Dear Lisaanne,
I do believe I’ve found quite a nice selection for you of filigree
castings such as you’re looking for, i.e. gold-plated pewter or soft
metal, though they are harder to find than brass. I’ve also learned
some interesting facts that may be of interest to you in any further
searching. One is that it seems filigree is a category by itself,
often listed separately from other castings. Also, it seems to be
assumed that those creating filigree items will pick and choose among
various motifs and sizes of designs, assembling the separate elements
in whatever fashion they choose. I would imagine this is why so few
filigree castings are labeled specifically for “necklaces,” though it
is rather more common to find them labeled specifically bracelets or
brooches.
Another interesting bit I learned has to do with terminology,
specifically that the term “castings” appears to be interchangeable
with “stampings,” and sometimes “findings,” though this latter
usually seems to apply to very small bits and pieces, but not always.
I’m sure there are technical differences of meaning between the words,
but for searching those don’t seem to matter. Also, as mentioned
above, brass would seem to be in very common use as a base metal;
pewter and other soft metals less so, though searching specifically
for pewter did turn up more sources, as did searching for
“gold-plated” and “base metal.” All right, then on to the sources.
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To begin, you might want to check out this site,
http://www.costumejewelrysupplies.com/ , which has a large variety of
supplies of all kinds. Check here:
http://www.costumejewelrysupplies.com/filigrees_stampings2.htm for
examples of their filigree designs and stampings, and here is a link
to other castings: http://www.costumejewelrysupplies.com/castings.htm
However, they do say that because their inventory changes on a regular
basis, they don’t offer a catalog, nor are all their products
displayed on the website at all times. While they don’t have
necklace-specific designs per se, they do make suggestions for which
of their stampings and/or castings would be suitable to incorporate
into a necklace. Many of their filigrees are brass, but they also
have other metals, including gold-plated in their selection. You
really need to look at them to see which, since they’re all mixed up
together. The company contact info is on the main page, and they
encourage inquiries and/or special orders.
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Then there is Jool Supplies, here:
http://www.joolsupplies.com/menu.html , which offers a fairly
comprehensive selection of castings and filigrees. As with the
previous company, some are brass, but there are also unplated and
gold-plated items mixed in, along with a few copper. And again, they
don’t specifically state “necklace castings,” but suggest which pieces
might be suitable for that, and also label “connectors,” and give
other suggestions, such as one “tassel top” that the commenter says is
unbent, but that they like “as is” to use as a filigree. Some items
are labeled “vintage,” and there is really quite a variety of nice
designs. They do have a link labeled “castings,” but it’s not
working, or wasn’t when I checked it. However, the link labeled
“bases,” comes up as “bases and castings,” and includes a variety of
items. Some are labeled “pendant bases,” and there are others not
labeled, but resembling filigree that could be used in necklaces in
addition to the bracelet, brooch, earring and ring bases. Also, if
you don’t see exactly what you want, as the preceding company, Jool
appears to welcome contact and encourage inquiries.
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Beads 2 U has several pages of castings, including quite a few pewter.
No, they’re not all beads or bead toppers!
http://www.beads2u.com/castings.htm
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Land of Odds, here: http://www.landofodds.com/store/find10.htm has a
page of stampings and filigrees. While it isn’t entirely clear what
the base metal is on each, they do have gold-plated pieces. Also, if
you’ll look along the right side of the page, they have a clickable
link that will take you to a page explaining which metal is indicated
by which code in the description.
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Accessories Susan is a page put up by a jewelry designer who says she
is now sharing all her sources that she spent a lot of time finding
and accumulating. Her catalog includes a selection of filigree, and
while most is brass, some is unidentified metal, labeled only as
“silver tone.” Still, there are some interesting pieces you might
like to see: http://accessoriessusan.com/category.html?UCIDs=989983%7C990004
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Here’s a page of filigree stampings from House of Orange in Canada.
There’s a little statement on the upper right hand corner that says
“all silver plated,” but when you look at the illustrations, that sure
doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ll include them for completeness’
sake: http://www.houseoforange.biz/f311.htm
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This site has an assortment of unusual stampings of various metals,
including some filigree and some gold-plated. You need to look
through them. http://www.costlesscostumes.com/METAL.html
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Here is another selection of unusual and very artistic designs from
Jablonex, a company in the Czech Republic that includes jewelry
components among its other products. Worth looking at, even to just
admire: http://www.jablonex.cz/en/products/jablonexjewelleryen/jewellerycomponents/filigreestampings/
If you’d like to contact them with questions, their main site in
English is here: http://www.jablonex.cz/en/aboutus/ and you will find
a list of links, including contacts down the center of the page.
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Guyot Brothers Company, http://www.guyotbrothers.com/ , has an
extensive collection of filigree designs, though not in pewter or
gold-plated soft metal. They state “Brass is our stocking metal,
although sterling silver is available on special-order. Other metals
available include nickel silver and copper can be had when the
quantity warrants. Please feel free to inquire. Let us know your
needs. It will be our pleasure to be of service to you.” With that in
mind I’m including them in case you may be able to use some of their
products.
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And finally, here are several companies with mostly brass castings,
but since together they have such a large selection, I’m including
them just in case you might like to browse through their products:
http://www.loracunion.com/
http://www.jewelryfindings-online.com/ON%20LINE%20CATALOG.asp
http://www.jansjewels.com/other/ffili-1.html
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I hope I have understood your needs correctly, and that these links
will provide you with a number of new sources for the castings you’re
looking for. If not, or if anything needs more explanation, please do
use the “Request Clarification” feature to ask before rating and
closing the question, so I can be sure you have what you need. Thank
you for the opportunity to work on this very interesting challenge.
Regards,
Byrd
Search terms used:
“jewelry making” supplies filigree OR castings
“jewelry making” components filigree
jewelry findings OR stampings OR castings
filigree castings pewter OR “gold plated” -brass
pewter filigree castings OR stampings
“gold plated” filigree castings OR stampings –brass
filigree pieces OR components OR stampings OR castings
Among individual relevant links, these searches also returned pages of
additional links, which I then followed to locate other sources. |
