Gemstone Jewelry Project: Ring for Carmen

Gemstone Jewelry Project: Heart Shape Ring for Carmen

Few weeks ago, I received a commission from Carmen, she requires her ring to be made in heart shape, medium size, not too big and something that has more edges instead of just 2D designs, with 10mm coin shape natural Garnet.

Thinking of how to make this ring with all her requirements met, I have finally decided to employ 2 kind of jewelry making techniques which are Soldering and Wire Weaving. 

Firstly, I got the ring and heart shape being soldered then weave them together with Argentium Silver. It is a new challenge for me and Carmen was happy seeing and receiving her ring. With her appreciation of the ring, it really worth all the hard work.

How to Take Care of your Handmade Jewelries?

We all wish and hope that our jewelries will last forever but normally that is not the case. All Jewelries should last for a reasonable period of time and it is really normal that it could worn out some day, in regardless of how it was made and with what kind of jewelry making technique. 

Good news are, if it is well taken care of, it will prolong its beauty and wear-ability.

Here are some care tips to prolong the period of wear-ability of your jewelries.

1. Always wear your hand crafted jewelries on cleanse, non greasy skin.

2. Avoid perfumes and all possible chemicals in contact with your jewelries.

3. Avoid washing when it is not necessary. Hand wash your jewelries with mild diluted detergent if necessary. Pad dry with cotton cloth and leave it air dry for half an hour before sealing it back into an air tight bag. 

4. Always store your jewelries in a dry cool spot and away from the sunlight. Store pearls in a jewelry box instead of air tight bag as pearls are actually organic bead that requires to 'breath'.

5. It is always good to place one type of metal away from a different type. ie: place all 925 silver jewelries together.

6. Do not wear your handmade jewelries during sleeps or sports.

7. Tightened the knots or parts of your wire jewelries with jewelry pliers if necessary or get your jewelry artisan to do that for you.

8. Store in hard board boxes when travel to preserve its shape.

~Maggie~

Mother's Day Workshop

Mother's Day are around the corner, instead of buying something why not make mum something special this year?

14K GOLD-FILLED

It is always good to know more about the material being used in Jewelry Making, this will help you to know more accurately of the value that the piece of jewelries that you are creating or wearing or buying.

Gold filled wires are largely use in wire jewelries and Gold-Filled products or components actually contains real gold.

It is created with “Vermeil” Process, by which real gold is heated and bonded to a base metal. (often a brass core) Vermeil involves a thick sheet of gold being mechanically bonded with the base metal.

Notations of 14/20, 14 Karat and 1/20 are actually refers to the ratio of the 14 Karat gold layer to the brass layer by weight, which is 5%. Hence, it is a superior product than gold plated as it contains much more gold and will not flake or peel off when bent, hammered or heat.

As Gold Filled wires are covered with real karat gold , hence, making it tarnish-resistant and hold much higher value than gold plated products. As it is tarnish resistant just like other gold products also have made it very easy to take care of.

Jewelries that made with gold filled products or components are very economical and making it possible to enjoy the rich look of real gold at a fraction of the cost.

~Maggie~