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Our Guarantee
The wedding ring on your hand will be a constant reminder of your
commitment to another person so choose a ring that is comfortable,
durable as well as meaningful and beautiful.
Our fine line
of wedding and commitment Bands are very,very comfortable to wear.
And yes, our rings are as strong as they are beautiful! Our
gold and platinum braided wedding rings are designed to last a
lifetime or more.
To fit you
with the perfect ring, we offer free consultations. We can help
you to select the right style for your budget or custom design a
unique wedding ring.
Nervous about
ordering over the internet? Give us a call - we can answer all
your questions and help make your ring purchase easy.
[MORE about
our ordering process, guarantee and other policies]
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Types
of gold
and other
precious metals |
Holiday Gifts!
Come see Todd's new sister site www.toddalanstudios.com
for great gift ideas.
For
More Photos see us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Todd-Alan-Studios/255979147775923
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Most
people are familiar with jewelry made in 14k gold (18k is the
standard abroad) known as yellow
gold or white
gold. Gold for jewelry is also
milled in subtle shades of green and red (also called rose).
Red gold looks like brightly polished copper but doesn't tarnish
like copper. Green gold is very close in shading to 14k yellow
but has a slight greenish cast. White gold is silverish with a
touch of yellow or in the case of our palladium white gold the color
is a greyish silver (Left).
Platinum
is not a gold but is a precious metal becoming more popular in fine
jewelry. Heavier than gold, platinum has a pure silver gray
sheen and is a very strong metal.
Sterling
silver
is a much beloved affordable metal with a whitish, silvery shading.
We
can weave any of our ring styles in combinations of any of these
metals. If you are interested in using combinations of metal or
different-colored golds for your ring(s), please give us a call or
email us with your request. Visit our gold combinations page
for a look at some possibilities. |
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An
Overview of Gold
Gold
is the mostly highly prized of all metals. Its bright yellow
glitter and malleability has made it, since the dawn of history, the
metal most treasured. The earliest craftspeople used gold to fashion
decorative pieces of all kinds. In the Middle Ages, artisans
were trained as goldsmiths to create jewelry and ornaments of the
highest order, some surpassing work done by the craftsmen of today.
Gold
found in its native state is rarely pure 24k, but is usually
associated with silver and often with mercury. In its natural state
of pure gold, the substance is very malleable and can be hammered
into very thin sheets. When the silver content is a high
percentage of a naturally-occuring gold mass, the metal is called
electrum, a natural alloy. Gold is also found in tellurides and ore
containing quartz wherein it is either visible, or enclosed in
particles of sulfide minerals such as chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite,
pyrite, and arsenopyrite. In some high-production gold mines,
the gold is not visible and can be seen only on a highly polished
surface when viewed through a high- powered microscope.
Gold
has no oxides and is not affected by oxygen in the atmosphere as are
other metals. This is why gold does not tarnish -- tarnish is
the result of metal reacting with oxygen in a process called
oxidation. Gold is malleable to the point that it can be
hammered into a leaf or sheet of foil 3/1,000,000 inch thick
(0.000003 inches) on an area approximately 6 square feet. The thin
sheet is translucent and transmits a greenish light through the leaf.
Since
gold alone is too soft to hold a form, gold is alloyed (combined
with other metals) in order to make jewelry. When gold is
alloyed, its ductility is diminished, but its malleability remains
constant, except when large percentages of copper are added to the
alloy. Nickel used as a white gold alloy has the same characteristics
as silver. Zinc is added to the white gold alloy and lightens
the color, but amounts in greater percentage than 14% of the entire
alloyed mass will change the color to red and make the alloy brittle.
The reason for using zinc in gold alloys is to absorb the oxygen to
prevent silver and copper oxides in the mix.
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Palladium White Gold
Standard white gold has a
strong yellow tone to it and often disappoints customers most white
gold you see in stores is plated with rhodium to make it look more
"white". We use the more expensive palladium white gold to
achieve a true white color without plating. This is the white gold
used by many fine jewelers to make a higher quality product. The look
of the palladium white gold is similar to the look of platinum and is
rapidly becoming the industry standard for fine white gold jewelry.
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Platinum
Platinum,
rhodium, palladian -- three of the six separate elements in the
platinum family -- are used for jewelry and decorative purposes.
Platinum was in use for several centuries B.C., but a process to make
it more malleable and workable was not discovered until 1804.
The
color of the metal platinum is grayish white and resembles highly
polished silver when finished. It is reasonably malleable and
extremely ductile. The metal is softened with small percentages of
silver or copper and is hardened when alloyed with iridium.
Like
other metals, platinum work hardens and must be annealed to soften
it to a malleable state.
In
addition to its use as a precious metal for jewelry, platinum is
used for electric wires, contact points, dentistry, and photography.
It is the only metal that will fuse with glass without breaking the
glass, hence its value for use in X-ray and other electronic tube manufacturing..
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Silver
Silver,
also called fine (pure) silver, is the queen of metals and, Re gold
and copper, is a versatile metal with thousands of different uses. In
addition to its use in jewelry and decorative objects, it is an
important electroplating metal. The manufacture of photographic film
is dependent upon silver, and its use in dentistry is equally
important. Other uses of silver include ecclesiastical and domestic
plate, buttons, buckles, boxes, weapons, horse trappings, etc.
Silver
has been held in esteem through the centuries. Silver hallmarks came
into use in A.D. 1300, and Sheffield plate, an innovation of the
eighteenth century, gave birth to an important plating industry which
still flourishes in the United States and in England.
Formerly
used for coinage, its value has increased as much as its demand for
other uses. Silver is still worked as a native craft in Mexico,
Thailand, the southwestern United States, and in Peru.
Silver
occurs in the ore as a metal associated with other metals,
especially gold. When it occurs as a constituent of large percentage
on a natural gold/silver alloy, the metal is called electrum. It is
usually a by-product of large mines producing gold, argentiferous
lead, zinc, and copper ores, but is also found in cobalt and nickel,
and in lead and copper ores. It is also a prominent constituent in
gold tellurides.
In
malleability and ductility, fine silver is second only to gold. When
melted its color is milky white and a milky pink. Harder than gold
but not as hard as copper, it is used in its pure state-fine silver;
however, it is more often used as an alloy-sterling silver. Fine
silver is used in articles where a higher melting point is desirable,
and it is especially useful for enameling projects because of the
absence of oxides formed by copper in alloys. Silver foil, Used like
gold foil, can be rolled or hammered to a translucent sheet measuring
0.000012", which is so thin that a blue light can be transmitted
through the metal.
Sterling
silver
The
standard alloy of sterling silver is composed of .925 parts pure
silver and .725 parts pure copper. Mexican silver is alloyed with
.950 parts silver and the remainder in copper. Prior to 1965, United
States coin silver was .900 parts silver and the balance copper. Both
types of silver are subject to oxidation when heated; however, in
normal atmospheric conditions, the silver alloy reacts much sooner
than the pure metal. The normal oxide occurring on the metal when
heated is a sulfide film produced by the torch. Silver alloys also
produce oxides, cupric and cuprous, formed by the presence of copper
in the alloy. Tarnish on silver is produced by sulfuric oxides in the
atmosphere and by certain foods or body salts.. |
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Sandard
white 14k gold
Platinum
Silver |
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