This month I want to discuss the different silver metals available. Of course everyone knows about Sterling Silver. In addition to sterling silver there is silver plated and silver tone also called silver colored metal. Which ones best, how are they made, and how do they hold up?

The Difference is?

The differences between the 3.

Sterling Silver: Sterling Silver is a precious metal that comes out of the earth it is of course to soft in this state to be used in jewelry and is usually mixed with copper or another metal to increase it's strength. All Sterling Silver is .925 pure silver.

Silver Plated: Silver plated metal has a thin layer of silver deposited over a base metal such as copper. This plating is made by electrically charging the silver to the base metal and is done by placing the base metal into a solution that contains silver and electrically charging it for just an instant. This results in a very thin layer of silver being applied that will rub off on the skin or loosen due to natural body oil. Once the electric charge wears off the silver can come off in larger pieces. This type of metal is the least expensive.

Silver Tone: This was a hard one to find information on. Silver Tone metals are just as the name implies, metals that are silver toned. Depending on the metal used this alternative can be just as nice as Sterling Silver and last much longer than Silver Plating. Typical metals that are used in place of Sterling are Platinum, Titanium, Surgical and Stainless Steel, Palladium, Rhodium, Aluminum, and Pewter

How durable is this stuff?

Ack! My skins turning green!

Most of us have had the dreaded experience when we take a piece of jewelry off and find that the skin underneath has turned this lovely shade of Shrek green with a hint of Smurf blue. You can expect this from anything made with silver plating. It happens as the plating wears off leaving the base metal exposed. It usually take 3 days for a plated ring to turn my finger green, but I've had some do it within a few hours.
We of course know that sterling silver will absolutely not turn your skin green, unless you have some weird allergy that is! ;) Depending on the metal, most silver tone metals wont turn your skin green. With silver tone metals you have to be careful because some will eventually turn.

What I think

My personal observations and more

Personally I prefer Sterling Silver. It holds it shine well and when it does tarnish it just takes a polishing cloth to clean up... unless it is really tarnished then you might need to use a liquid cleaner. I have run across some really decent silver plated items but the plating always eventually wears off so I try to avoid them as much as I can in my jewelry creations. They are however a great cost effective alternative for those just starting out in the beading world.
I've personally never used silver toned beads so I can't comment directly on them from personal experiance. I have seen some very nice Rhodium plated charms that I would love to have and I hear that they hold much better than silver plating. If you choose to go the silver tone way just make sure you know what kind of silver toned metal your buying, it seems to make all the difference.