Fall 2012 Jewelry Trends

According to the website, Rocks, Paper, Metal, there are four big jewelry trends to watch out for this Fall:

1. Disco - if you are old enough to remember the disco era of the 70s, then you know we're talking about bold geometric shapes and components, resin and enamel accents, stud and the huge "door knocker" earrings as well as anything in the 70s colors - grey, black, yellow, red, orange to name a few.
2. Creamy Colors - and flesh tones are hot this Fall as you can tell by all the fashion magazines. These colors include milky stones and/or beads, cream, white and light turquoise patinas, cabochon beads  and anything made up or composed of metal, cord, resin and shell.
3. It seems to me that anything having to do with Nature never really goes out of style and this Fall is no exception. Look for earthy and neutral colors, floral and animal accents, animal prints (including textures on metals) and stackable rings. Feathers also continue to be very popular.
4. Like Nature, Tribal doesn't seem to be going out of style any time soon either. One of the key things to look for with this trend is worn, burnished platings and traditional tribal colors like dark reds, oranges, blues, browns and yellows and surprisingly, they're being mixed with - neons! Castings and etchings of natural objects such as feathers, horns and anything floral are also expected to be hot this Fall.

One trend that I'm seeing a lot of that this site didn't mention was the use of Argentium. According to Wikipedia, Argentium is a "modern sterling silver alloy which modifies the traditional alloy (92.5% silver + 7.5% copper) by replacing some of the copper with the metalloid germanium. As it retains the 92.5% silver content of the traditional alloy, it is still referred to as sterling silver."

Because it has the same silver content, you work with Argentium much like you would with regular sterling silver; however, Argentium has some very nice properties that silver doesn't. For example, thanks to its Germanium content, it has a high resistance to tarnish and best of all, it does not get the dreaded firescale when soldered or heated to high temperatures. On the other hand, it has a lower melting point (1410 degrees F) compared to sterling silver (1475 degrees F).

Argentium is patented and trademarked by the Argentium Silver Company, UK.

I've never worked Argentium, but I think I'll give it a try soon. Stay tuned.