Wire Lace

I wanted to pass along a reply we got from the supplier of our wire lace. One of our customers wanted to know how the finish would hold up. It's funny talking to suppliers. I'm always really amazed at what some folks will do to test out their jewelry!

Q -

I've got a customer asking if the wirelace colors would be affected by sweat,

perfume or other body chemistry. Also will it 'tarnish' or change colour over

time or if abraded?

A -

The color is enamel and bonded onto the wire. It will not tarnish and should not change color. It can be hand washed so it should not be affected by normal sweat, perfume or body chemistry. Of course, people do some weird things that we can't anticipate but under normal conditions it should be fine.

I've had customers:

1. use chemicals on it to try to oxidize it and change the color - obviously that wrecked the finish

2. another who 'scrubbed it' to remove some of the enamel coating just to see if it could be done – apparently it can be done.

3. Put in a kiln on glass and incinerated it (customer thought it would hold up because it was 'heat resistant'.)

4. Put it in a dryer because “IF it can be gently hand washed…then it SHOULD be ok in the dryer and customer thought it would ‘fluff up the lacy waves after hand washing”. Didn’t work but apparently customer was able to still use it.

On another note, I’ve had a lady who emailed me to say she was fusing WireLace between glass. When it went into the furnace it mostly burned off but there were areas of residue that remained because it was sealed in between the glass and she said it was really pretty.

FYI: Aluminum IS aluminum – whereas the other colors are a blended base of copper/brass and is not as strong as the other colors.