There are those who say that there’s no such thing as white gold because gold … is gold.
Same thing, I suppose.
The fact is that gold, these days is not always gold. It can be white, red or even green. I’ve used some green gold and it is sort of, just about, a tiny bit green if you put it next to ‘normal’ yellow gold.
I’m a bit of a fan of rose gold. It was used a great deal in Victorian times and then fell out of fashion for a long time. For me it has two advantages: firstly it’s just a bit unusual; a bit different from the run-of-the-mill stuff that fills the shiny shelves of the High Street jewellers. Secondly, it gives a nice contrast when used with silver.
You may have noticed that I use the combination of gold and silver a great deal in my ranges. It makes it distinctive and raises it above the cheaper imported silver jewellery. If, however, you just solder silver and gold together and then give it a high polish, the two metals blend into each other and the contrast disappears. This is because there is so much light cascading off the surface that the eye loses the subtleties of tone between the two metals.
One way around this is to use higher carats such as 18 or even 22ct gold. These have a higher proportion of pure gold and are therefore ‘golder’. Nice, but pricey. Another approach is to make a definitive junction between the metals. This is why I use a lot of gold beads in my jewellery. It helps the eye to identify the different tones because there is a change of shape as well as colour where the two metals join. It’s subtle but it makes all the difference.
Back to rose gold: This, of course, gives even more contrast when used with silver and, if it can be given a different texture as well then it’s even more striking. I was prompted to write this post because of a wedding ring commission that I’m making for a customer at the moment. It’s a palladium ring with a fine, reticulated, rose gold band set into it. I made a mock-up in silver and rose gold for him to look at early in the design process and you can see (or buy) this in the Rogue’s Gallery.
You’ll also find other pieces dotted around my site that incorporate rose gold and you might want to consider it if you’re thinking of commissioning a piece. It will make it just that little bit more distinctive and, in a world of branded blandness, that can only be a good thing.
