Wedding Rings Forever: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

Thanks AJ!

It's always nice to receive an email, or in this case a letter in the mail with some kind words.

"Thanks Wade for swapping the tungsten rings for me and getting them here quickly. My wedding in August 1st so I was a little worried they wouldn't make it on time. I am very happy with the ring. Everyone I have shown it to loves it. I will recommend you to any friends looking for a nice, affordable ring."

All the best to you, AJ, as you start the biggest adventure life has to offer.

Monday, July 27, 2009

The Colors and Karats of Gold

Sometimes shopping for gold can be confusing. Should you get 14K or 18K? What does the karat of gold mean anyway? What is the difference between white, rose, and yellow colored gold? Let us explore the advantages and disadvantages of different colors and karats of gold jewelry.

We'll start at the beginning. Gold has been used as early as 2600 B.C. and shown in Egyptian hieroglyphs of the same time period. People have spent their entire lives traveling to the ends of the Earth in search for this precious metal.

The system of karats simply shows the purity of gold. 24 karat gold is considered 99.9% pure and any other karat of gold can be divided by 24 to give its percentage purity. For example, 14 karat gold is 58.3% pure. (14 / 24 = .583) Another common example is 18 karat gold which is 75% pure. (18 / 24 = .75) The purity of any gold can be found by plugging into this simple math formula. Hence, the higher the karat of gold, the more pure it is, and the more expensive it is.

This begs the question of what else makes up the other percentage of jewelry when 10K, 14K and 18K gold is most widely used in the industry?

Gold alloys are used and created to alter the malleability, color, melting point, and most importantly, hardness. 24K pure gold is very soft and when used in jewelry is damaged very easily. The other percentage of jewelry in lower karat gold is most often made of copper, giving it a red hue. Silver and palladium is also used, along with nickel and in rare cases iron and aluminum. High karat gold alloys are much more resistant to corrosion and tarnish than sterling silver, but should still be maintained and cleaned professionally and on a regular basis depending on how often your jewelry is being worn and used.

Rose gold gets its hue from a higher percentage of copper used in the jewelry, usually taking place of silver. It matches some skin tones wonderfully and contrasts all diamonds. It is also regaining popularity again in our time.

White gold can most often be broken into two categories. There are those that use nickel and those that use palladium to "bleach" out the yellow.

While nickel has the strongest bleaching abilities, a rare percentage of the population are allergic to nickel. While Europe has developed regulatory laws stating how much nickel may be used in jewelry, the US has not and it is important that you consider using a jeweler that is reputable and not always just the cheapest.

When palladium is used as the bleaching agent, there are no allergic issues but the price goes up as it is a more precious metal falling into the platinum group.

This informative article is meant to educate those shopping for a wedding band. Often times the diamond education and "The 4 C's" is pushed so much that we forget the importance of the rest of the ring holding the diamond. With this knowledge one can hope to find a wedding ring that will truly make them happy forever.

Written By: Wade Peterson

Friday, July 24, 2009

Happy Pioneer Day!

Wedding Rings Forever would like to wish everyone out there a Happy Pioneer Day, and especially to all those in Utah who are enjoying a nice 3-Day weekend.

Monday, July 20, 2009

What is Rhodium Plating and Why Should I Do It?

To understand why one should care to rhodium plate their jewelry, we first must understand a few things about rhodium itself. Rhodium is a rare, silver to white metal, that comes from the platinum group in the periodic table. It is one of the most expensive metals, at almost twice the price of platinum and three to four times the cost of gold. Rhodium has an extremely high reflectivity and doesn't normally form an oxide, even when heated.

There are various reasons to rhodium plate our jewelry, especially wedding bands and rings.

Many times white gold is rhodium plated to enhance the reflectivity of the ring and make the diamonds look more brilliant. Because rhodium is a "noble metal" and inert, it withstands corrosion and makes jewelry more durable as well.

Most often jewelers will use a small amount of palladium or nickel to bleach yellow gold and turn it into "white gold." The issue arising here is that the white gold is more of a pale yellow than bright white. When the rhodium plating is applied, it makes the ring more attractive and reflective. This process is called electroplating and usually leaves a protective coating about the thickness of a micron on standard 14k white gold. The common term for this in the jewelery industry is rhodium flashing.

The rhodium plating will eventually wear off and should be reapplied every couple years. This will be evidenced on the portions of the ring that receive the most wear and start to look the pale yellow color instead of bright white. To prevent this, choose a jeweler that uses a brighter white gold to start with, and the contrast will be much less. Rhodium plating should be a free process from whatever jeweler you decide to purchase your ring from.

Written By: Wade Peterson

Friday, July 17, 2009

La Caille Show

We had a great time at the La Caille Bridal Show last Saturday. What a beautiful ambiance up there! Just as you turn off the road you cross a bridge which has swans and head up a little country road to the reception area. We gave away a couple tungsten bands, sold a few tungsten bands, and are continuing to get our name out all over Utah as the premier place to have one-on-one service in building your Wedding Rings Forever.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Why Do Rings Turn My Skin Green?

After last weeks post about allergic reactions to rings and bands, I had many people ask me why I didn't mention anything about rings turning their fingers green.

When a wedding band or any ring for that matter turns your skin a different color, most often green or black, this is usually not an allergic reaction. It is simply the ring reacting to the air, your finger, and other factors such as perspiration.

Copper jewelry turns your skin green. Most people will say, "I don't own any copper jewelry." However, though most people don't wear pure copper jewelry, it may be present in high enough levels to cause this reaction in other metals, such as 10K gold.

Sterling sliver is usually between 7-8% copper, but most stains are usually black because sterling silver is prone to tarnishing. It can be plated with other metals to help, but eventually these platings wear off exposing the base metal.

Gold rings hardly ever stain our skin, it's the other metals present within that cause the problem. Often times silver, copper, and nickel are used to strengthen gold and make it more economical. The lower the karat of gold, (10K, 14K, 18K, and 24K are the most common), the lower the concentration of pure gold in the jewelry. In the United States, 10K gold only has to be 41.7% pure gold, making the rest of the ring something that could cause this reaction with your skin. While some people are allergic to 10K gold, they may be able to solve their problems by simply wearing 18K gold instead.

After all is said and done, there are some simple methods to avoid the dreaded green stain on your skin. Here is a list of the best ones we've created to fit any budget.

#1 - Platinum rings rarely reacts with skin because they should be 95% pure platinum. Though expensive, platinum is the best there is.

#2 - Try switching to a higher karat gold, such as 18K or 24K gold.

#3 - Stainless steel and titanium are cheap and normally won't cause allergic reactions or discoloration.

#4 - Look for jewelry specifically labeled hypo-allergenic.

#5 - Coat your jewelry with clear nail polish where it comes in contact with your skin.

#6 - Keep your skin dry and clean where you wear your jewelry.

#7 - Simply don't wear the pieces of jewelry that offend your skin 24/7.

Monday, July 6, 2009

How To Solve Allergic Reactions To Wedding Bands

From time to time people will get allergic reactions to their wedding bands. The skin underneath the band may become red, bumpy, and itchy. This may happen the day after you first wear it, or three years down the road. Why does this happen to some people and what causes these reactions?

As we grow our body chemistry changes, and as such, we can become allergic to certain metals. Certain rings are also often plated with gold, rhodium, or silver, which can wear down exposing metals underneath which we are allergic to when they surface. Very rarely are we allergic to the metal which the ring is based on, such as gold, but rather to the trace metals used to strengthen it such as copper and nickel. Often times our skin is irritated because it does not receive any air being under the ring 24/7/365.

How do we solve these problems and prevent future allergic reactions when buying jewelry? There are a few options we can turn to for those with this problem.

#1 - Remove your wedding band and carefully wash your hands, in particular between your fingers. Then wash your ring with water to get off all the lotion, soap, sweat and other nasty stuff off it that gets trapped in there. Keep your ring off for a few days until your skin clears up. Do your best not to itch your finger, and if you can't resist buy some hydro cortisone creme for relief. If this solves your problem try wearing the ring again, but take it off when you sleep so your skin can breathe.

#2 - If the above remedy fails to work, you're most likely allergic to one of the metals in the band. If this is the case, do one of the following:
a) Coat the inside of the ring with clear nail polish and allow to dry completely.
b) Visit a jeweler to have your ring plated.
c) Visit an allergist to find out which metal you're allergic to and buy a ring without that metal.

The safest metals to buy if you are often allergic to jewelry are ones that are pure and ones marked hypo-allergenic. Titanium is almost always a safe bet and is used in many surgical instruments. Ceramic rings are also allergic to less than .001% of the human population and are almost as scratch resistant as tungsten. 24K gold is also good but weak and easy to damage. Anything less than 24K gold will have the same alloys in it that you're allergic to right now. It's also spendy. 950 Platinum is the very best there is, and one we recommend at Wedding Rings Forever.