Clip-on nipple piercing with hearts
Brass - Material Guide
Brass is a popular material used for jewellery. It is much easier to process than stainless steel, allowing for affordable jewellery pieces like earrings.
In this material guide we take a more in-depth look at Brass as a material.
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Introduction to Brass
Brass is an alloy made of copper and zinc with added nickel to increase the hardness of the material. Brass is malleable and, therefore, ideal for complex jewellery designs. Many piercings made of 316L surgical steel have certain parts of the piece made of brass. Intricate details of the piercings made of brass result in a more affordable end product.
Brass tarnishes over time as it oxidizes from air and moisture. When you buy brass jewellery or any piece that contains a bit of brass, we recommend keeping the jewel dry at all times.
Pros and Cons
Brass Explained
Due to the high percentage of copper used in brass, the material resembles the look of gold. The downside of the copper content is that brass jewellery may turn your skin green. As brass oxidates, it will react to the sweat from your body, creating copper chelates.
Brass is a widespread material for jewellery makers around the world. Piercings of 316L surgical steel often come with stone settings or decorative parts. As brass is a resilient metal, it is often used as a second material to create such details. Using brass allows for more affordable jewellery pieces as the same design purely made of 316L surgical steel can easily cost twice as much.
Be aware that piercings partially made with brass can tarnish quickly. Keep such jewellery away from moisture and sweat to keep it in good condition for as long as possible. Note that brass will tarnish over time due to oxidation by air.
"The downside of the copper content is that brass jewellery may turn your skin green."
In addition to the main contents of copper and zinc, nickel is almost always added to the mix. Although this is not harmful to most people, when you are sensitive to nickel, such jewellery is not suitable.
Other Material Guides
With Material Guides like this one, we want to help you make informed decisions when purchasing one of our Piercings online. We have written a Guide for most of the materials you will find in our webshop.
If you want to learn more about the differences between the materials used for Piercing Jewellery, read a bit more by browsing through all of our Material Guides. Our customer service can also assist you if you have any questions left before deciding what material best fits your needs.
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