Category: Jewelry

We all know that glass beads are one of the most popular jewelry beads, and faceted glass beads are one shape of the most popular beads. Faceted Glass Beads are available in many different colors and sizes as the same as other glass beads. And here, I would like to share two jewelry making ideas with this kind jewelry beads.

The first jewelry making idea is about a pair of earrings with faceted glass beads and Tibetan style pendants. We need 12pcs red faceted glass beads (about 6mm in diameter), 2pcs alloy Tibetan style chandelier components (about 31mm long, 21mm wide), eyepins, headpins and earring hooks. First, string a red glass bead on a headpin, and use your jewelry plier to make a loop at the top of bead. Beading 9pcs more beads like this. Second, attach 5pcs beaded faceted glass beads on rings of alloy chandelier component one by one. Third, string a glass bead on an eyepin, and use jewelry plier to make a loop at the other end. Attach the alloy chandelier component on a loop of eyepin. Fourth, use your jewelry plier to attach the other loop of eyepin on the ring of earring hook. Fifth, repeat the four steps to create the other piece of earring for a pair. Till now, a pair of beautiful Tibetan style glass beads earrings is finished.

The second jewelry making idea I want to share is a necklace. The materials you need to prepare are handmade lampwork pendant (about 45.5X20mm), 2pcs oval shaped lampwork beads, some faceted glass beads in different colors and sizes (light blue and AB purple, 4~8X4~6mm), jewelry wire, 2 strands f black nylon thread, 2pcs cord ends, lobster claw clasp. First, string purple glass beads on ball headpins (one bead on one pin), and use jewelry plier to make loop at top. Second, cut off a length of jewelry wire, and string all the faceted glass beads, lampwork beads and lampwork pendant on wire like the layout on picture. Third, use crimp beads and crimp plier to attach the two ends of wire on two strands of black nylon cords separately. Fourth, use cord ends to combine nylon cords, and attach lobster clasp and jump ring on two cord ends separately. Now, a beautiful handmade necklace is finished. The color is very suitable for both spring and summer.

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Jewelry has always been an object of fascination for most women of all communities. Its origin is dated thousands of years ago in prehistoric times when caveman used to wear animal skeletons on their neck. From the ancient Roman civilization and the Egyptian culture till now, people have been wearing jewelries as a means of affirming ones status. Today, jewelries hold all its splendor with several varieties of precious metals, gems and stones.

Several types of jewelries exist for several purposes; for example there are special jewelries for weddings and engagement, other kinds of jewelries as gifts-giving, specific Celtic jewelries, religion-oriented jewelries among others. The photography of jewelry demands a lot of tact and experience. If you are a Jeweler looking for advices for your business, this article is for you and will concentrate on jewelry photography.

What should you know as a Jeweler?

First of all, the basic thing you need to bear in mind that jewelries are generally attractive in nature, it is important to retain the same attractiveness in its photos or Flash animations. You can even enhance its look through a cozy background dcor. For example shooting the high definition photo of a wedding diamond ring in a beautiful box gives a better visual appeal than just photo shooting a standalone ring.

About Photography of Jewelry

Excellent jewelry photos need to be clear, sharp, dozed with the proper soft lighting in order to create the required sparkle. Also, something very important to note is that for close-up photos of jewelries, the digital camera should have excellent focusing abilities and for this to work well, the digital photo camera should be fixed on a tripod.

With regards to jewelry lighting, it is advisable and for better quality not to use flash lights. Instead, the use of continuous lighting is highly recommended.

Using plexiglass support is also advisable as a mirror effect can be created for a more professional end-product.

Problems in jewelry photography

Jewelry photos are quite problematic. Even without models wearing them, there are a number of issues to address. Whether they are pearls, diamonds, colored gemstones, semi-precious stones, crystals of materials such as silver, gold and platinum, the creation of sublime jewelry photos requires a technical know-how.
First of all, there is the problem of cast shadow. Even when laid on a flat surface, jewelries such as rings and earrings will produce unnecessary cast shadows.

Also and most importantly, there are reflections. The purity of a diamond reflects its value and you must therefore emphasize on that purity through exquisite photos which do not tire the eye of the beholder. Indeed, there are basic home solutions making use of clothes, paper and glass plates. But if these solutions are suitable for amateur photos, they are more risky for professional photographic usage.

How to take excellent jewelry HD photos and interactive animations?

Using a professional photo studio, such as the PackshotMacro gives jewelry photos such as precious stones their entire splendor. Equipped with a professional Macro camera, its constant lighting reduces glare and help enhance the purity of the gemstones. No need for any external lighting setup as the digital photo studio is already equipped with daylight conditioned lighting.

Being an intuitive automated photo solution, the PackshotCreator photo studio captures your jewelries in high definition to portray each and every facet of the precious metals. Moreover, high quality interactive animations can be created with such a creative photo lightbox.

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Jewelry is categorized under two subdivisions, contemporary and traditional, each displaying attractive and eye catching designs. Both classic groups exhibit jewelry constituting of precious gem stones, gold, silver, other metals and natural materials.

The primary objective of wearing jewelry as pieces of ornament is to look beautiful and this trend is not confined to recent times but rather from time immemorial, as jewelry has been associated with women for their personal beautification. The origin dates back to ancient times when beads and shells were used as body ornaments, while bones, wood, elephant tusk and ornamental stones were carved and etched to produce attractive artifacts.

They had widespread usage ranging from functional utility like pinning clothes or were status symbols and adorned the person from head to toe. However, nowadays the increasing demand for jewelry pieces has made craftsmen more creative and stunning items in gold, silver, platinum and gem stones have flooded the market in variety of styles and designs. The major items include necklaces, amulets, bangles, bracelets, earrings, nose ring, anklets to name a few.

Today, the jewelry designs are not merely based on the traditional metals, rather the contemporary jewelry items reveal a gamut of materials ranging from wire, tumbled stone and other lesser known elements. They create affordable and inexpensive items which are popular with masses and are used as accessories to highlight the wearer’s appearance. The manifold functions of jewelry are widely acknowledged. It is still used as a form of currency and exhibits the affluence of the owner. The lesser known usage includes buckles, clasps, brooches or pins, as well as amulets which are mostly worn to ward off evil influences, according to ancient superstition.

From the ancient periods, the trend of amassing wealth through jewelry acquisition still continues today. This is believed to stem from the fact that this pattern of stocking of jewelry is a source of future security against economical blow down or other such unforeseen eventualities. Wedding in the Asian countries still centers around jewelry gifts and exchanges between the two parties which again reinforces the phenomenon of security considerations. In some nations, it is a renowned practice for commercial trading while in other countries, jewelry, especially ornaments of gold, symbolizes group bonding and wearing a ring connotes the marital status of people.

The purity of American or European gold is specified in karats. While the American gold jewelry has at least 10K purity, the European ornaments center around 9K purity. In the Asia, Middle East and Africa, the gold jewelry of highest purity of 22K or 24K is mostly prevalent. Other precious metals such as Platinum alloy range of jewelry are of 90% and 95% purity while silver jewelry is predominantly known to be of sterling silver.

Costume jewelry primarily constitutes of items made of enamel, natural clay, stainless steel, glass and other such similar raw materials. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets and belts, etc., made of bead are also very popular, especially with the younger generation. Necklaces and bracelets made of various sizes of beads were highly popular during the Victorian Era, however, these types of jewelry has always been in vogue in the African countries. This trend has made fresh inroads in other parts of the world as well.

Collectors’ items of jewelry have been known to be produced from excellent craftsmanship of silversmiths and goldsmiths. Tiaras and rings from dazzling diamonds have captivated the market for a long time, especially within the affluent class. Precious stones, besides diamonds, such as emerald, sapphire, ruby, jade and quartz, etc., have also been used to create and design spectacular range of attractive jewelry items.

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Over the last few years there has been a concerted effort by most customers to report their exact experiences with different businesses online in excruciating detail. The intention of most customers is to prevent others from enduring their negative experiences and to encourage people to buy from other places. The jewelry store industry has been hit particularly hard by this trend with jewelry store reviews being overwhelmingly negative. One store that has been affected by this is Samuels Jewelers Reviews.

Samuels Jewelers is one of the oldest jewelry retailers in the United States, having opened its doors as The House of Lucky Wedding Rings in San Francisco in 1891. Over the course of the following century, the company expanded until stores were present in every major city in the United States. Their online operation is a recent addition to their business. And, like all jewelry retailers, they aim to provide an experience online that is nearly identical to that which occurs in their stores, including only selling diamonds which are conflict-free.

One of the things that attracts numerous customers to Samuels is their 30 day return policy and their 180 days exchange policy, in which brand new items in excellent condition can be returned and either a full refund will be given or can be exchanged, depending on how long of a period of time has elapsed. In addition, they have delivery rates. However, if online customer reviews were to be used as the sole judge, Samuels Jewelers should have closed long ago and lost customers to competitors like Zales and Kays.

The vast majority of Samuels online store reviews are rather negative. The greatest criticisms are of their customer service, which apparently has dropped in quality since the original owner tried to return customers money for work they should not have been charged for and instead are quite rude and patronizing towards customers. The other major complaint is that salespeople try making additional sales by degrading their own products and occasionally ignore customers in the store. Smaller issues include diamonds falling out of their settings and some minor fitting issues.

However, all customers give Samuels Jewelers management team rave reviews. According to many customers they often do everything imaginable to please customers, including issuing refunds and reprimanding their employees for bad customer service. In addition, the quality of the jewelry, diamonds and other gemstones are generally high quality.

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Jewelry making as an art and craft form has taken a center stage in the curriculum of various fashion institutes in the past few decades. Making stunning jewelry pieces is no more confined to a special class of people, moreover, lot of young people are making efforts to hone their creative talent and crafting contemporary pieces like cross pendants, pave earrings and enamel bangles as well as traditional jewelry pieces like vertical earrings and enamel rings. Eventually, the recent advancement in technology has given way to make utmost use of expert knowledge that is available at hand.

The wide-spread use of internet has also made it possible for amateur jewelry makers or artists to understand and learn this art at nominal prices or sometimes free of costs. There are numerous websites on internet that utilize the latent or raw talent of these amateur artists by asking them to work in different projects online. This provides ample opportunities for the beginners who by working in these projects under expert guidance create memorable work like strikingly beautiful fashion rings, fashion necklaces, heart pendants and medallions that will represent their imagination and creativity. This also enables them (the beginners) to make a portfolio of their individual work for future reference.

The art and technique of creating marvelous fashion rings, enamel rings, enamel bangles and fashion necklaces requires the sharp eyes of the designer who can easily pin-point or depict the minute details. The well-crafted vertical earrings, pave earrings, cross pendants or heart pendants will appeal to every women who want to portray carefree and light-heated appearance and look. The idea behind creating medallions certainly comes from symbolism of the imagery that comes from folklore, mythologies, and fables. The jewelry artists learn and understand various techniques to transform their designer ideas into metallurgical wonders or art forms to bring fantasy into reality.

With passage of time, the trends and tendencies in jewelry has undergone a wide-spread change. Men too used to wear jewel pieces in earlier times but during post modern era when the angry young man emerged, this trend got downturn. Incidentally in the past two decades, this trend has bounced back with men especially the younger lot adorning exotic jewel pieces in most of the scenarios to display their spirit of rebel.

There is no doubt; jewelry has long evolved as the symbol of personal expression and status to the ever-green investment piece that will always be cherished by men and women alike and inspire the artists to create stunning and priceless pieces for long times to come.

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