Bead Chat

Re: less expensive gold options for metal sensitivity - experience with gold filled or vermeil?

SCB1 — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:17:13 GMT

MichelleWhite:
SCB - Thanks for the link

Michelle, you are more than welcome. Glad the site helped you to understand the different metals.

Re: less expensive gold options for metal sensitivity - experience with gold filled or vermeil?

MichelleWhite — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 20:44:08 GMT

DMZ, those are great ideas. I am trying to limit any actual metals to just the clasps and earring wires, or to pieces that I know I will always wear over something like a turtleneck. Sounds like gold filled might be worth trying! Good to know vermeil is flaky.

I know about the changing body reactions. I used to love shellfish as a child, but when I was a teenager I developed pretty bad reactions to it, hives/swelling/vomiting... Couldn't eat it for years but then in my early 30s I found I could eat it again with no problem! Sadly, I have not yet lost my sensitivity to metals. :-(

Re: less expensive gold options for metal sensitivity - experience with gold filled or vermeil?

MichelleWhite — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 20:36:57 GMT

SCB - Thanks for the link, that is very helpful! I never understood why I reacted to gold plating, but my boyfriend said he worked in a metal shop and they used nickel in the plating process. And now I know why I sometimes react to sterling silver earrings (I had always assumed sterling silver meant 100%).

Re: less expensive gold options for metal sensitivity - experience with gold filled or vermeil?

D.M.Z — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 18:56:56 GMT

Michelle, You are in a tough place......without going to a solid gold item you may have reactions. Gold Filled will be your best bet, but it does have other metals in it, but should be totally encased by the "sandwich" of gold. Vermeil is going to wear off sooner or later as it is just an applied coating. Maybe you could avoid it all by using gold glass beads in your designs and get the gold effect without taking the chance on making something with gold colored metal and reacting to it. When I was younger and ate all the wrong stuff, I was able to turn most metals into problems with my skin, green or red and irritated were most common. I could "etch" off plating in a nano second. Whatever happened, my system has changed and I can even wear brass with no problems now. Donna

Re: less expensive gold options for metal sensitivity - experience with gold filled or vermeil?

SCB1 — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 16:50:29 GMT

I am not crazy for the vermeil pieces, while I love the gold filled. It is very nice, and doesn't turn on you. To find out the difference of the two go to this site,

mainelyurns "dot" com/gold-vermeil-sterling-silver.html you will need to add the www. to the address, and you need to also take the "dot" out and put "." in. I did it this way, in hopes that it doesn't go to moderation which it never comes out of.

Hope this will explain the differences in several metals.

hope this works.

less expensive gold options for metal sensitivity - experience with gold filled or vermeil?

MichelleWhite — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 16:38:36 GMT

I am very new to beading and glad I found this forum! I hope to make some affordable jewelry for myself, but I am sensitive to a lot of metals used in jewelry. Mostly I use silver, but would like some gold pieces... but I can't wear gold plated metals. However, I have not tried gold filled or vermeil before. Does anyone have any good/bad experience with gold 'filled' metal or vermeil? Do these tend to cause reactions?

Thanks!