Attaching a Clasp to a Beaded Necklace

Attaching a Clasp to a Beaded Necklace -- powered by eHow.com

Precious opal from Louisiana is a sandstone

The reported precious opal from Louisiana is a sandstone/quartzite with precious opal cement and matrix. It has blue or purple play of color. The material could be cut into cabochons for jewelry and other items of interest. To date, most of the material has been cut into large (over 2-inches in diameter) gemstone spheres.

Nevada is known for precious opal from Virgin Valley. The first discovery of precious opal in the Virgin Valley area was in 1905 or 1906. Since then a significant quantity of the highly prized opal has been recovered. Virgin Valley opal is comparable to any in the world for its vivid play of color and in terms of the size of material available. Individual pieces weighing over 3 kilograms have been recovered from the Virgin Valley deposits. In 1993, miners found a 100-kilogram opalized log containing precious opal. The material varies in body color from deep pure black to brown to yellowish-white to white to colorless. The play of color includes all colors common to precious opal, red, blue, green, yellow, orange, etc. The opal occurs primarily as replacement of wood, or sometimes, as replacement of conifer cones. Some opal does occur as nodules filling void spaces in clay. The wood replacement is so complete, that generally the wood grain and banding are no longer visible. The exception to this would be that often the exterior wood texture is still present as a brown or black rind.
The uses of the opal can be restricted because of crazing. Crazing is the breakdown or deterioration of opal by the development of very fine cracks all over the surface that extend until they intersect. In the worst cases, the surface of the opal deteriorates into a crumbling sand-like material. Because of the crazing the opal is not well suited for use in jewelry, but displayed in water, glycerine, mineral oil or other liquids makes remarkably beautiful mineral specimens. The mineral collections of most of the better museums contain very fine pieces of Virgin Valley opal. Many museum pieces are crazed from exposure to the air.

Gemstone gets set to shine again

Long considered two counties yet to fulfill their economic potential, eastern Taiwan's Hualien and Taitung are ready to shine at the Eastern Taiwan Gems and Jades Exhibition. Hosted by the National Taitung Living Art Center from event features more than 1,000 pieces of precious stones and jewelry.

Three famed gemstones found in eastern Taiwan, hornblende (commonly known as Taiwan jade), blue chalcedony and red coral are the highlights of the fair--a joint effort between the government and industry aimed at kick-starting the island's dormant jewelry industry and generating local employment opportunities.

According to Hsieh Jing-lin, chairman of the ROC Gems and Jades Association and co-host of the exhibition, in the 1960s and 1970s, Taiwan hornblende held a 90-percent share of the global jade market. "Back then, Hualien's Fengtian Village was a mining town best known for the precious stone and the county boasted more than 1,000 gemstone factories," he said.

But toward the end of 1970, Hualien's jade industry went into steep decline as local deposits of hornblende were exhausted. "Over the years, many people believed that untapped veins of the stone could be found in the county's mountainous regions," Hsieh said.

"Exploration was never carried out because at that time, Taiwan did not possess the know-how to prospect for these deposits," he added.

A native of Taitung, Hsieh considers Taiwan's blue chalcedony--distributed over ranges in Hualien and his hometown--to be the world's most beautiful "natural" specimen of the quartz. "Unlike blues from abroad, Taiwan's stones do not need heat treatment to improve their color," he said. "They naturally possess a pure luster and clarity, which make them the darlings of Japanese collectors."

The gem dealer said the region's old mining towns, if tastefully transformed into tourist attractions, could breathe added life into eastern Taiwan's precious stone enterprises. "People would be interested in trekking along winding paths through mines where gemstones exposed can be seen," Hsieh suggested.

Old Gold Jewelry!

Properties

It is estimated that all the gold in the world, so far refined, could be placed in a single cube 60 ft. on a side. Of all the elements, gold in its pure state is undoubtedly the most beautiful. It is metallic, having a yellow color when in a mass, but when finely divided it may be black, ruby, or purple. The Purple of Cassius is a delicate test for auric gold. It is the most malleable and ductile metal; 1 oz. of gold can be beaten out to 300 ft2. It is a soft metal and is usually alloyed to give it more strength. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity, and is unaffected by air and most reagents.

Uses

It is used in coinage and is a standard for monetary systems in many countries. It is also extensively used for jewelry, decoration, dental work, and for plating. It is used for coating certain space satellites, as it is a good reflector of infrared and is inert.

Cost

Gold, like other precious metals, is measured in troy weight; when alloyed with other metals, the term carat is used to express the amount of gold present, 24 carats being pure gold. For many years the value of gold was set by the U.S. at $20.67/troy ounce; in 1934 this value was fixed by law at $35.00/troy ounce, 9/10th fine. On March 17, 1968, because of a gold crisis, a two-tiered pricing system was established whereby gold was still used to settle international accounts at the old $35.00/troy ounce price while the price of gold on the private market would be allowed to fluctuate. Since this time, the price of gold on the free market has fluctuated widely. The price of gold on the free market reached a price of $620/troy oz. in January 1980. As of January 1990, gold was priced at about $410/troy oz.

Silver jewellery Anklets

Anklets are also known as an ankle bracelet which is worn to decorate the ankles. These contain since ages & the flimsy beauty of a lady's anklets get multiply when be jeweled with a pair of uniquely designed anklets, wonderful piece of art. They can with no trouble gel well with both formal and casual wears & has develop into a pretty fashion rage among all age groups, particularly the teenage group.


Customarily in use, anklets have even taken up the present fashion world with a storm & they are individual worn by both youthful and unmarried women in India. Funky & chunky anklets container be seen adorn a woman's anklet in a range of the world. The beauteous anklets have also been originate in other ancient cultures of Egypt and Middle East someplace it was of ornamentation and had great spiritual and public significance as well.

How to make jewelry, diamond cut

Silver Jewellery of Hupri

The village of Hupri near Kolhapur has today become a busy and well known place for silver jewellery. Silver jewellery of unique craftsmanship is executed here with traditional artistry.

The speciality of siliver jewellery of Hupri is payal or anklet of various types of length and design. Hupri is also famous for the seamless silver balls known as gujrav. These hollow silver balls combined with solid ones, known as rawa are added to payal as per design needs. There are a variety of designs created through the stamped-out dies. Skilled craftsmen of Hupri turn out complicated payals of different names such a painjan, koyali, kamarpattas etc. They also make special kinds of necklaces. Silver jewellery from Hupri is in great demand at home and abroad. Jewellery shops in Kolhapur, Miraj, Sangli, Belgaum etc make good business of Hupri jewellery as women-folk in those areas and elsewhere clamour for such silver ornaments.

The silver alloy used for jewellery is a compound of silver, copper and zinc which is heated over a coke fire, over the choola constructed indigenously. Clay-graphite crucibles, brought from Kerala, are used for pouring the alloy into cast iron moulds of various traditional designs.

The process of making the seamless, hollow, silver balls is equally interesting. It is a laborious task though. A tiny square piece of silver is beaten into a hemisphere. Two such hemispheres are placed over each other but cross-wise. By rolling the pieces in a groove on a special grindstone, all the eight corners are folded over. These are then coated with the borax-ammonium sulphate mixture and placed on an ash-covered tile, in rows. After heating them with a hand-operated kerosene blow-torch, the pieces being to puff up like purees. It is truly a fascinating sight to watch!

The story of Hupri silver jewellery goes back to the first decade of this century, precisely the year 1904. in that year Krishnaji Ramachandra Sonar switched over to making ornaments in silver from gold. He would have hardly imagined that his silver craftsmanship would one day rise to such a height that within the nest four decades it would make Hupri synonymous with silver smithing.

The master craftsmen of Hupri moved with the times. Many changes took place in their karkhanas) work - shops). Replacement of an imported, hand operated 'pasta' machine for making silver strips and a fly-press for stamping out dies have changed the scene completely. Few years ago there were 9-10 karkhanas (work-shops) employing 20- 30 craftsmen. During the span of fifteen years the number of karkhanas reached to 60 and over 200 skilled craftsmen.