Jewelry for people with severe alergies

The way I see it is to move away from all types of metal and go for a
ring made from corundum, the mineral which is second in hardness to the
diamond.

This is a difficult exercise but not impossible.

Shall I explore possibilities ?

Sincerely,

Bahowdeen Hasheem ( Sri Lanka )

You should where a face mask. I read somewhere that pearl dust is very very
bad for your lungs.

--
Connie Ryman
Cryman Studio

"mbstevens" wrote in message
...
m4816k wrote:
I can't even buy her flowers,
which cause all manner of asthma distress.

-- Have you considered a simple yet elegant pearl necklace?

I suppose finished pearls do not commonly cause allergies, but I've had
the most lamentable afternoon after drilling one without a face mask.
It wasn't an asthma reaction, but my sinuses went so completely haywire
I had to stop working. I'd be very sure that the jewelers didn't leave
any powder on the necklace.

On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 08:11:48 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "boudin"
wrote:

The way I see it is to move away from all types of metal and go for a
ring made from corundum, the mineral which is second in hardness to the
diamond.

This is a difficult exercise but not impossible.

Shall I explore possibilities ?

Sincerely,

Bahowdeen Hasheem ( Sri Lanka )


Corundum, of course, is sapphire or ruby, when of sufficient quality to be
called a gem. And the thing is, if the chunk from which one wishes to make a
ring is of sufficient quality to have a hope of surviving as a finger ring, then
it's likely to be a somewhat costly ring... And with some limitations too. You
cannot size or practically repair it if needed, and it's brittle enough that it
could break if dropped on a hard surface like concrete. Also, if allergies are
a problem, one would need a piece that had not been treated, such as oiled or
resin impregnated or something. Again, that suggests a fairly high quality
piece of rough material.

Of course, corundum is also made as a synthetic material, and perhaps this type
of sintered ceramic might indeed make a very interesting ring, if you canfind a
manufacturer. One can buy sharpening stones made of sintered synthetic ruby. A
ring made of that material might be quite interesting.

Also worth noting is that corundum is aluminum oxide. One could get pretty much
the same chemical makup at the surface of a ring by making it of aluminumand
giving it a good anodized surrface. That surface, if done right, is alsovery
hard aluminum oxide, quite durable, and can also be an interesting variety of
colors if the anodic layer is dyed, although then one must be certain thedye
used is not causing an allergic reaction. But there should be some that would
pass that test...

Peter Rowe

On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 02:38:38 GMT, mbstevens
wrote:

m4816k wrote:
I can't even buy her flowers,
which cause all manner of asthma distress.

-- Have you considered a simple yet elegant pearl necklace?

I suppose finished pearls do not commonly cause allergies, but I've had
the most lamentable afternoon after drilling one without a face mask.
It wasn't an asthma reaction, but my sinuses went so completely haywire
I had to stop working. I'd be very sure that the jewelers didn't leave
any powder on the necklace.

You should drill pearls in water (Rio Grande has several setups for
this) and a face mask is always a good idea when dealing with shells
and such.

--
Marilee J. Layman

The double posting of the message was not Abrasha's doing, but mine, bymistake

I stand corrected then.

I seem to remember that people sometimes have reactions to the 300
series of stainless steels. Even Marine grade (316) type L or M I
think, has caused reactions - esp. with body peircings and Titanium is
preffered by those people.
Aside from the advice Peter gave there is one other - Iron - I read
recently that it was the least likely to cause reaction - unfortunately
not very helpful since you're looking for jewelry.
If you decide to try Titanium I would check with the manufacturers of
the ring/jewelry since many are using 6AL4V instead of commercially
pure and if your wife is so sensitive it might be a factor to consider.
As Peter pointed out, it is likely that metals and their alloying
elemements are the problem. I have seen rings made of Jade - very hard
and quite 'tough' if not too thin. Mass produced ones and very cheap
and I imagine many jewelers (particularly New Zealand pendant makers)
who use high quality jade could make a beautifull ring in any design.
Hope that is of some use.

wrote in message
...
I have seen rings made of Jade - very hard
and quite 'tough' if not too thin. Mass produced ones and very cheap
and I imagine many jewelers (particularly New Zealand pendant makers)
who use high quality jade could make a beautifull ring in any design.
Hope that is of some use.

--- You took words right out of my mouth (well, keyboard actually...).
Someone here was suggesting corundum, but I'd always recommend jade instead.
It can indeed be very cheap, but when jade is carved you're actually not
paying for material as much as for the work involved. To rephrase, if you
find a custom made one-of-a-kind item done by a true artist (instead of
those cheap, mass-produced jade carvings) you can end up with something very
valuable, but also something that shows an individual taste rather than just
enough money in the pocket. It's available in a range of colours also, but
jade's biggest advantage is it's toughness. I remember once reading
something like: "If you hit a diamond against the wall, you'll end up with
two smaller diamonds; if you hit jade against the wall, you'll end up with
jade and a damaged wall.". Jade isn't as hard (scratch-resistant) as
diamond, but can outlast it easily due to it's wearability. ---