The use of shell jewelry has been recorded since the ancient time of human history. The shell jewelry has been found in from the southwest of the United States to Egypt. The beauty of shells could be the reason for their popular used since the past. Today the use of shell jewelry is still popular although some of them are rarely found in the nature already. Here are the examples of shell use from the past topresent time.

1. Ni’hau Shell: found only from the island of Ni’hau, one of the Hawaiian chain of islands. They are very tiny shells that come in many different colors. The drilled shells are stringing together for a production of necklaces, bracelets and anklets. Based on their difference in colors, the mixing and integrating of shells generates colorful jewelry pieces by the nature of shells. The shell necklaces using the Ni’hau shells are so valuable in this current time.

2. Paua Shell: found only in New Zealand sea zone. It is a member of the abalone family with color ranging from greens/blues to pinks/purple colors. Based on their rarely present in the nature, strict regulations on shell harvesting are applied. The paua shells can only be harvested by free divers. Scuba and air tank are not allow in the process of harvesting. The use of paua shells as pendants and earrings are found since the past, together with the metal like silver and gold. The mixing with beads and shells also found for the shell bracelets jewelry.

3. Cowrie shell: found in Africa region. The shells are coming withsmooth surface with porcelain-type shine. The cowrie shells were popular used in several countries since the past to present. It has been found in the buried tombs of the Pharaohs of Eygpt and used as the African currency before the current money period. The jewelries made by cowrie shells are necklaces, bracelets, pendants and also earrings.

4. Heishi shell: the shell found in the southwestern of the United States. The heishi shells is coming with uniform disk shapes, make a drill at the centre of shells and string together for necklaces, bracelets and anklets. The ancient Indian cultures in the southwestern of the US were using these shells since the past and now, the used of this shell type is still found in New Mexico area. The mixing for heishi shells with stone beads and metal beads are also found in the world of shell jewelry.

The Irish jewelry is a perfect gift for both yourself and anyone you love; friends or relatives. The Irish jewelries are now available from many places, from your local shop to the internet shop. It’s your choice to go with any piece you like.

Let’s now learn about the meaning of the Irish jewelry behind the symbol.

The design of Irish jewelry is not just the intrinsically designed, but there are meanings behind the symbols. Here are some example for the meaning of each symbol.

Crested ring: the crests were associated with families. The ring is always passes from generation to generation. It was worn in the past, the in battlefield to separate friends from the enemies.

Claddagh ring: this ring also represent for friendship, loyalty and heart of love. The ring is designed as two hands held a heart topped by a crown. The ring is now popular use as the betrothal or the wedding ring.

Gimmel ring or bond ring: this ring type is also as the wedding ring. The ring is made of three joined rings, one for man, one of women and the one in the middle is for witness. In the marriage, after the contract marriage was fulfilled, all these portions of the wedding ring will reunite, and use for the wedding ceremony.

Not only the meaning of the symbol, but also the Irish rings are available for both genders. Therefore, the ring can be worn fashionably by both men and women. This is a perfect choice if you want to get the present of either men or women as the designs are available for both gender.

Another good point for the Irish jewelry is about the timeless design. These symbols were designed since 500 BC but they are still in today’s fashion trends. The Irish jewelry can be able to pass down from generation to generation. A piece of the Irish jewelry would keep lots of family moments, with friendship and love passed on with.

Most of the Irish jewelry are made by hand, therefore, the price are also high. But with the high quality of the jewelry pieces, it’s worth your money for the piece of this craftsmanship piece. The piece will stay with you and your family and keep all the good memory as your family remark.

Have you heard about the term “vermeil” before? If yes, what is the word refer to. If no, it’s time for you to learn about the meaning of “vermeil”.

Where will you see this term, vermeil? Well, this term is used in the world of jewelry. Vermeil is a piece of at least 92.5% silver coated with at least 2.5 micron of gold. The product is then called “gold vermeil”. The price of gold vermeil is also depended onquality of coated gold. In general, the gold content for coating should not be less than 14K. This is the minimum gold content for gold vermeil jewelry.

The vermeil jewelry is generated using the technique called “electro plating”. There are two types of electro plating technique,

1. Flash plating – this method is applied with the gold thickness of 0.25 micron or less than this number. The method including dipped the pieces intoelectroplating solution of a short time. The product can also called as “color plating” as only little gold will be coated on the surface and able to wear off within a short time.

2. Micron plating – for plating of gold with 1 micron or more in thickness over the surface of jewelry piece. This is the standard method for generation of vermeil jewelry. The piece is placed insolution for electroplating for a longer time, compare with the flash plating.   The minimum of gold thickness for gold vermeil jewelry is 2.5 micron. The longer you placed the piece inelectroplating solution, the thicker of gold coat on jewelry pieces.

For the flash plating, the products after this electroplating method are not classified as gold vermeil. If you want to get the new gold vermeil pieces, make sure that you have check about the coating method before make your decision.

Where can you buy the gold vermeil jewelry? Well, there are lots of places offer the gold vermeil jewelry for you, start from your local jewelry shop closed to your place to various shops in the internet world. Good thing for local shop shopping is, you can look and check for the jewelry quality by yourself, but the price might be higher than the one in the online shop. If you are willing to go with the online shop, look for a reputable of the seller. You should also check for the seller feedback if you are new with the shop. Think and carefully check for both shop and product quality before make your purchase. Good luck.

Amber is a well known fossil resin that passed through time. There arenumber of change occur during amber processing production. So far, the oldest amber has been recorded at 345 million years old. The oldest one that contained an inclusion in its body was aged about 146 million years ago.

Amber has been used as jewelry or decoration items for thousands of years. It isnatural product, nature made product and human do notice about its presence. Therefore, there are lots of items that used amber as its part for the purpose of decoration. You can see from the present of amber in necklaces, bracelets, brooches, earrings, rings, pendants and etc.

The process for amber production is taking a long time, for processing. Therefore, the product during the process called copal has been used recently as amber, which actually not the real amber. Copal is a “young resin”, also from the ancient treesbut the polymerization is not yet completed. It is always much younger than real amber and still has some character that is unlike amber, for example its density. Copal is generally less dense than amber.

To determine whether the piece in your hand is amber or copal, here are some tips for you.

1. The hot point test – this test is performed using a very hot needle and put it into the amber. The real amber will create a piney smell or resinous burnt smell while the fake one can have electrical, plastic smell instead. However, this method will damage your pieces which is not really a suitable method for most people.

2.  Acetone test – this test is based on the use of acetone, an odoriferous chemical reagent. Acetone isgeneral component for nail polish reagent but can’t really react with the real amber. Copal will react with acetoneand it will show sticky surface after acetone application on its surface. Plastic can dissolve directly with acetone, therefore, you can tell the different between real amber and fake amber within this acetone application.

3. Fluorescent test – the real amber can always fluorescent. When the ultraviolet (UV) light is illuminated on the amber, it will fluorescent directly. The common colors you can see from these real ambers are yellow, green, blue and orange. The intensity of each piece will be varied according to amber composition. If you have a black light, just shine the light to the stone and see whether the stone is shine or not. This is the most popular method foramber test.