Okay, Of late I probably work 60% copper and 35% sterling. I sell
mostly seasonally (Summer) and while some people only see the copper
("Oh look, copper jewelry) and think it’s crap, a growing amount of
people respond favorably and are pleased with seeing my work. I know
I love it.
It is ironic, Noel, that most copper is coated, preventing the wearer
from its benefit. Most costumers who use uncoated copper for low
level pain… it is said to help with low level pain, not just
arthritis and has been a part of Chinese medicine for thousands of
years (if I remember correctly)… notice an improvement. And it is
anti-microbial, it kills germs which is always good. So it does have
benefits.
I use to work for a company that worked petina and I breathed the
dust heavily for a while and went toxic a few times. Now I work for
myself and I don’t get to breath that amount of dust. In fact, I
just stopped the practice of polishing my copper. I give it a green
scrubber finish. This has not effected my sales any. I do not coat
my work. I seriously doubt you could get too much copper from wearing
it unless you painted your body with azurite or malachite.
Copper is unique in color, and do not forget that it was one of the
first metals, next to gold, to be used in jewelry. It’s very workable
once you get to know it.
There are alloys out there that are made specifically for jewelry;
the jewelry bronzes like Merlin’s Gold. They are alloyed with tin and
no lead. I have never heard of tin being a problem. Nickel is the
element used in white gold, a very popular alloy. Nickle (German
Silver) is carcinogenic and a downright poison, something to stay
away from. Copper is a building block of the body… we actually need
it. It promotes aortic elasticity, collagen formation, and plays a
role in the production of neurotransmitters.
TL Goodwin