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[M176]Making Jewelry With Gemstone Beads

by Dakota Bressler, Dak

Modern jewelry is much more than just pretty decoration. It is usually given to honor significant milestones in life or special people. If you're looking for a custom piece of jewelry that will turn heads, consider designing your own using gemstone beads and freshwater pearls instead of picking something off the shelf. Not only will your piece stand out, but it will also mean that much more to the person you give it to.

Choosing A Custom Designer

If you want to try your hand at designing your custom jewelry piece, go for it! For most people, though, designing a unique piece of jewelry is a daunting task and it may be better to turn to a professional. Local jewelry stores often employ designers instead of just salespeople and offer design services using gemstone beads and freshwater pearls. It's a good idea to see samples of past designs and ask lots of questions about the designer. A good designer will be willing to spend time with you to make sure your ideas fit together. Some questions to ask are:

- How do they think up their designs?
- Will they be responsible to designing the jewelry as well as creating the final piece?
- Will they work with gemstone beads and freshwater pearls? What other materials do they use?
- When should you expect a final piece to be completed?
- How much will it cost, including design and creation?
- Do they have a supplier for wholesale beads, which can reduce your cost?
- Will your jewelry be unique or will they mass produce it?

Choosing A Design

Once you've chosen a designer, you can begin to work together and design the jewelry. If you have something in mind, share your ideas with your designer. When it comes to ordering gemstone beads and freshwater pearls, they'll need to know if you have any specific requests. If you want the jewelry to stand for someone special, you can use a certain type of gemstone bead or color. Your designer will want to design you a piece you'll be happy to wear so he or she will need to know exactly what you're looking for.

Will you eventually want a matched set of earrings, bracelet and necklace or is this a single piece? The designer may have different ideas for a set vs. a single piece. You'll also want to talk about your budget since the amount you have available will directly relate to which gemstone beads and freshwater pearls your designer can use. If wholesale beads and pearls are available, your designer should be able to include the savings in the final cost.

Waiting For The Final Product

After the design is ready, all you can do is wait. Your piece of jewelry won't be completed overnight, but you should be able to get an idea of how long it will be from your designer. A good portion of your wait could be waiting on the gemstone beads and freshwater pearls to come in from the distributor, but your unique jewelry will be worth waiting for.

After your jewelry is completed, you'll have a beautiful piece that you're love to wear for years to come.

Sparkling colors combined with a diamond-like brilliance makes tourmaline a very popular gemstone. They can be cut in a variety of facets and shapes and look truly unique. Green stones called elbaites, are considered by many to be the most popular and green stones are often cut to rectangular shapes that can closely resemble fine quality emeralds. Indicolites are considered equally as popular and are known by their beautiful blue, sapphire-like appearance. Red stones are sometimes mistaken for rubies.

Overall, there are eleven recognized varieties of tourmaline differentiated by unique chemical structures. This is a relatively hard gemstone with several very interesting physical properties. Some stones, when heated, display a property called pyroelectricity with the stone developing opposite polarities with a negative charge one end and a positive charge on the other. Still another unusual occurrence called piezoelectricity develops much like the static electricity that is generated when two air-filled balloons are rubbed together or against ones hair.

History

These stones are found worldwide. For example indicolites are found in areas of North America, notably in Maine and California, the island nation of Sri Lanka and Brazil. Other varieties of tourmaline can be found in areas of Africa, Southeast Asia, and across the Middle East. It is thought these stones were introduced to European traders after there discovery in what was once Ceylon, now referred to as Sri Lanka, though it has been recognized as a gemstone for well over two thousand years.

Birthstone Information

Along with opals, this stone is recognized as the birthstone for the month of October and is associated with the astrological birth sign of Libra.

New Age Beliefs and Powers Through The Ages

Like many other varieties of crystal stone, tourmaline is believed to possess many different metaphysical qualities. Notable among the ancient myths is the belief that the stone could ward off depression and sadness and help the wearer overcome feelings of grief and loss. Because of the unique electrical properties of these stones, many in the New Age community believe that the wearer may experiences positive of negative changes in the bodies own electrical and magnetic fields. Tourmaline is also said to aid in the struggle against insomnia, and ward off or even cure a variety of physical ailments such as infections, arthritis, blood disorders and hormonal imbalances. Different color stones are said to possess powers unique to that color.

Artificial Forms of Enhancement

Heat treating is the most common method used to enhance the color of these stones and is used mostly on dark colored stones.

Color

Tourmaline can be seen in an incredibly wide range of colors, including some varieties that appear as bi-colored and even multi-colored. White or clear yellow, blue, red, pink, green and black are the most prevalent colors and the presence of certain contaminant minerals such as chromium and iron can influence the color.

General Scientific Information

The chemical name (Na, Ca)(Li, Mg, Al)(Al, Fe, Mn)6(BO3)3(Si6O18)(OH)4

Hardness measures 7.0 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale - the Mohs scale measures the hardness of metals, minerals, gemstones and crystals on a scale of 1 to 10. For example the hardness properties of most quartz crystals fall around 7 on the scale, as does steel and titanium. Diamond is the hardest known substance on the Mohs scale coming in at a hard 10. To most consumers hardness generally reflects the stones able to resist scratches and cracks.

The cleavage in tourmaline is poor.

The index of refraction ranges between 1.610 and1.735 and generally indicates the purity of the stone.

The specific gravity is ranges between 2.96 and 3.31.

The crystalline system is hexagonal rhombohedral.

Article Source : Pg. 4

About Author

Both Dakota Bressler & Agenda Yao are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Dakota Bressler has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure, Property Guide and Golf Guide. Dakota Bressler is an author for , a company selling. Dakota Bressler's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.

Agenda Yao has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pearls. Tourmaline Professional . Agenda Yao's top article generates over 2400 views. to your Favourites.