Silverpoint Art Beyond Silver: What Other Metals Artists Can Use For their Metalpoint Drawings

Silver is the most commonly used metal for creating metalpoint art. Even when discussing this art technique, the word “silverpoint” is used more commonly than “metalpoint.” Nonetheless, there are multiple other nice metals for silverpoint and metalpoint art that an artist can use instead of silver. This is going to be a guide to various metal options that are available for the metalpoint artist. In addition to silver, artists can use also other metals like copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, zinc, bismuth, nickel, tin, gold, platinum, palladium, or even harder metals like titanium or niobium.

In case you are new to my website, here I already wrote about metalpoint styluses and wire holders, you can check out that article if you need some tool for holding your metal wire. I won’t repeat what I already discussed there, and in this article I will only focus on the metal wires themselves (and also where to get them). And here you can find more of my metalpoint tutorials.

This is how various metals look like in a drawing. This drawing was created yesterday, so none of the metals have had sufficient amount of time for tarnishing. The image above is a photo, but the image used for illustrating this blog post is a scan.

Differences in Metal Properties

If you paid attention during your school chemistry lessons, you’ll know that there are plenty of metals out there:

See? I told you there are many to choose from. Of course, you can use not only pure metals, but also their alloys. That increases the number of possible options even further. Of course, some metals are better suited for metalpoint drawings than others. There are various factors, which determine whether some metal is suited for making artworks.

Hardness

Hardness is a measure of the resistance to localized plastic deformation induced by either mechanical indentation or abrasion. The behavior of solid materials under force is complex; therefore, there are different measurements of hardness: scratch hardness, indentation hardness, and rebound hardness. Scratch hardness is what we are interested in. Scratch hardness determines how resistant the metal is to scratches and abrasion and how likely a sample is to fracture or develop a permanent plastic deformation due to friction from a sharp object. An object made of a harder material will scratch an object made of a softer material. Artists need a metal that is softer than the abrasive powder in their metalpoint ground. Otherwise the metal won’t leave a mark on the drawing surface. This is why softer metals are better suited for metalpoint art, however a metal shouldn’t be too soft or else it will fall apart in your hands.

Here’s the Mohs hardness for various metals:

• Indium – 1.2.
• Lead – 1.5.
• Tin – 1.5.
• Bismuth – 2.25.
• Zinc – 2.5.
• Silver – 2.5.
• Gold – 2.5.
• Aluminum – 2.75.
• Copper – 3.0.
• Platinum – 3.5.
• Nickel – 4.0.
• Palladium – 4.75.
• Niobium – 6.0.
• Titanium – 6.0.

Personally, I prefer to use metals that are between two and five on the Mohs hardness scale. I have tried using indium, and it didn’t work well. It was so soft that an indium wire disintegrated in my hands, it was also hard to press the stylus against a sheet of paper, because the tip of my drawing tool bent under even the lightest pressure. Drawing with tin is possible, and it works well enough, but tin still feels too soft for my taste. Bismuth, on the other hand, is already hard enough to make a nice metalpoint drawing tool.

Drawing with hard metals like titanium or niobium is possible on hard grounds. On grounds that are made with some softer abrasive powder (like marble dust) these metals won’t leave a mark. When drawing with a hard metal, even if it leaves a mark on the surface, it is still necessary to be careful, because a hard metal can scratch and tear the paper itself if I carelessly apply too much pressure.

Oxidation

Some metals corrode. Rust is an iron oxide formed by the redox reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture. Rusting is why you shouldn’t use iron for a metalpoint drawing.

Like rust, tarnish also is a product of a chemical reaction between a metal and a nonmetal compound, especially oxygen and sulfur dioxide. Tarnish is usually a metal oxide, the product of oxidation. Basically, tarnish is a thin layer of corrosion that forms over copper, brass, bronze, silver, aluminum, magnesium and other similar metals as their outermost layer undergoes a chemical reaction. It often appears as a dull, gray or black film or coating over metal. Here’s the important difference between tarnishing and rusting—tarnish is a surface phenomenon that is self-limiting, unlike rust. Only the top few layers of the metal react, and the layer of tarnish seals and protects the underlying layers from reacting. This is why you can draw with metals that tarnish, but you really shouldn’t draw with iron.

If you choose to use one of the metals that can tarnish, you have to keep that in mind and plan for how your drawing will look after tarnishing. If you use one of the metals that do not tarnish, then what you see is what you will get, and your drawing will look exactly the same also some time after completion.

This is a scan of my tarnishing tests. One of them is made on Roberson silverpoint drawing ground, the other on Golden silverpoint drawing ground. On the left side you can see how each metal looks after tarnishing, because that’s where I drew with it a year ago. On the right side you can see how each metal looks shortly after the drawing is made.

As you can see, metals that tarnish are silver and copper, as well as their alloys. And zinc. Metals that do not visibly tarnish—everything else in this list. After tarnishing, silver becomes brownish or sepia. Copper and its alloys obtain a greenish hue. Zinc becomes a warmer shade. Theoretically aluminum also oxidizes, but you won’t see that in a drawing.

Toxicity

Some metals are toxic. You probably don’t want to use them. Creating metalpoint art produces metal dust, and you don’t want to inhale toxic stuff. For example, lead point is an easy metal for the artist to use. Lead is a soft metal, which makes very dark marks on a metalpoint ground. Lead is so soft that it doesn’t even require the paper to be coated with a slightly toothy surface like silverpoint does. However, lead is toxic. Whether you want to use it or not depends on you. Personally, I prefer not to use very toxic metals. Since I’m not interested in using lead, I never purchased or tested it.

By the way, bismuth is also mildly toxic. It’s a heavy metal. It’s nowhere near as bad as other heavy metals like lead, but you still don’t want to breathe bismuth dust.

And then there’s nickel, which can cause an allergic reaction is some people.

Silver

Let’s start with the traditional option, silver, which is the most commonly used metal. Many artists like the look of tarnished silver drawings, which is why silver is so popular. You can use either pure silver or sterling silver.

Here are the differences:

—Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper; while fine silver is approximately 99.9% pure silver.

— Silver tarnishes. A newly made silverpoint drawing will look grey. As the drawing ages, its color will change from the initial grey to warn brown/sepia hue. Pure silver is prone to tarnishing, while sterling silver, supposedly, is prone to even more tarnishing. At least that’s what other metalpoint artists have claimed. In my own tests both tarnished about the same. How much silver tarnishes depends on a lot of variables (the type of silverpoint ground that was used for making a drawing, the level of air pollution, air temperature, and relative humidity, the amount of handling your drawing experiences). For me there was no significant difference in tarnishing between fine silver and sterling silver.

—Fine silver is relatively soft, this is why silver is usually alloyed with copper to increase its hardness and strength (hardness is a desirable property when making silver jewelry). Personally, I didn’t feel any difference between fine silver and sterling silver while drawing with both metals.

When looking at my test sheets, you will notice that I have tried also Argentium 935 silver, which is an alloy that’s supposed to tarnish less than sterling silver. In my tests, fine silver, sterling silver, and Argentium silver all tarnished about the same.

Silver wire can be purchased as “dead soft,” “half hard” and “hard.” Dead soft wire is extremely soft and pliable. It can be easily bent. Hard wire is very stiff and tends to spring back after being bent. Half hard is in between. With my wire holders and my metalpoint grounds, it didn’t matter which one of these I used. (Other silverpoint artists have reported noticing a difference and having preferences.) As you can tell, I have tried using lots of different silver wires, and all of them seemed the same for me. I know other silverpoint artists who claimed that they can tell the differences, but there were none for me. For me all silver wires are just silver wires. By the way, personally I use dead soft pure silver for my metalpoint art, but I might as well use some alloy with identical results.

Aluminum, Zinc, and Bismuth

Aluminum is my favorite metal. It is the darkest. Which is why it’s also my favorite. Aluminum looks silvery and has a cold grey hue. It doesn’t visibly tarnish.

Zinc is also very dark. On some grounds it is not as dark as aluminum, but close. On other grounds both look about the same. Both zinc and aluminum are silvery in appearance, but aluminum has a colder grey hue, while zinc creates a warmer hue. Zinc tarnishes. At first it appears more silvery, but after tarnishing it obtains a warmer hue and becomes a bit more yellower.

Bismuth is, well, interesting. It is a brittle metal with a silvery white color. Bismuth has unusually low toxicity for a heavy metal, and it shares some physical properties with lead (both are dense and heavy), which is why there is an increasing use of bismuth alloys as a replacement for lead. In a metalpoint drawing bismuth looks silvery and very dark. On some grounds it looks approximately as dark as aluminum, on other grounds it is a little darker. When viewed at an angle, bismuth looks very shiny. Theoretically bismuth is subject to surface oxidation (that’s what causes tarnishing of metals). According to Wikipedia, bismuth can acquire a pink tinge after oxidizing, and pieces of bismuth can even get covered in an iridescent oxide tarnish showing many colors from yellow to blue. Personally (for now) I haven’t observed tarnishing in my own tests. I really like how bismuth looks in a metalpoint drawing. The only problem is that it is brittle. If your bismuth drawing tool falls on the ground, it will probably snap in half. More importantly, it’s not possible to manufacture a bismuth wire due to the metal being too brittle and non pliable. In order to draw with bismuth, you would have to obtain a bismuth rod, which would need to be custom made.

Gold, Platinum, and Palladium

Gold is amazing. I really enjoy using it. Unlike most other metals, which are silvery in appearance, gold is, well, golden. It looks warm grey when viewed perpendicularly, but has a gorgeous golden shine when the drawing surface is viewed at an angle. Gold does not tarnish. Brass is another metal that has a somewhat similar golden shine, but it tarnishes and obtains a somewhat greenish hue. Therefore, if you want a golden shine in your metalpoint drawings, gold is the only option.

Platinum and palladium are both silvery grey. Palladium looks darker, while platinum is lighter.

Precious metals are expensive. Are they worth the extra money? In my opinion, gold, yes. Definitely. As for palladium and platinum, if you are on a budget, then probably no. Nickel looks quite similar to platinum, so that’s a potential cheap substitute. Instead of palladium you can use aluminum or zinc (both of which are darker). Personally, in my drawings I often use aluminum for shadows, gold for highlights, and palladium for midtones. I do like palladium a lot, but it isn’t really that unique, there exist other cheaper alternative options for an artist who is on a budget. As for gold, its look really is unique due to it being the only golden metal that doesn’t tarnish, hence there are no similar cheaper substitutes.

Copper, Brass, Bronze

Aka the stuff other metalpoint artists love, but I don’t even use. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals. When viewed perpendicularly, copper and its alloys look warm grey. When the drawing is viewed at an angle, copper appears red, bronze becomes a slightly lighter shade of red, and brass appears yellowish. Brass is a more greenish shade of yellow than gold. Copper and its alloys tarnish and can change to a somewhat greenish hue. I say that they can tarnish, because there is no guarantee that it will happen. As with silver, tarnishing depends on various factors. You shouldn’t use any of these metals anywhere where you don’t want a green hue to appear in your drawing (for example, a human face), but otherwise they are nice to use and popular among metalpoint artists. I don’t use these metals, because they have no particular appeal to me.

On Golden silverpoint drawing ground copper and bronze became greenish and much lighter. On Roberson silverpoint drawing ground the grey hue changed a bit but less noticeably. Brass behaved a bit differently. On Golden drawing ground it changed its hue and became lighter, on Roberson drawing ground its hue shifted to more orange.

Nickel, Tin, Titanium, and Niobium

Aka the stuff that’s not worth using for me (but it is useable, and other artists might like these metals).

Nickel appears quite light in a metalpoint drawing. It is silvery grey.

Tin is a metal that I didn’t enjoy using. It is too soft. When the tip of a tin stylus is pressed against the paper, it bends and immediately loses shape. Thus it’s hard to draw with tin. Sure, it can be done, but I don’t enjoy it. Its visual appearance doesn’t have any redeeming qualities either. In a drawing tin looks silvery, moderately dark grey. It is slightly lighter than zinc. I also tested indium, which is another very soft metal, and it performed even worse than tin. It’s so soft that an indium wire barely holds together, is very hard to draw with, and leaves pretty light marks on the metalpoint ground.

Titanium and niobium are both very hard metals, which won’t even leave a mark on some metalpoint grounds. If your metalpoint ground consists of some abrasive that is even harder than these two metals, then it will be possible to draw with them. They both appear silvery and are light grey. Drawing with niobium and titanium can be tricky, because these metals are very hard, and you can accidentally scratch and damage your metalpoint ground.

Summary

Let’s recap. My favorite metals are aluminum, gold, and palladium. Occasionally I also use silver and platinum. I also really like zinc, but it is pretty similar to aluminum, so I rarely use zinc, instead I just stick to aluminum most of the time. In general, I don’t use any other metals. When drawing with aluminum, gold, and palladium, I will use each metal in different areas of a drawing, I will use aluminum for shadows, gold for highlights, and palladium for midtones. If I want a metalpoint drawing that is brownish rather than grey, then I will use silver and gold. Silver will be used for shadow areas, gold will be used for highlights. If I want to create highlight areas in some drawing without introducing the warm golden hue of gold, then I will substitute gold for platinum.

Where to Purchase Metalpoint Tools and Wires?

Stores Selling Jewelry Making Supplies

For precious metals the cheapest option is to purchase them in stores that sell jewelry making supplies and materials. In such stores precious metals are priced by weight, and you can specify the length of wire you need.

• Cooksongold, https://www.cooksongold.com/ a UK supplier, sells gold, platinum, palladium, silver, and copper wires.
• Rio Grande, https://www.riogrande.com/ a USA supplier, sells gold, platinum, and silver wires. They also have copper and its alloys.

Hobby and Craft Stores

This is where you can get copper, its alloys, and aluminum. Maybe also other metals like titanium or niobium. Your favorite local craft store should have at least copper and probably also a few other metal wires. Here are some options for shopping online:

• Ebay. Obviously. You can find A LOT of different metals on Ebay, and it’s worth checking it out for whatever metal you are trying to source.
• https://www.wires.co.uk/ are based in the UK and have an extensive range of wires for all types of uses—including wire for scientific experiments and wire for craft use. Of course, the same wires are also good for metalpoint. They have aluminum, zinc, copper, its alloys, nickel, titanium, and also a huge selection of different silver wires in various diameters.

Websites that Sell Pure Metals for Science or Periodic Element Collecting

There you can obtain rare metals that have few other common uses that would make them readily available in retail. The more science-oriented large stores have very high prices, so Ebay is your cheaper alternative. Element collecting is the hobby of collecting the chemical elements, and various sellers catering to such collectors offer also metal wires. My own experience has been very positive with Ebay sellers who specialize in rare metals and cater to element collectors.

Art Supply Stores

They exist. Some art supply stores sell metal wires. There are various art supply online stores that offer metalpoint supplies:

• https://silverpointweb.com/shop/ (USA store)
• https://www.naturalpigments.com/drawing/tools.html  (USA) & https://www.naturalpigments.eu/metalpoint.html (Europe)
• https://www.jacksonsart.com/colour/pencil-drawing/silverpoint (UK store)
• https://www.cornelissen.com/drawing-and-calligraphy/silverpoint.html (UK store)

Personally, I haven’t bought any metal wires from art supply stores, because I think that other stores offer better deals and cheaper prices.