April 10, 2021 9:05 AM EDT
When enameling on gold you must use a non-tarnishing alloy that is 75% fine gold and 20% fine silver which is 18 kt gold. My colleague, Rick McMullen formulates his own alloy of 75% fine gold, 20% fine silver and 5% copper, which is stronger using it for the structure of the piece. Any wires he uses would still be done in non-tarnishing gold. With the 75-20-5 alloy one needs to deal with some firescale - so it should be depletion guilded before enameling. Another artist David C. Freda always uses a 20K gold alloy base for his enameled jewelry because he feels it makes the piece lusher and stronger so that he an use thin metal forms in his sculptural brooches.
14 kt gold 14K gold is an alloy composition made of gold and durable metals like zinc, nickel, silver and copper along with a rhodium plating in the jewelry industry.
In 14kt gold the contents are: 58.5% gold, 25% silver, 17% copper.
