Using Palladium in Fine Jewelry to Achieve Light Bright Results

When I read that the specific weight of Palladium is 1,2 the weight of silver I was ecstatic. For years I have been creating unusable models because they were simply too heavy if made in Gold. Especially my earrings.
Here was a chance to use a platinum group metal without the weight or the high cost. Palladium is not only light but also cheap, ten years ago it was trading at 1,000. dollars and ounce and now its trading at half that price.
When I told a goldsmith this he told me that Palladium was heavy and too hard to set. I had read on the internet that Palladium was beautifully workable and easy to set stones in. Who was right? Only one way to find out.
I discovered that Carrera Casting in New York could cast in Palladium so overjoyed I cast up a pair of large earrings.
According to my calculations the earrings could be finished and weight in under 12 grams if cast in Palladium.
We set stones in them and they indeed weighed in at less than twelve grams and were quite beautiful.
We had a difficult time polishing them so I had to refer to the internet again to learn how to polish palladium. Because it is somewhat brittle Palladium needs to be polished slowly with many different grains of sandpaper. If mixed with small percentage of platinum it shines up quite nicely and no need to Rhodium plate.
Because of Palladium I have a new lease as a jewelry designer and all my models that were a little too heavy could be cast in this precious metal and be much lighter. I was free of the old precious jewelry constraints and could now manufacture large earrings that were also wearable.
For More Information on Fine Jewelry Please visit our main jewellery website here: http://www.myjewelersplace.com