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Cable

ca·​ble | ˈkā-bəl

noun

A wire, often made of a precious or semi-precious metal, used in jewelry making

In jewelry terms, the word cable refers to a wire that is made of different precious or semi-precious metals, and is used in a piece of jewelry as either form, function, or both. Cables can be made from a wide variety of metals including copper, brass, nickel, aluminum, silver, or gold. First used in jewelry around 2000 BC, cable is still widely used in modern-day pieces. Today, cable is made in a much more efficient way for jewelry pieces. The solid metal material is pulled through a jewelry tool called a draw plate. This draw plate has holes of various sizes, each of which is different in order to create different jewelry cable of different circumferences. To create a very thin cable, modern-day artisans pull the metal through increasingly smaller holes, until they reach their desired cable circumference. Cable is most commonly seen in jewelry pieces such as necklaces and bracelets.

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