What gauge of wire for earings

[the lady with the lamp]

  Hi,ive seen some nice coloured copper wire what gague would you use for earing posts thanks Parin.

[MyPrecious]

I use 20 Gauge.

[Corinne Lacy]

You need .08mm/20 American Wire Gauge, hope that helps!

Corinne

[mizgeorge]

I'd be very cautious about using coloured wire for earwires though. Not just because of the possibility of them causing irritation (which is high), but because any plated or coated wire will chip, almost invisibly, when cut (even if well rounded off) and these microscopic bits of coating can lodge inside the hole and can cause all kinds of problems.

Bought in plated findings are always plated after cutting, which reduces this risk.

The only safe coloured wires for piercings of any kind are those which have been permanently altered throughout the wire, such as anodised titanium or niobium.

[squirsygirl]

I've had that happen to me - I had a horrible infection in my ear lobe, and it travelled down into the glands in my jaw and neck.  So painful.  After a few weeks, I was pulling and bathing the lobe with hot salty water, and the tinyest fleck of red-ish 'paint' came out - then I started to heal.

It was in the 80's, when trashy crap was all the rage!   

K

[the lady with the lamp]

Hi thanks for all the advice will use some non coated wires for my posts you can get titanium in different colours,thanks again Parin.

[noora]

Thanks for the warning, mizgeorge! One of the bead shops here in Sweden sold (and perhaps still sells, I haven't checked) hand made earwires made from coloured copper wire, and I was thinking that was a neat idea I could try. But I'll just forget that idea then Is copper generally a bad idea for earrings or is it just the plating?

As for ear wire gauges, a lot of the commercial "french" ear wires are 0,6 mm or 0,7 mm (about 22 GA AWG). I've even had customers who complained that 0,7 mm was too thick for them and they wanted 0,6. I wouldn't know though, I just had my ears pierced a couple of weeks ago so I've never worn ear wires myself.

[mizgeorge]

Most people tolerate bare copper just fine - though some are sensitive to it, and others have skin that can turn green/black from any extended contact. Some coppers have an anti-tarnish coating, and this can also cause problems.

In general, 0.8mm is fine for most people. Carat gold wires tend to be 0.6mm - partly because of cost, and partly because gold is harder, and will not deform as quickly as silver. Wire that are too thin, especially those with forged curves, can cut into the ear, which can be very uncomfortable, particularly with heavier earrings.

For coloured wires, I'd happily recommend the permanently coloured niobium from Emma Ralph - http://www.ejrbeads.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3&zenid=da1ea54f92b150dfe8d59256de382ad1 - or the wire if you want to make your own. Bear in mind that niobium is a very hard metal, and not nearly as easy to shape as precious wire.

[noora]

Thanks! I'm looking forward to be able to try out earrings myself I feel so ignorant when selling jewelry items that I can't try on and see if they're comfortable or even work at all. Three more weeks now, then I can take out the plastic studs and wear anything I like