FIRST PLACE (£250 Argentium voucher)

Valerie Thomas & Dana Shirley of Laguna Blue Studios USA

"Everyone took for granted that sterling silver would tarnish… no one but Peter Johns thought to question or look for a solution.  With Argentium's tarnish resistance, I now accent with touches of gold.  We do shows during the winter in Florida and even with the humidity, Argentium remains tarnish resistant - a tremendous plus.

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Due to great maleability, Argentium is excellent for repoussé, chasing, texturing and forming and you can work for longer periods of time in-between annealing.  When working at the bench, anything that speeds up the process is valuable - the lack of firescale is a huge time saver."

Pearl

SECOND PLACE (£100 Argentium voucher)

Jeff Benedict, USA 

"I enjoy working with Argentium Silver because I don’t need to worry about harsh chemical pickles.  I also like that Argentium Silver fuses like fine silver, so I don’t need to worry about easy, medium or hard solder, and getting it placed just right so that it flows where I want it to.  I have some of my jewelry on display in a local gallery, and because the Argentium Silver tarnishes so slowly, I am not constantly at the gallery polishing everything."

Filligree Heart Pendant

THIRD PLACE (£75 Argentium voucher)

Lisa Glavish of Quail Hill Design, USA

"Why I enjoy using Argentium Silver...

Argentium is what I started with, having never put a flame to regular sterling.  I’m self taught; in August of 2015 I tried to fuse an Argentium jump ring with a soldering iron - I’ve come a long way since then.  Learning from my own mistakes, and translating tutorials about regular sterling into Argentium ‘speak’.  Then I found Ronda Coryell’s videos, which helped me so much!  I improved with my torch and the world of Argentium opened up!  For me fusing Argentium is limited only by my physical skill and imagination. I enjoy Argentium because it is truly a magical metal."

Summer Rain Pendant