I use several kinds of metal in my embossing studio — copper, brass and other. The “Other” is a strange brand of aluminum coated with some sort of gold-like stuff, with aluminum on the back —  which is easy enough to overcome in a piece of jewelry.

The aluminum sheet is easy to emboss, no struggle whatever, but I can’t say as much for the copper, which is very hard to manage, and the brass, hardest of all.

The thing is, if you want to make a sturdy set of wind chime earrings, you’ve got to use brass — copper just won’t do, it’s too doggone soft. On the other hand, just try embossing copper and see how soft it is — the answer is “not very”. Copper looks amazing, and so does the brass, but they don’t take detail like the coated aluminum sheet does. Continue reading →