Is now a good time to buy gold?

It’s a question that many jewelry makers need answered, but it’s a hard question to consider.

As you know, the prices of precious metals fluctuate; many newspapers print the current prices of gold and silver by the ounce, and this is a great statistic to watch as a jewelry artist, especially an artist specializing in precious metal wire sculpting!

Gold and Silver Wire

The economy is one of the biggest factors affecting metal prices right now. With the cautious US economic recovery and the European economy, particularly Greece, affecting the value of the dollar and the euro, metal prices have been fluctuating for months. And that can get hard to keep track of!

Now, if watching Wall Street programs doesn’t sound as interesting as say, finding new patterns or photographing your finished work, don’t worry–we’re watching the prices of gold and silver for you!

You may remember that we’ve updated our wire pricing to reflect current market prices–so our wire prices on Sterling Silver wire and Gold Filled wire are consistently up-to-date to match the lowest available price per ounce! You can trust that Wire-Sculpture has the fairest price on gold filled wire for our wire wrapping artists, and today we have gold filled wire available as low as $0.54/foot! As you may know, all our gold filled wire is 14kt quality gold filled wire, and will never rub off like cheap plated wire. You and your customers deserve only the best!

And of course, if you’re a member of our Gold Club, you’ll always receive 25% off all your purchases, even gold filled and sterling silver wire–click here for more information!

Last week, market gold prices took a small dive, and we updated our prices accordingly–our gold filled wire was much lower than usual! That means this is a great time to buy gold wire for your jewelry making! However, with the volatile US economy, gold prices look like they’re on the way back up. Wall Street economists are expecting gold prices to come back up this week, so this looks like a great time to invest in some gold filled wire!

So check your wire stash and make sure you have enough gold filled wire to meet the demands of summer fairs and competitions, in addition to your own custom work or online store. Stock up now and beat the market on gold filled wire and sterling silver wire!

Stay Twisted-
Rose Marion
Wire-Sculpture.com

Have you ever been wrapping along, when suddenly your pliers take a wrong turn? Or maybe you started a pattern, but it didn’t turn out right. There has to be a way to save this wire!

Dale “Cougar” Armstrong is here to help you straighten your bent and kinked wire!

Please note, we are currently working with recyclers to offer a discount to our customers who send in their wire scraps. However, we do not have this program set up yet. We will let you know as soon as we have the program available!

We asked Dale what trend or theme she saw in the Tucson JOGS show this year. Her answer? Labradorite!

Labradorite is named for the Labrador region of Canada, and it’s a beautiful gem, ranging in color and sheen from brown to purple to gold to blue!
You can find a beautiful collection of Labradorite Cabochons and Labradorite Beads right here on Wire-Sculpture.com!

Wire at Wire-Sculpture.com and JOGS!

Stay tuned for more information on the next JOGS Show, which will be from Jan 28 – Feb 08, 2011 at the Tucson Expo Center in  Tucson, AZ. This show will feature members of our very own Wire Faculty: Dale Cougar Armstrong and Albina Manning.

Update: You can find the current JOGS Class Schedule here. The classes will be located at the Tucson Expo Center.

Check out Wire-Sculpture.com‘s great selection of jewelry wire here in gold-filled wire, Argentium wire, copper wire, and more!

Today we’re going to look at Jasper—specifically, what kinds of jasper are out there, where they come from, and what’s so special about picture jasper!

A member of the chalcedony family, jasper is extremely versatile; it has been used in carvings, seals, cabochons, beads, and has even been used in fire-making techniques. Jasper is a semi-precious, opaque, and relatively common stone; what makes jasper so unique is the wide array of colors and patterns it comes in!

Jasper can be found all over the world; common sources include Russia, Uruguay, India, Egypt, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Madagascar, and the United States. Jasper usually has banding, matrix-like inclusions, or a spotted appearance.

Jasper stones that possess unusual patterns, characteristics, and coloring are called “picture jasper.” Types of jasper that resemble a certain pattern, color, or scene are often named for their visual characteristics, and these names can vary from region to region. We call our jasper stones by the names we’re familiar with–but you may recognize a jasper stone as having another name entirely!

Picture jasper stones often resemble animal coats, such as Dalmatian Jasper (jasper resembling the coloring and spots of a Dalmatian dog), Leopard Skin Jasper, and Zebra Jasper (which can come in both black and white stripes, and brown and pink stripes!).

Dalmatian Jasper

Picture jasper can also take the form of a “natural photograph,” showing a landscape or skyscape. See in this stone, how the inclusions and coloring appear to form a field with a river, or perhaps even clouds:

Picture Stone Pendant

And that’s all formed naturally!

Another form of jasper I love is called Paint Brush Jasper, named that way because it looks like someone has dribbled paint along the surface of the stone! You can imagine the ink spreading along the stone, seeping into it and expanding, forming ink drops and pools. In most paint brush jasper, the stone is light, often gray, with dark inclusions forming the “paint.” This is one of my most favorite cabochons we stock; even though it’s a paint brush jasper stone, it looks like a scene of a river surrounded by trees–what does it look like to you?

Paint Brush Jasper

That’s part of the appeal of Jasper, especially picture stone jasper: your customers may see something in the stone that no one else sees, and it becomes special to them. Some people enjoy finding hidden symbols and figures, giving the stone an important significance that only they realize.

Jasper stones are relatively easy to dye, and can imitate lapis lazuli stones fairly well. However, many kinds of jasper possess naturally vivid and unique coloring, and are named for their coloring! Take a look at this poppy jasper cabochon:

Poppy Jasper Cabochon

Doesn’t it just glow? The crimson and red hues play with light and have an unmistakable poppy-like feel. And poppy jasper is said to bring joy into a person’s life–what a lovely stone to wear as a pendant!

Wire-Sculpture stocks many, many kinds of jasper, in both jasper bead and cabochon forms. Here’s a list of the jasper cabochons we carry:

• Autumn Jasper
• Brecciated Jasper
• Dalmatian Jasper
• Fossil Jasper (often contains insects of flowers; “jasperized wood” is another term for petrified wood)
• Leopard Skin Jasper
• Paint Brush Jasper
• Picasso Jasper (named for the abstract, inclusion strokes and glowing colors)
• Picture Stone Jasper
• Poppy Jasper
• Red Jasper
• Zebra Jasper

…And we’re constantly getting new cabochons and beads in stock!

So check out our gemstone cabochons and peek at all our jasper cabs. Available in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, you can use our jasper stones in necklaces, rings, pendants, bangles, hairpieces–anything you can think of! Jasper’s also a great stone to practice your wire wrapping techniques on, as chalcedony is about a 6 or 7 on Mohs scale of hardness. These stones are guaranteed to be unique and one-of-a-kind; give your customers a lovely, natural stone that they will cherish!

So how about you? What are your favorite kinds of jasper, and what names for picture jasper do you know that we haven’t covered?