Gold & silver plated wire

[taarna23]

Okay, so recently I got some of that Beadsmith silver plated wire from another place, I noticed that in hardness, it probably sits right in between dead soft and half hard. I've learned that for what I do, dead soft won't hold its shape, and half hard's workable, but sometimes too springy. I also noticed the Beadsmith wire has a pretty hefty coating of silver over the quality copper core.

So, my question is this: What kind of hardness can I expect from the plated wire here, and how does the gold/silver plating compare to the Beadsmith wire?

[Polly]

What color(s) of wire do you like to use?

We have a few types, and each has its own qualities.

We have colored Artistic Wire from 16 gauge to 30 gauge. Some of it is colored AND silver plated over a copper core, others are simply colored over a copper core. I think they are a bit harder than dead soft.

We also have nickel silver wire (a softer alloy of nickel silver than you might expect, which is nice because it isn't brittle), 316L stainless steel wire, which is strong and hard, European craft wire in silver and gold plate (these are dead soft), and of course, basic brass and copper wire. The brass is a bit harder than the copper, and although it says it is "red brass", it is a nice yellow color.

[Polly]

oooops sorry, I see that you did ask specifically about gold plated and silver plated wire.

The European craft wire, is very soft.  Silver plated European craft wire | Gold plated European craft wire
The Artistic wire doesn't have a classic "gold plate", but they do have a non-tarnish brass color (over copper), and a non-tarnish silver plate over copper, and I believe these are a bit harder than the Euorpean craft wire, probably similar to the BeadSmith wire. But I haven't used the BeadSmith wire to be sure.