Are you confused by these two words? Then I am here to help. First of all, they are two separate words with a completely different meaning.

KARAT: A karat is a measurement indicating the proportion of gold in an alloy out of 24 parts

CARAT: A carat is a unit of weight used to measure the size of a gemstone such as a diamond.

What does 12k gold mean?

Now that we know the difference, the next question asked is… How much gold is in my ring or pendant? The answer lies in the actual KARAT in your piece. Keep in mind that almost nothing is 100% pure gold, except perhaps the nugget shown in the illustration above. The added metals such as copper give gold the strength it needs to be used in jewelry designs.

22K : 92% gold

20K: 83% gold

18K: 75% gold

14K: 58% gold

12K: 50% gold

10K: 46% gold

Two other types of gold you may have heard of

Gold Fill: 5% pure gold bonded to other metals (mostly copper or brass) this may not sound like a lot of gold but since it is bonded to the TOP of the piece it is all you see. and it will not tarnish!

Placer Gold: Placer gold is found in the mining of stream beds. Natural placer gold, 80-92% pure, is 21-23 karat

What types of gold do I use?

I love adding gold to my steel designs. In this case I use 18K, 22K and Placer gold. Anything lower than 18K tends to bring out too many of the other minerals in the mix.

Gold-Fill designs are also available in my shop. I use them to create many of the earrings. Note that each of my designs using gold will specify what TYPE of gold is in the design.

I hope this gives you a great overview of GOLD!

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