Quartz is the Biggest Mineral Group on the Planet

There are two types or forms of quartz: crystalline which comes in a single crystal and chalcedony which is formed from millions of microcrystals.

Quartz may derive its name from the German word Quarz. It is extremely widespread across the earth and comes in just about every colour and form.

Of the crystalline form Amethyst and Citrine are the most popular and the most well known. Rose quartz and rock crystal are also well known and commonly used as gemstones in jewellery. Rock crystal is colorless and is the clear quartz that we often see carved and polished into gorgeous shapes such as skulls and crystal balls.

The microcrystal from provides us with the chalcedony group. Of these are the very common and well known agates such as jasper, chrysoprase, onyx, carnelian and sard. These are very beautiful stones and not expensive. They have been used over the centuries as minerals to make adornments and items of jewellery to be worn by kings and queens as well as the common people.

Quartz has a hardness of seven on the Mohs’ scale of hardness and that make it a good stone to make jewellery from.

I particularly like large pear shape pieces of lemon, smoky or brown quartz for making modern pendants. It is affordable enough to use large pieces and can be set in gold or silver and goes well with diamond accents.

Quartz is used extensively in industry and was used in radios and most of all it had its impact in the watch industry. Since the thirteen hundred watches made no significant changes in their development although they were constantly improved but in the 1970s along came the quartz crystal that changed the watch industry forever. It was the development of the watch which flashed the numbers of the time of day with LEDs.

Many cultures have recognized the healing quality of quartz crystals and you only have to go to a health exhibition or fair to find booths with mystical looking and colorfully dressed people selling an array of crystals. So crystals can be functional jewellery as well as adornment of the body.

Gary Hocking makes custom jewellery specializing in Australian opals. He has his own website http://www.jewelleryexpress.com.au Feel free to use this article as long as you keep the bio and the live link to his website.

5 Ways To Reuse Your Old Jewellery

We all have a box or drawer somewhere full of old jewellery that we never wear. It seems a shame to throw it away, but it might be too worn or broken to send to a charity shop. The best thing to do is to reuse it in a useful way; old jewellery is actually a ready-made craft supply for all of your projects. You probably couldn't find the beads and stones anywhere else, making them the perfect materials to use again to create something unique.

Make Some New Jewellery

The most obvious idea is to make your own jewellery. Using basic tools like pliers and scissors, you can cut up your old jewellery and reuse the beads and fastenings to make something new. You might have to buy some new threading material or memory wire, but apart from that it's easy to refresh your jewellery collection.

Add Interest To Your Clothing

If you're any good with a sewing machine you could add beads and sparkles to your clothing. Old Swarovski and diamante jewellery is perfect for this if you can get the crystals out. Just use some special fabric glue to attach the crystals to your clothing in your own design or pattern. This is especially striking on a black outfit if you're going for a night out. Try doing the same to an old black handbag to make a matching set.

Brooches Make Great Shoe Buckles

Brooches are out of fashion at the moment and they're often quite difficult to take apart, so the perfect way to reuse them is on your shoes. They can hide scuffs and marks and give you a vintage-look pair at no cost whatsoever! A large crystal brooch makes a statement and there's nothing better than a striking pair of shoes!

Make Personalised Cards

Homemade cards are better-quality than you find in shops and are cheaper to make too. All you need is some good quality card and whatever trimmings you like to create a design. Old glass and crystal stones can be added to paper flowers or butterflies to give some extra sparkle. Card-making is a popular hobby and you'll have a supply of handmade cards to give to friends and family for the year to come. It's also a great craft to do with the kids and they'll love to join in and help.

Make A Home Decoration

From glass vases to candle arrangements, your old jewellery can spice up all of your home ornaments. Often these are sold in shops to add some interest to your room, but they're always very neutral to go with a wide range of decor. Your old beads and stones are the perfect way to make them your own. Sprinkled round the base of your candles or used to fill up a glass vase, their colours and familiarity will make your room feel more like home. At xmas-time they're particularly useful for your tree and table decorations and again, this is another craft that the kids will love.

Sylvia Kittens lives in Harrogate, England

Opal and White Gold the Perfect Match

I am going to write a little bit of information on opal and white gold which are items of jewelery. If you are interested in buying any there is a link below that I use. Just click it and one of the ads if you are interested in browsing the site I use.

Opal

Opal is a mineraloid gel which is deposited at a low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock. It is most commonly found with limonite, sandstone and basalt. The water content of opal can be as high as 20% with a variety of colours from white to orange and to black. Reds against the black are the rarest and the most expensive because of growth size into the red and infrared wavelengths; these ones are precious opal. Opal is the national gemstone of Australia. Opal is used in a wide range of jewellery such as rings, earrings, pendants, cufflinks and bangles. The most common piece of jewellery to see opal and white gold together would be in a ring.

white gold

White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel or palladium. Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is given in carats. White gold's properties vary depending on the metals and proportions used. A nickel alloy is hard and strong and therefore good for rings. The highest quality white gold is usually at 18 karat and made up of gold and palladium. Sometimes other metals like copper, silver and platinum are added for weight and durability, although this often requires specialized goldsmiths.

opal and white gold are my favourite items of jewellery. Opal is Australia's National gem stone so most Australian jewellers are experts in opal. If you are interested in buying of the site I use click the link below and one of the ads to be directed to it.

http://opalandwhitegold.blogspot.com if you are interested in buying jewellery click one of the ads in the link to an Australian expert jeweller site I recommend.

How To Find That Perfect Piece Of Jewellery

Ok, lets face it, we cant all look like Victoria Beckham or Kate Moss and who cares anyway... we are who we are and we look the way we look... we are beautiful... but there are things that can help the process of self belief and they come in the form of elegant rings, beautiful bracelets, dazzling diamonds!

The old saying 'diamonds are a girls best friend' will normally strike a cord with most of us girls and can often be a great solution for the guy that wants to impress his loved one.

Some girls like big flash jewellery, others prefer more understated pieces but whatever you do like at least we have a huge selection to choose from out there.

There is yellow gold, white gold, platinum, titanium... plain or with stones.. if so which ones, maybe you prefer diamonds, maybe you like sapphires, topaz, emeralds.

There is also a huge variety of earrings, there are studs, hoops, diamonds (again!), clip-on if your ears aren't pierced... the manufacturers really do consider everyone, every option, every style and every budget.

Engagement rings, wedding rings, eternity rings, promise rings, watches... the list truly is endless.

Have you bought your partner or mother or sister a piece of jewellery and watched the sheer delight on their face when they open their gift? and you don't always have to spend a fortune.

Remember even the smallest piece of jewellery can make you feel glamorous and you can wear it in the knowledge that someone thought about you enough to make such a personal purchase.

I spent hours looking for a nice piece of jewellery for my mum and I got so fed up with flicking back & forth through web sites that I decided to have a web site that runs from the e-bay listings which only shows the jewellery for sale, how much and how long you have got to buy. The site is constantly updated so you always have a great choice of quality jewellery.

There really isn't anywhere else you need to go. http://jewellerystock.com

Branded Logo Designs - Elements Of Branded Logo Designs

Branded logo designs are in these days. Many a times, people are confused between logo designs and brand logo designs. Brand logo designs are logo designs which have been authorized by your organization and then printed on most of your company’s products. Another feature of branded logo designs is that they relate to one product of your company at a time. For instance, if your company has four products to offer, then every product has a separate branded logo. The reason for this is that whenever the branded logo of a particular product is out there in the market, people would easily recognize it and relate it to that very individual product.

We have many examples of branded logo designs in front of us. Let’s take the example of Armani. There are nearly fours parts of it namely Giorgio Armani, Armani Exchange, Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani. Now, simply whenever a pair of Armani Exchange’s jeans will be in the market it will have its own branded logo design and any buyer can recognize that is by Armani Exchange and not by ‘Amrani’.

However, the components of branded logo designs are the same like any other logo except that the name of the company’s branch should be written there.

Branded logo designs are unique and are dignified identities of your products. Branded logo designs offer a more powerful and impressive image of your company to the clients. It shows that your company is offering high standard products.

My name is Sania, media and corporate contact for http://www.logo-brands.com, we believe in making our clients happy by giving them personalized attention 24 hours and an incredible professional service that lives up to their standards.

Most importantly we off 0% risk, $0 to initiate any logo design package http://www.logo-brands.com

How To Make Jewellery - First Projects

Once you have assembled you basic toolkit your first projects will allow you to become familiar with the basic jewelery making skills.

Necklaces: Firstly, decide how long you want your necklace to be. A rough guide for adults is chokers: 14 inches, necklaces 16 - 18 inches, long chains 22 - 24 inches, but obviously the length you want is up to you.

Next lay out your beads in the desired pattern and when you are happy, start by tying the jump ring (a complete circle of wire) onto one end then thread the beads onto your linen or nylon thread. Depending on the thickness of the thread a needle may be useful but note that the smaller beads will not always pass over the eye of the needle. You may find something called a jewellery needle, but this is just a needle with a small eye and is not particularly specialised for jewellery making.

Be careful when adding the bolt ring (necklace fastening with the lever) to the other end. If you tie a necklace too loosely then the beads move around, too tightly and they bunch together. A small amount of practice may be required before you can feel how tight it should be.

My top tip is clear nail varnish. When attaching findings to the ends of your necklaces or bracelets coat the knot with nail varnish to make it stronger. Also, I feed the thread back through the last few beads again and tie another knot there to be sure the piece is strong enough to be worn.

A bracelet can be made in the same way but shorter thread depending on the size of your wrist.

Earrings: Arrange the beads you want on a head pin then cut off the excess with the wire cutters leaving around 1cm above the beads. Then using the round-nosed pliers curl the excess wire into a loop and pinch closed if necessary with the flat-nosed pliers. Attach this to the base of your fish hook to complete the earring.

When making jewellery always keep in mind that it has to be worn. Heavy earrings may be uncomfortable, heavy or unbalanced necklaces may break, any loops made but not closed properly could come loose and be lost. Making jewellery sturdy enough to wear is as important as making jewellery that looks good.

Discover more jewellery making tips here:
http://www.squidoo.com/jewellery-making-for-beginners/

Supporting the UK Jewellery Industry

The British shopper is a strange beast. It seems that our love affair with high street
shopping may have peaked this year yet our trends to shopping on the web look to
be increasing even further. Recent statistics released suggest we are far more likely
to buy on the internet than our European or even American cousins. The irony
though is that although the UK is benefiting from an internet sales boom our UK
manufacturers continue to struggle.

Many industries in the UK have suffered as a result of cheap imported foreign goods
and as a result of the strength of the pound against other currencies.

Whilst there are undoubtedly some excellent quality imported goods there are
equally as many poor quality, poor value goods. A good example in this area is in
the manufacture of jewellery and our UK market has been flooded with cheap
foreign rubbish, much of which comes from the far east and is probably produced in
less than desirable working conditions. The jewellery is usually of the costume
variety, the quality is not great so it won’t last and the materials used are cheap and
can produce allergic reactions.

Why not support some of our local home grown talent? Here in the UK we have many
talented, skilled independent jewellery designers who struggle to make a living.
These people handcraft all types of jewellery from all types of materials including
precious metals and gemstones and many pieces will be unique. Most designers are
happy to produce one off commissions at very reasonable prices enabling you to
own a beautiful piece of UK made designer jewellery.

For your handcrafted jewellery made here in the UK, why not consider using the
internet to make your purchase from a secure e commerce shop.

It is predicted that this year there will be bumper on line sales in the UK of over £4
billion pounds which is in stark contrast to high street retail sales which have a
taken a bit of a knock. On line shopping is growing some 26 times faster than the
High Street with half the UK, some 21 million people choosing to shop for Xmas
presents on the internet with an average spend of £220.

By shopping on the internet customers avoid the hassle of busy shops, parking
problems, out of stock situations and trawling from shop to shop trying to find what
they are looking for.

You can browse the internet from the comfort of your home, compare prices you
have more choices and all at the click of a mouse but try to remember to support
the British manufacturing industry.

Written by John Lewis

Of Love2Have

Love2have specialises in quality handcrafted designer jewellery made here in the UK by small independent designers.