About Silver Forest of Vermont: Silver Forest has been hand crafting their earrings in Bellows Falls, Vermont for over 30 years! Natural elements, ancient cultures and a subtle sense of humor influence their designs. Care is given in making each piece using only the safest of materials. Earwires are surgical steel or surgical steel with a 14K gold overlay. Earwires are nickel-free; as there is no nickel used in the plating process. This is a significant benefit to metal sensitive customers who can buy SF earrings with confidence. Stones as a rule are genuine semi-precious. SF also uses glass beads, natural materials, and genuine Austrian Crystal to accent their jewelry. Metals in their jewelry consist of raw brass or copper elements. Each shape or disk is, cut and rolled out with propriety textures. SF use scores of different textures and over 1000 shapes. All SF jewelry is Lead free and Cadmium free. The gold tone finish is a tarnish resistant 18k gold over brass, the silver tone finish is a tarnish resistant rhodium over brass, and the copper finish is a rose gold over brass. Silver Forest earrings are soldered together, never glued. This creates a slight variation in every piece, which gives the ambiance of wearable art.