We use a lot of different metals, and each has their own properties and preferred uses. If you still have a question after reading this, feel free to send an e-mail and we’ll see if we can find an answer for you.

Aluminum

The most abundant metal on our planet, and coincidentally the most abundant one in our shop. Aluminum is lightweight, shiny, won’t rust, and can be anodized into a range of bright colors.

It’s relatively inexpensive plain, although anodization does run the cost up quite a bit. Also, supply for anodized rings can be hard to come by at certain times of the year. What also makes it attractive to us is its relative softness; pieces in aluminum work up much faster than things out of stronger metals, and it won’t destoy our wrists.

The light weight makes aluminum ideal for large jewelry pieces, and when combined with the color options it makes for great costumes. Added Bonus: You can wash it with plain soap and water, give it a good shake or rubdown, then hang it up to dry. That’s it!

Hands down, it’s my favorite metal to work with.

Steel

Mighty Steel! Everyone is familiar with this metal, so I don’t think I need to give you guys a run-down on it, do I? Most of us use steel every day. I know I do – My tools are made out of it.

As a result, stainless steel is the material favored by LARPers, re-enactors, and men in general. It’s heavy, it’s strong, and it looks the part. We can even get spring steel, which is stronger but a pain to work with.

If you’re looking for a weekend cosplay shirt or bit of party wear, I would suggest aluminum. It can stand up to light use and it looks great. But if you need a costume that can withstand weekend LARP use and the elements, you can’t go wrong with stainless. I never call anything we make armor, not only for legal reasons, but because in the end you’re still wearing a shirt full of holes, so be careful.

On the softer side of things, surgical steel makes up most of our earrings hooks due to its hypo-allergenic qualities. Sometimes we’re able to find clasps made out of stainless steel for use on our heftier jewelry pieces, as well. I actually quite enjoy using stainless for my most delicate work because I know the rings are strong enough to hold up to normal use, even on bracelets.

Price-wise stainless steel is cheaper than aluminum but it takes longer to make something out of it, so the cost can be higher. The bottom line? Steel isn’t easy on the hands, but it’s easy on the wallet and should last most people a good, long while. A great value for the use you can get out of it.

Silver

I love silver. Clear and bright and a joy to handle, silver makes for lovely maille jewelry with a pleasant weight. I just wish it weren’t so expensive to buy, which is why you don’t see many sterling pieces for sale in the shop.

As pretty as it is silver can be hard to work with because it’s fairly soft. Each ring must be handled with care while I assemble it to avoid scratching the rings with my pliers. Even coated pliers can leave a dent, so sterling silver work tends to take me a long time. Also, certain weave or ring size combinations sometimes don’t work well in silver. The finished product just wouldn’t be strong enough, so I have to rely heavily on my experience.

A really nice thing about sterling maille is that it can be antiqued and then polished to bring out the texture of the maile weave itself. This looks especially nice with Persian family and tight Byzantine weaves.

We use sterling silver mostly, but can get our hands on fine silver if that’s what’s desired.

14k Yellow Gold Fill

The wire used to make the rings is essentially a 14k yellow gold tube filled with jeweler’s brass for strength. Any more gold in this and it would be too soft for maille use (trust me on this one). I admit I’m not a huge fan of gold; just never have been, personally, but I actually enjoy working with it! The core gives it plenty of strength, so I’m not terrified of destroying the ring’s shape while I work. Still, the outer gold shell is quite soft so I need to be careful with my pliers during construction.

Sadly gold is gold, and as such is always quite costly. I have a very small amount on hand that I like to add here and there as accent bits to sterling jewelry pieces.

But if you’re looking to really WOW a special someone you can’t go wrong with precious metals. We can get 14K gold in yellow, white, and rose. We can even get solid 10k gold if you need it.

Copper

A common household metal usually seen in pipes, wires, and cookware. And while it’s very soft and pliable, it can make for some great maille in the right sizes. I wouldn’t use this for clothing, but for jewelry or even decorative objects around the home it’s wonderful. It has a pleasant weight, and the conductivity makes it warm to the touch.

The other fun thing about copper is that it can be enamelled to be pretty much any color you can think of, and usually in bright jewel tones that are unavailable in other metals. Now, enamelled copper isn’t copper that has been covered in real enamel. The “enamelling” is really a coating of translucent colored plastic over the copper wire core. The bright jewel/stained glass effect it can have comes from the light going through the plastic and reflecting off of the copper underneath. It’s very pretty; just go into any craft store and have a look at the wire in the jewelry section and you’ll see what I mean.

The only downside to copper is that it can be a bit expensive even in raw form, and it’s so soft that I have to be extra-careful when working with it. When it comes to actually making something I also have to take into account whether not the rings and weave I’ve selected will hold up over time, so it can be a bit tricky. It’s all experience at that point.

Brass

Brass is enjoying a resurgence lately, and is a great way to add a bit of color to large maile items without having to resort to more expensive and weaker metals. It makes wonderful trim on steel costume work, and if you’re really looking to make an impression you can always go all the way! Brass jewelry gives a comperable strength and heft that you’d find with steel, but gives a warmer feel due to the color and is much cheaper than gold.

Brass is usually a bit soft but the rings we use are of a harder temper, which means that they are durable while still being workable. We have a large brass mantle that’s about four years old now, and it’s still looking kingly on men and elegant on women. It’s even fairly easy to clean; Brasso works wonders, and on certain jewelry pieces can give you a wonderful antiqued look. Being a copper alloy it will tarnish over time, but if you’re diligent with the cleaning you can keep it nice and bright. Even aged it looks lovely.

Work-wise it feels like steel to me, but is a bit more expensive to buy. As such it is usually found as trim and inlay work on larger steel pieces.

Bronze

I will say right here that bronze doesn’t get enough love. Most people think of statues when they think of bronze, but to me that’s a great feature!

New bronze is a lovely rich copper color. It’s an alloy of copper and tin, so think of pennies. Likewise, old bronze looks like an old penny or those sculptures you might have been thinking about. It’s a bit stronger than brass and works just as well with steel as inlay or edge work. It can even be cleaned with Brasso. It is also slightly more expensive than brass, but not by much.

I personally like to use bronze in jewelry pieces where I want the warm look of copper, but need more strength. It is ideal for delicate micromaile work and is very striking when paired with stainless steel.

Metals We’d Like to Use

We can get our hands on titanium, iconel and niobium, but they’re a bit pricey for us to just toss into a ring order.

Titanium and niobium are both roughly steel-colored when plain, but they can be anodized like aluminum. They come out vastly different, though. Anodized titanium comes out soft and muted, with very subtle and elegant colors. Niobium is the polar opposite. While anodized niobium can appear a bit dusky, its brilliance is right up there with enamelled copper. Niobium also has the added bonus of being hypo-allergenic, so metal-sensitive people who want bright color in their jewelry can wear it without a problem.

Iconel is called a “super-alloy” because it’s highly corrosion-resistant; right up there with gold and platinum. It looks like steel and I hear it makes great jewelry, but I would mostly like to work with it just to see what it’s like. ^_^