Dubbed the “space age metal,” titanium is fast becoming the most versatile and wearable base metal of choice for jewelry makers and consumers seeking hi-tech jewelry. In combination, consumers can draw on the advantages and contrast of multiple metals to create so-called “space age jewelry,” according to jewelry designer Eric Pless.
Titanium can be seamlessly combined with any other jewelry material, such as gold, platinum, diamonds, emeralds, and even the lesser-known materials, such as carbon fiber, niobium, and zirconium. Aesthetically, titanium boasts a dark platinum color which has made it a desirable jewelry metal in its own right.
On a practical level, titanium’s unmatched strength-to-weight ratio allows the addition of both strength and near weightlessness to traditional jewelry materials. It also adds a high degree of corrosion-resistance, and hypoallergenic properties.
Perhaps the most attractive upshot for consumers, however, is the ability to reduce the overall price of jewelry pieces by combining materials with titanium, while increasing quality.
Metals that have been combined in this way are known as “inlays”. The softer metals are literally crushed into the harder titanium, and the metals can sit side-by-side in any patterned arrangement. In the case of titanium, inlays allow any other material, such as gold, to sit with the titanium to reap all of its unique benefits.
For example, gold is naturally heavy and soft, but when inlayed with titanium, it becomes significantly lighter and impact resistant. Meanwhile, wearers can still flaunt the color of the gold.
“Just about any combination is possible, the diversity and contrast is truly astounding,” says jewelry designer Eric Pless of TiRings.com. “You can take your traditional jewelry piece, like a gold diamond ring, and by basing it off titanium, you can completely eliminate things like tarnish, heaviness, skin reactions, and so on. You truly get a ‘space age’ ring that lasts forever.”
Stand-alone titanium itself can be manipulated to create unique results. For example, the typically expensive “Mokume Gane” ring becomes affordable when crafted in titanium. Mokume Gane inlayed titanium rings have the remarkable appearance of wood grain – originally seen on Japanese Samurai swords. Another type of manipulation results in the so-called “Sable Titanium ring finish” technique, which has the appearance of soft silk. Both of these techniques are trade secrets, according to their makers at TiRings.com.
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Eric Pless
TiRings Studio
11427 North Bloomfield RD
Nevada City, CA 95959
(866) 369-4161
[email protected]
http://www.tirings.com
