A reasonable question, and one that gets asked more about printed jewelry than about any other kind — largely because "plastic" and "machine" sound industrial in a way that "cast in a foundry" somehow doesn't.
The short answer: the nylon is an inert polyamide, every earring passes through your ear on sterling silver, and a pendant has no metal on it at all. But the detail is worth having.
Sintered nylon is a polyamide — the same family as the nylon in clothing and in engineering components. It is chemically stable and does not leach, and there is no residual solvent or uncured chemistry left in a finished piece. This is a meaningful difference from resin printing, where incompletely cured material can remain reactive against skin if a piece is not properly post-processed.
Sintering has no such stage. The powder fuses and that is the end of the chemistry. What comes out of the machine is finished material.
The answer differs by piece, and both answers are reassuring for different reasons.
Earrings are hung on sterling silver ear wires and posts, some of them plated in 18K gold. Nylon is not a good material for something that passes through a piercing, and the collection is built so that it never has to be. Sterling silver is 92.5% silver with the remainder usually copper, and it contains no nickel — the most common cause of metal reactions in jewelry.
Pendants have no metal on them whatever. The bail is printed as part of the form, in the same operation as the rest of the piece, so what rests against your skin is nylon and only nylon. If you react to metals, a pendant here removes the question entirely rather than answering it.
Two honest caveats on the earrings. Some people are sensitive to silver itself or to the copper in sterling, and a gold-plated ear wire has a plating layer that will eventually wear through with heavy use, exposing the silver beneath. Neither is unusual or specific to printed jewelry — both are true of most fine jewelry at this price level.
If you have had reactions to jewelry before, tell me what you react to before you order. Findings can often be substituted, and it is a far better conversation to have in advance than afterwards.
This page describes what the materials are. It is not medical advice, and if you have a diagnosed metal sensitivity your doctor's guidance should come first.
Pieces are dyed after printing in a heated bath. The dye bonds into the surface of the nylon rather than sitting on it as a coating, and it is fixed once the piece is dry — it does not transfer to skin or clothing, including in the rain.
Printing happens at a specialist bureau on industrial equipment, under controlled conditions. Pieces are thoroughly depowdered and cleaned before any finishing work begins, so no loose powder reaches a finished piece.
More on the process in how these are made, or see the 3D printed collection.
All of these are collected on the 3D printed jewelry page.
