How many microns of gold do I need?

[silken]

If you want to sell the earrings and describe them as 'vermeil' (gold plated silver), the gold layer will need to be at least 2.5 microns. This is, compared to most commercial plated jewellery, a nice thick plate and quite hard wearing.

I know nothing about the process of measuring the thickness of the plate but I plate my own jewellery with a little pen electroplating kit and I love it! It would be nice to know how thick the layer of gold is though

[Inanegal]

If you want to sell the earrings and describe them as 'vermeil' (gold plated silver), the gold layer will need to be at least 2.5 microns.

That's interesting; I didn't know that fact about vermeil. Thanks, Silken.

[ShinyLauren]

I went into Elliot Fitzpatrick platers in London on Friday to get some quotes. They recommended to me 2 microns for necklaces, 1 micron for earrings and at least 3 microns for rings, although said that people do often go for a thicker 5 micron coating on rings, as they are worn a lot.

Hope that helps.

[Inanegal]

Thanks, Lauren, that's very helpful.
Nina

[medusa]

If you want to sell the earrings and describe them as 'vermeil' (gold plated silver), the gold layer will need to be at least 2.5 microns. This is, compared to most commercial plated jewellery, a nice thick plate and quite hard wearing.

I know nothing about the process of measuring the thickness of the plate but I plate my own jewellery with a little pen electroplating kit and I love it! It would be nice to know how thick the layer of gold is though

I'm surprised that vermeil is that thick, I always thought it was a super thin plating, so that's good to know. I suppose if it's thicker it won't 'migrate' into the silver.

I went into Elliot Fitzpatrick platers in London on Friday to get some quotes. They recommended to me 2 microns for necklaces, 1 micron for earrings and at least 3 microns for rings, although said that people do often go for a thicker 5 micron coating on rings, as they are worn a lot.

Hope that helps.

is there a huge difference in price between one and five microns? Also, if you are electroplating, once you get one micron or molecule depth of gold, how do they build it up?

[Dennis]

How many microns of gold do I need?

An ancient philosophical question is: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Well, if it is a mm across and they are a micron thick a thousand can line up in a queue to get off. Dennis

[Inanegal]

How many microns of gold do I need?

An ancient philosophical question is: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Well, if it is a mm across and they are a micron thick a thousand can line up in a queue to get off. Dennis

Very amusing, Dennis!

Nina

[silken]

[QUOTE=medusa;52053]I'm surprised that vermeil is that thick, I always thought it was a super thin plating, so that's good to know. I suppose if it's thicker it won't 'migrate' into the silver.

The problem is, many people describe things as vermeil when they are in fact just silver with a very fine layer of gold but without laboratory equipment you can't tell the difference. Vermeil is a protected term and to legally describe something as vermeil, there must be at least 2.5 microns of gold

[medusa]

Thanks for the clarification, that's really helpful to know