However, the first camera I made had aluminum holes, and it worked surprisingly well. Don't try to go beyond the initial poking however. The metal won't tolerate any working. Not at all. Working with brass is horrible compared to silver.
Silver is malleable, ductile, a dream to work with.
That's why it has been used for jewelry for so many centuries. I learned to absolutely love silver. You can work silver a lot longer before it gets nasty. Maybe gold would be better, but hey, silver's cheap, too. This softens it, makes it even easier to work with.