Jewelry Articles

When you invest in handcrafted jewelry, you want it to last! There are few things more frustrating than opening up a drawer full of tangled jewelry. Save yourself some trouble and set up an easy storage system. Taking care of your handmade jewelry will help it last forever.

If you are wearing your jewelry often, you have to deal with tarnishing. Moisture and metal don’t work well together. Your lotions, cosmetics, or just regular washing can cause ugly discolorations on your favorite pieces. To prevent this, try to minimize your handmade jewelry’s contact with water. Take all of it off when you wash your hands or shower. Carry a plastic bag with you or stash one in your bathroom so you can keep your pieces away from water but not have to worry about losing them.

Ahh... lovely violet! The color of mystery, of deep dusk, of sweet woodland flowers. Violet is calmly regal where haughty purple demands respect.

Violet lacks the rich, vibrant warmth of purple which lies closer to fiery red on a color wheel. Instead, it's a cooler, quieter color because of it's proximity to calming blue. Violet is the color of the gemstone tanzanite and also of iolite. In fact, the Greek word 'ios' (which gave iolite its name) means violet.

There is nothing more heartfelt than the care that goes into handmade jewelry. Sweet precision blossoms as a beautiful decoration when talented hands form an accessory for your neck, ears, wrist, or ankle. Everything about this specific craft caters to your personal interest right from the start.

Rather than towing away in a factory, tousling with a machine, these beauties embed a personalized touch. Through an impressive glasswork method called lampworking, each ornament has been assembled with individuality in mind for you. The eye-catching results are on par with hidden treasures, giving you a sense of decorum. Anyone can appreciate that kind of dedication behind every thoughtful piece.

Snowy-white pearls are back in fashion for this winter, according to Vogue. Chunky and funky strings layered with petite and pretty, over a sweater and showing under your favorite coat, puts you at the cutting edge this season. Chokers are back, too, with a goth/punk edge, silver-dipped or leather, or massive pieces that keep your chin up this winter.

Single, high-impact earrings, like a chandelier-style dangle, make everyone take a second look. Even better, wear two different earrings you love to light up your mood in the darker days of the year. You'll smile every time you look in the mirror.

Sometimes nature sparks my creativity. Consider the night sky...a sweeping wonder of light from distant, spinning galaxies. Imagine grasping that light, compressing it, and placing the miniaturized glow around your neck!

The Art Bead necklaces I make give reality to that beautiful wreath of captured light. 

If a galaxy consists of gravitationally bound systems of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust and dark matter, my handmade necklaces consist of systems of equally remarkable seed beads, Swarovski Austrian crystals...

Art is the wonderful expression of our creative skill and imagination. Usually, we picture a painting or a sculpture or a work of music, but I offer this thought -- jewelry, too, is art, appreciated for its beauty and emotional power. 

The beaded jewelry I make is singular, each piece rising from the blending of my imagination with my skill in selecting and combining the perfect elements to create a specific piece of jewelry. Like all artists, I do it for the simple joy of creating.

But enough about the cost, let's talk color! Winter is here, which means fashionistas are looking for holiday hues like gorgeous emerald green or spunky Hyacinth red, both of which can be found in Swarovski's huge collection of seasonal colors.

The ruby gemstone is the epitome of fiery luxury in the jewelry world. On the Mohs scale, rubies rate a hardness of 9, leveling up with diamonds and moissanite. A familiar structural relative to the sapphire, rubies are from the prized corundum category. 

Rubies generally range in pinks and intense reds. Interestingly, the ruby is so close to the makeup of the sapphire, that pink rubies are considered pink sapphires in some regards. The line often gets blurred during the classification. 

Looking at Roman glass is like looking at time. Centuries in the soil gave it a ghostlike patina, colored shadows glowing on the surface. It's amazing that so fragile a material survived, which is why museums treasure their ancient Roman glass objects.

Upscale glass in Rome

Glass-working was slow to come to Rome, but travelers to the east, especially Syria, were fascinated by it and soon imported glass was all the rage. It wasn't cheap. One rich man was entertaining Emperor Augustus at dinner when a slave dropped a glass goblet and broke it. The rich man immediately had the slave killed. Augustus may have been a battle-hardened general, but this was too much. He said nothing, but proceeded to pick up and drop every remaining goblet, smashing the entire set.