pass it down to someone else or sell it to someone.  

I own a lot of costume jewelry because I like big, bold pieces of jewelry for the most part.  Delicate and dainty pieces don't interest me.  All jewelry is terribly over priced so unless you have an heirloom piece or some vintange piece of jewelry, the chances of you getting much on the secondary market for your jewelry are slim to none.  And it really doesn't matter what a piece appraises at.  A piece is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

I don't care if a piece is electroform, plated, bronze, solid, etc.  If I like it, will wear it and the price works for me, I buy it.   However, I have zero interest in a tinny, thin, hollow piece of silver when it comes to bracelets or rings that will bend the first time they are hit into a table or desk.  That is a waste of money.       

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I don't think most people do. However, Life happens. If you NEED to, then at least you have the OPTION to when it's the real deal. 

In any event, a person should buy whatever it is that makes them happy. In the end, that's what matters.

[SahmIam]

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@esmeraldagooch wrote:

I have several pieces of electoform gold jewelry .  They are not filled and are stand alone jewelry.  You could never wear them if they were solid as they would weigh way too much.   Electoform allows the creator to make dimensional jewelry instead of casting two sides and welding them together.   Electroform is not cheap and should not be confused with the silicone filled products that couldn't hold their shape without being filled.

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@esmeraldagooch, I believe that THIS is something that QVC needs to make very clear. My original post was about some new pieces that the host stated were electroform and then went on to describe how the pieces were filled, etc. I remember some GILI jewelry when LR was here that was gold (very very thing gold) over something (must have been silicone) and the complaints were long and loud about that. The bracelet that was shown in another thread has 1 stars for 1 reason; the bracelet is filled and therefore can not be bent to fit the person's wrist so fit is an issue.

I've been calling "silicone" electroform, I guess. I know that many large pieces are hollow in order to keep the weight down (I own a few) but they are hollow. The items I was referring to in my opening post are the ones that are dipped/painted over/filled with silicone it appears. All this time I've seen/heard the items described on QVC as "filled" and then referred to as "electroform".

If this is NOT the case, I owe everyone an apology. I don't want the FILLED items. Looks like QVC needs to really change how they describe these items, IMHO. Thank you, esmeraldagooch, for the education. : )

[Tinkrbl44]

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@SahmIam wrote:

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@Kachina624 wrote:

                       TACKY? 

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 I think that's a gorgeous bracelet but the design isn't what I'm talking about.  If it contains anything in it OTHER than silver, I'm not spending a penny on it. Why? It's not worth anything. No jeweler will touch it should you want to turn it in for cash or melt it down (because you can't) for something else; same with gold and electroform, btw. The amount of silver covering the stuff is THIN, very very thin... again, same when it's done with gold. I don't care if it's hollow; many items are due to the weight (especially on the ear if earrings) but when it's metal covering a form? No.

BTW, you also can't size electroform rings. 

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@SahmIam

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I would never purchase a piece of jewelry because maybe I would need to see how much money I could get for it some day.  

If I were going to purchase something that I might need to liquidate some day, it would probably be stocks, bonds or CDs, certainly not jewelry.   Even diamonds won't necessarily make a profit in the future.  

That's just not the criteria I use when considering a jewelry purchase.   Prices of precious metals (and diamonds) go up and down ....  same as real estate.  If this what most people do, it's news to me.       

[SahmIam]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

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@SahmIam wrote:

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@Kachina624 wrote:

                       TACKY? 

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 I think that's a gorgeous bracelet but the design isn't what I'm talking about.  If it contains anything in it OTHER than silver, I'm not spending a penny on it. Why? It's not worth anything. No jeweler will touch it should you want to turn it in for cash or melt it down (because you can't) for something else; same with gold and electroform, btw. The amount of silver covering the stuff is THIN, very very thin... again, same when it's done with gold. I don't care if it's hollow; many items are due to the weight (especially on the ear if earrings) but when it's metal covering a form? No.

BTW, you also can't size electroform rings. 

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@SahmIam

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I would never purchase a piece of jewelry because maybe I would need to see how much money I could get for it some day.  

If I were going to purchase something that I might need to liquidate some day, it would probably be stocks, bonds or CDs, certainly not jewelry.   Even diamonds won't necessarily make a profit in the future.  

That's just not the criteria I use when considering a jewelry purchase.   Prices of precious metals (and diamonds) go up and down ....  same as real estate.  If this what most people do, it's news to me.       

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@Tinkrbl44  You need to look up a few posts; this has already been discussed.

[catchersmom]

@SahmIam @esmeraldagooch  thank you for your posts, I was getting very confused. I had always heard the filled jewelry referred to as "resin filled" and electroform as hollowed out (not solid, but pure metal pieces with a hollow inside). I understood electroplating to be when it's layered over a base metal.

I agree they need to be more careful when giving descriptions if that's the case. I have electroform (hollow) and love it, but haven't tried anything resin filled. I wouldn't rule it out though if I loved it!

ETA @Kachina624 also

[esmeraldagooch]

Back when they sold high qualtiy electoform jewelry it was sometimes called artform.

All my pieces are hollow and have either a hole or a covered whole where they removed the wax the piece was created from.

Q: Is Artform & Electroform Solid Gold?
A: YES!

Artform also known as electroform is an expensive lost wax process method of producing designs in sold karat gold without the cost of weight of cast pieces.  The process is an old, established technology but because the word "elctroplate" is sometimes confused with electroform, I've received questions about whether these pieces are SOLID GOLD. Be Assured, Electroform or Artform or Holloware pieces are solid karat gold (any fineness of gold from 8k to 24k can be made into jewelry) and are properly hallmarked. 

THE LOST WAX PROCESS OF CREATING LIGHTWEIGHT SOLID GOLD JEWELRY: In this process, gold is layered onto a wax model of the desired design. As the gold is layered some detail is removed. For this reason, artform is a very effective technique of manufacturing creative, lightweight jewelry but it is not suited to producing intricate detail. Custom finishing following the artform process is possible. 

When the desired thickness of gold is achieved, a hole is made and the wax is drained. Any residual was is removed with a solvent.  The piece is then polished and finished. The result is a hollow gold piece of jewelry that is both less expensive and lighter in weight than its cast counterpart.  Gemstones can be added to the piece after the electroform process is complete or it can be done in an additional electrofrom process.

As additional technology and other refinements are made to the process, the possibilities for creating unique karat jewelry will increase.  With the price of gold now in excess of $1200/ounce, the prevalance and popularity of electroform will undoubtably increase.