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Post by sitnwrap on Jun 24, 2009 19:57:52 GMT -5
I have a question about GF wire and skin sensativity. I know some people are sensative to metals including myself. But I had not heard of sensativity to GF until Amber let me know that My GF wraps are affecting her.
She said she is sensative to nickel, so I did some research and found out that one of the metals mixed with gold to create GF is nickel. I also found out that another metal used is brass.
Are there suppliers out there that indicate the type of GF they carry, and does anyone know any more info on this?
I hate the thought that someone is being affected by my wraps.
I am also concerned and maybe someone will know. If you continue to wear wire that you are sensative to, will that sensativity get worse?
I told her to send them back and I'ld rewrap them but she wont give them up. lol but I am a little worried.
Any info or insight would be really helpful.
Thanks
Lori
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Jun 25, 2009 1:39:05 GMT -5
I wonder if she could coat the wire? Maybe some clear nail polish?
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Post by Bejewelme on Jun 25, 2009 5:16:20 GMT -5
Lori is all worked up, but lots of stuff irrates me, sometimes I don't finish the edges of the backs of the cabs and they scrape a little. It is very strange when I wear Lori's wraps, I get a big black spot on my chest where the cab lays. I wore all my GF wraps from everyone for a week to see if any others leave a mark, only Lori's leaves a black mark! I said she is marking me, LOL!!! I was thinking nailpolish maybe too. I am thinking it depends where the wire comes from maybe there is different metal content as the fillers? Obviously Lori sells a lot of wraps and she doesn't want others to have the black marking problem. This all started when I met Tony and started wearing cabs everyday, now I have to wear them everyday to hide the marks, LOL! I sort of have a red splotchy area that is always there now. I think even the gold plating on my leaf bails irratates. Just curious if anyone else encountered this. Amber
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Post by frane on Jun 25, 2009 6:22:53 GMT -5
I suspect Lori's batch has a slightly higher level of Nichol in it than it usually does. I think range of how much can be in there is pretty wide. I would contact the seller of the wire and let them know about the reaction. They in turn usually contact the distributor and let them know. It boils down to money. How much can they get away with and still have it GF. A lot of people have that reaction. Usually over time, you become more sensitive to that metal if in constant contact. I would try the clear nail polish first and see if that helps. If it is turning your skin black, it may be another mineral in there as filler but maybe it is just the Nichol. Really hard to say. My middle son has a reaction to it that is pretty bad. He wanted to take a construction class that was building a habitat house. Well, handling the nails after a week, he had large whelps all over his hands and could hardly bend his fingers due to the hard blister like areas. The work gloves they had didn't help because people had already touched the nails before slipping the class gloves on so the contaminant was in the gloves already. When we took him to the DR. he needed 6 weeks to let his hands heal so there went the class. To say the least, if he has to nail anything, he has his own gloves on now. Fran
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Post by sitnwrap on Jun 25, 2009 8:22:27 GMT -5
Sask, when I was researching, I read that nail polish only seemed to cause more problems as the polish chips and rubs off with time.
Amber is the only one that has brought my attention to this but most of my wraps are given away and the few that I have sold are to friends or friends of friends.
My supplier is a local bead store and when I returned an unused ounce of silver wire due to defective manufacturing (the sides of the square wire was very sharp) it was a very prefunctory return and little interest was shown concerning the wires defect. I switched buying my silver wire from this store to Rio Grande and intend to buy my GF wire from them also now. I'm hoping that they will be able to tell me if they use brass or nickel as filler. I have not found through my research where brass causes skin issues.
Thanks for the info.
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Jun 25, 2009 10:03:14 GMT -5
Here is a questin Amber, you say it leaves a spot. Is it cab shaped or wire shaped? Just wondering if maybe Lori uses a different polish from the others? Might be some residue? What kind of polish do you two use?
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Post by Bejewelme on Jun 25, 2009 11:15:39 GMT -5
She wipes her wire with a yellow polishing cloth same as Tony does. Hum that is a good point Sas, if she is using a gold cleaner or something maybe that is making the mark? The mark on me is just like a blob where the cab lays and obviously moves as I move. I wear all my cabs on real sterlig or 14 KT gold necklaces, so I never have any wire around my neck.
Fran- That sounds terrible about your son. Allergies are so strange! That is a severe reaction.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 25, 2009 22:03:36 GMT -5
I can't make my mom silver jewelry because she's sensitive to silver oxide, so I guess there's a problem with silver sometimes too. I had heard of the nickel but not the silver......Mel
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Saskrock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2007
Posts: 1,852
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Post by Saskrock on Jun 26, 2009 0:39:40 GMT -5
I was actually thinking the polish on the cab. Aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tin oxide etc. The wire polish might do it too though.
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Post by sitnwrap on Jun 26, 2009 8:23:23 GMT -5
I polish my wires with a silver polishing cloth only. I know that that clothe is treated with a micro abrassive/polishing agent but I don't know what the polishing medium is.
Sask, I know that she has GF wire from others that are not causeing her problems so I think it may be the issue with my wires nichol content.
If Amber is willing, I'm going to use her as the test subject for the new wire when I get it. lol.
Prior to children, I could wear any type of metal. After the kids came, I could not wear any type of earrings or bracelets. I just came out of menopause, which is really mental pause, and I can wear some metals again.
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Post by akansan on Jun 26, 2009 8:51:20 GMT -5
My youngest sister is extremely allergic to nickel as well. I've just gotten used to using "real" metals because of it. Lori, from what I know of GF, brass is the most common alternate ingredient in GF, partially because it is similar in color to gold. I'd definitely try from another (more used) shop to see if she reacts. If she reacts from wire from Rio, I'd then look at your own process instead of the wire.
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2009 13:44:33 GMT -5
I am also extremely sensitive to metals........even the button on my jeans will irritate my skin. I generally wear Titanium or Niobium because of it. If Im wearing metals that have the potential to irritate me I just wear them for short periods of time.
Shannon
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Post by sitnwrap on Jun 29, 2009 14:05:31 GMT -5
I never heard of Niobium before, going to go look that up. I'll order the GF from Rio and not polish it at all and see what happens. Thanks.
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buck570
starting to shine!
Member since February 2009
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Post by buck570 on Jun 29, 2009 21:32:21 GMT -5
GF has brass as the core metal, brass is a copper alloy, a common problem in using GF is polishing off the gold down to the base metal,or the gold wearing off. The copper oxide leave a green or black smudge depending on the person acidity level. It's a pretty thin layer of gold,easy to get overly aggressive getting that perfect shine. And the brass shines just like gold. Just another thought,been there and done that.
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buck570
starting to shine!
Member since February 2009
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Post by buck570 on Jun 29, 2009 21:41:23 GMT -5
Titanium & Niobium are reactive metals , and hypo-allergenic. Do a search for shining wave metals ,and Mr. titanium for more info. Both can be anodized or torch heated to produce a wide range of colors in the the metal.
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Post by sitnwrap on Jun 30, 2009 9:37:43 GMT -5
Buck, Thanks for the info. The description you gave sounds more like Gold plate. My understanding of Gold filled is that the metals are actually mix with the gold so that the wire is of the same composition of gold and base metal all the way through and that there is no layering of gold on metal.
This is just my understanding of what I have read about the two, GF and Gold plate.
I looked up Niobium, it looks like it is a fun wire to work with and beautiful colors and bit pricey.
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Post by akansan on Jun 30, 2009 10:34:29 GMT -5
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Post by sitnwrap on Jun 30, 2009 16:31:45 GMT -5
Boy was I mistaken, Thanks for the link.
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Post by akansan on Jun 30, 2009 17:09:11 GMT -5
I've heard it two different ways, as well. I've also heard that there's a tube of base metal with gold in the center and then gold plating on the outside. It could be that the wire you've been using is more along these lines, and the gold has polished off in spots.
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buck570
starting to shine!
Member since February 2009
Posts: 46
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Post by buck570 on Jun 30, 2009 21:30:58 GMT -5
GF is typically 20 percent gold by weight . You will see it marked as 10/20,12/20 ,14/20 the first number being the karat level of the gold the second being the weight of the gold in the wire. So in one oz. of wire 1/5 of the oz is gold. Its a heat and pressure bond ing process. Its much thicker layer than any plating. Still in all a very thin layer. I sand off the sharp edges of my pliers to avoid nicking the wire and polish in a tumblers with s.s shot. American Indian jewelers who use GF sometimes use gold easy solder on the cut ends to cover the exposed brass.
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