Commonly used Arts & Crafts terminology explained.

Acetate –  Acetate looks similar to Lucite (acrylic resin), but this form of plastic actually begins with acetic acid (also known as household vinegar), combined with various bases to give it the desired colors and texture. Acetate charms, connectors and other components are strong, lightweight, slightly flexible, and remarkably hypoallergenic.

Advanced Crystal – Since 2012, all Swarovski crystal beads, crystal pendants and other crystal jewelry components, as well as Swarovski Strass 8000-series prisms are produced using Advanced Crystal, an innovative lead-free formula (containing .009% lead or less). Special polishing, perfect cut, exact geometry and precise angles from over a century of experience, draw out maximum brilliance.

Advanced Crystal is crystal of the highest quality, while ensuring that Swarovski products meet and surpass legislation, regulations and industry standards. As a result of Advanced Crystal, Swarovski continues to be the benchmark for safe, beautiful crystal beads, crystal pendants, and other crystal jewelry components.

Alkeme – Alkeme metal stamping blanks by ImpressArt are a nice alternative to sterling silver blanks. They’re made in the USA from a specially formulated, non-corrosive metal alloy that is lead free, nickel free, and cadmium free.

The resulting soft metal allows even intricate and delicate stamping designs to make complete impressions and look great. Customize silver colored Alkeme blanks with metal stamps, texture hammers, and more. They can also be used for riveting and engraving.

Aluminum – Aluminum is a soft metal, which makes it easy to stamp, emboss, and otherwise shape with jewelry tools. Aluminum sheet and blanks are made of elemental aluminum, meaning it is not alloyed with other metals. In other words, it does not contain nickel or other additives that require warnings in California or are banned in jewelry in the EU.

Some advantages to aluminum: it does not tarnish. The flipside of this, is that you can’t oxidize it with standard jewelry antiquing solutions. Aluminum’s softness also makes it easy to scratch, so use care with working with aluminum. Use nylon-jaw pliers, or dip your tools in Tool Magic to help prevent scratches.

Bone – The majority of bone beads are water buffalo bone, hand carved in India. Sometimes camel bone is crushed, then reconstituted into various shapes.

Brass – Brass is an alloy of copper, zinc and sometimes other metals. Brass is typically 70% copper and 30% zinc, but may vary between 70% and 90% copper (with zinc as the remainder).

Britannia Pewter – Britannia is a pewter alloy with a silvery appearance and smooth surface. It is an alloy of tin, antimony, and copper. Most TierraCast Britannia pewter beads and jewelry findings have a surface finish (plating) of a different color over the pewter base.

Carbon Steel – Carbon Steel is an alloy of steel with carbon content up to 2.1%. Carbon steel has the ability to become harder and stronger through heat treating, but it also becomes less ductile (i.e., less malleable). In other words, you would not want to use carbon steel for wire-wrapping, but it’s great for metal stamps, and for springy coils of memory wire. One downside to carbon steel, is it lacks the rust-resistance of stainless steels.

Ceramic – Ceramic is fired clay. The majority of our ceramic beads are hand-painted. Some of our ceramic pendants and beads have a raku-style multicolored glossy glaze, and others have a natural earthy-looking high-fired finish. What’s the difference between porcelain and ceramic? Porcelain is a more-refined type of ceramic, with a finer texture, and can be glassy and semi-translucent.

Copper – Copper (Cu) is an elemental metal that is bright reddish-orange in color, and has the atomic number 29. It’s a very reactive metal, meaning over time, it will darken and gain a patina, sometimes with a greenish hue. Copper can also discolor skin, most commonly when it is worn snugly like a ring or tight-fitting bracelet.

Copper is a soft metal, which makes it great for wire wrapping. Because of copper’s softness, solid copper components may bend easier than copper-plated beads and findings. Unplated copper is usually called raw copper or bare copper.

Czech Glass – Czech Glass is simply the material name for glass beads that are made in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic includes the historical territories of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Faceted firepolish beads have been under production for centuries (they were formerly called Bohemian glass beads), and Czech pressed-glass beads are well-known around the world.

Findings – the generic industry term for metal jewelry components: charms, bar pins, ear wires, jump rings, etc.

Flush – A flush cut is a precise straight, 90-degree cut.

Gemstone – Gemstone beads, pendants and findings are cut from a wide variety of semiprecious stones (mineral crystals) including agates and jaspers, and occasionally lower-quality “bead quality” precious gemstones such as sapphires, rubies and emeralds. 

Glass – Glass is a non-crystalline amorphous solid. It’s usually based on the chemical compound silica (quartz), with many other “ingredients” depending on the desired properties and color. Traditionally, most brilliant true reds contained gold, making good red glass more expensive than other colors of glass.

Gold Filled – Gold Fill (also called gold overlay) is made by using heat and pressure to apply a layer of karat gold to a base of less costly metal. This produces a surface with karat gold. The minimum layer of karat gold must equal at least 1/20 of the total weight of the item. This layer of gold is 17 to 25,000 times thicker than the layer of gold on gold plated jewelry.

Gold-filled tubing and wire are usually seamless, so only gold touches the body. Gold-filled sheets of base metal, used to make other findings, can be either single clad (gold on visible side only) or double clad (gold on both sides and sometimes the edge). Seamless and double clad gold-filled items are less likely to discolor, since the base metal is sealed inside the gold.

However, the layer of gold on a single clad 1/20 gold-filled item is as thick (and the same total weight) as the two layers of gold on a double-clad 1/20 gold-filled item. Use care when buffing gold-filled items, to avoid removing the gold layer.

The surface layer of karat gold on gold-filled items is usually 10kt, 12kt or 14kt. To know the thickness of the layer, look for a stamped fraction, such as 1/10 or 1/20. It is always 1/20 unless otherwise stamped.
Examples:
• 1/10 10kt GF: 1/10 of the total weight is 10kt gold.
• 1/20 12kt GF: 1/20 of the total weight is 12kt gold.

Lead-Free Crystal – Swarovski Spectra lead-free rainbow crystal offers above-average results regarding light reflection and brilliance while delivering excellent value for money. It is the perfect choice for the price-conscious consumer.

Mass – 1,200 beads of a single style and color. 

Pewter: Pewter includes any of the numerous silver-gray alloys of tin with various amounts of antimony and copper. Old/vintage pewter components frequently contain lead, because it lowers the alloy’s melting temperature. Now, you rarely find pewter that contains lead unless you buy it from a clueless or unscrupulous supplier. (Beware of prices that seem too good to be true! Avoid cheap pewter when making jewelry that might be worn by children or otherwise teethed on or ingested.)

Sterling Silver – Sterling silver, sometimes stamped .925 or simply 925, is an alloy of at least 92.5% silver. The remaining 7.5% is usually copper. Sterling silver is a soft, easy to work with metal, which can be antiqued to a dark black or polished to a bright shine.

Sterling silver is nickel-free, cadmium-free, lead-free, and meets the EU Nickel Directive.

Zinc –  Zinc (Zn) is an elemental metal with atomic number 30. It is silvery in color, and relatively abundant in the earth’s crust. It’s been used in brass alloys as early as 2,000 BCE (or even earlier).