The beauty of Ruby Jewelry

One of the rarest gemstones in the world is the brilliantly red ruby. This birthstone for the month of July is hard to find in nature, and most of the world's rubies today are lab created. The fiery red color of a ruby is difficult to match, and while other gemstones are also crimson colored (like garnet) none approach the beauty of rubies. Prized by royalty and fought over in wars, this gemstone still retains its mystique and allure. Rubies are a variety of the mineral corundum (the blue variety of this mineral is known as sapphire), and they are colored with the element chromium, which gives them this red coloration. The most prized version of the ruby is found in Myanmar, and it is known as the Burmese ruby. This ruby is said to be the color of "pigeon's blood", so it is also alternately called a pigeon's blood ruby, or in the jewelry trade, a Mogok ruby. While rubies can also be found in many other parts of the world, including North Carolina, rubies from Myanmar are the rarest and the most valuable. The red version of corundum known as ruby is the second hardest gemstone known to man, rating a 9.0 on the Mohs scale of hardness.

The only harder stone is the diamond. Even though the ruby is a hard stone, it is not often found in large carat weights. All rubies also have inclusions, or small flaws in them, just as many diamonds have. These inclusions can affect the price of the ruby in the jewelry market, along with other factors such as the depth of the red color, the cut and the carat size of the ruby. Many pieces of ruby jewelry are made with synthetic rubies, or gemstones that look similar to rubies, because of the scarcity of the gemstone. Other stones such as red spinel, red tourmaline and red garnet are used instead of rubies - and occasionally are even passed off as the true article. It is important to have a thorough gemological check of any ruby jewelry before you purchase it, because these other stones are worth far less than true rubies. The most expensive, and largest, ruby ever purchased was a 38.12 carat ruby bought at auction for $5,860,000.

 While you may not be able to enjoy the splendor of authentic pigeon's blood ruby jewelry, it is easy to find acceptable substitutes and synthetic replacements. Most synthetic rubies cannot be distinguished from their authentic counterparts unless they are under gemological scrutiny, so you can rest assured that your ruby jewelry will look as lovely as the real thing. More information, go to : JewelryStoresforyou.com

How to Cleaning Jewelry

If you're lost most people you have jewelry that you have either purchased for yourself or that was given as a gift to you. One of the things that is not done often enough is cleaning your jewelry. Cleaning your jewelry such as rings, watches and even earrings can really help renew the freshness of the jewelry by allowing the piece to shine and bringing the attraction you desired or help providing the new feeling you had when purchased the jewelry to begin with. You should take care when cleaning different types of jewelry each type of metal or jewel needs its own special care. Therefore, if you have jewelry that has a stone, gold or silver you need to approach cleaning differently than just scrubbing away at the piece and drying it.

The first tip for cleaning jewelry is to sit at a table or desk with the cleaning solution and rinse in separate bowls. We are just setting up the area to clean and we do not want to clean over a sink where the object we are cleaning could fall down the drain requiring us to dismantle the plumbing and drain trap to try to rescue the ring, or earring.

The first step is to get a soft brush such as a tooth brush, liquid laundry detergent that does not having anything abrasive or grit to it and place it on the desk. You also need a soft rag and bowl of warm water to rinse the object. We need to separate all of our jewelry that contains stones or any type of class such as a watch. These stones will be diamonds, rubies, opals or anything that is similar and is mounted to the ring or earring. Prior to starting to cleaning you need to inspect all of the stones to make sure that they are not lose and that your scrubbing on them will not dislodge the stone allowing you to possibly lose the stone or break the setting apart. If any of the stones are loose you need to take it to a jeweler to have maintenance done and they will clean the object after they are done fixing it.

If you are cleaning diamonds you can use the detergent or ammonia. However, ammonia needs to only touch the diamond part of the object because it can cause the color of the gold or silver to become dull. Fortunately, for most objects the only thing you need to use to clean them is detergent, a soft brush and warm water using a soft rag to dry and bring a shine to the gold, silver, and most of the gems attached to the rings or earrings.

Although these methods are simple and there are other cleaning solutions for jewelry these tips are simple and will not harm your rings or watches if done with care and using soft cloths, non-abrasive detergents and warm rinse water you should have jewelry that shines and still remains in a great shape.
More information, please visit ; http://mrpaul.hubpages.com/hub/Croton-Watches-for-Me

2013 Fashion Trends | Back to Vintage Costume Jewelry

Jewelry, whether fine or costume, has been a part of human culture since the earliest times. People wear jewelry to satisfy their vanity, to indulge their love for beautiful things, and to look good to others. Vintage costume jewelry fulfills all these criteria, but at a fraction of the cost of real or fine jewelry. It is an inexpensive alternative that does not sacrifice taste as well as style.

Vintage costume jewelry may be less expensive, but good quality ones are never seen as cheap. They are less costly because they are not made from precious gems. Designers of vintage costume jewelry use a variety of materials from cut glass, beads, semi-precious gems, faux gems -- even plastic! These pieces were created and released since the start of the Victorian era up to the 1960s. Vintage costume jewelry from the 1940s and 1950s are especially creative and eye-catching, since the designers of the era had to produce relatively inexpensive yet fashionable items that men and women could afford and appreciate during the war and post-war era.

Some of the most popular designers of vintage costume jewelry were fashion guru Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli and Miriam Haskell. Many of Schiaparelli's bright and attractive creations were made from multi-colored rhinestones. Haskell, in her finely detailed work, almost always paid tribute to nature's beauty and bounty. Chanel, the favorite of many celebrities, transformed the way costume jewelry was worn in the 1920s. Other pieces of vintage costume jewelry were made from materials that included beads, corals, faux pearls, and Bakelite -- a kind of polymeric plastic.

Vintage costume jewelry continues to be very much in vogue today, and it has inspired many designers to create 'real' pieces made from precious gems and metals. At the 2005 Academy Awards, the jewelry that many women celebrities wore were oversized and sparkly, a tribute to the jewelry designs of the 1940s. Stars such as Madonna, Britney Spears, and Julia Roberts are not only collectors of vintage costume jewelry and dress accessories; they actually wear them in public, too.

A person does not have to be a celebrity to appreciate vintage costume jewelry. Their uniqueness, aesthetic value and superb craftsmanship make them popular collectible items, and with proper care, they can be a good investment, too, since serious collectors will pay top dollar for vintage costume jewelry that is in mint condition. But more than that, the experience of owning and wearing a thing of beauty that comes from a bygone era is simply priceless.
More information, visit : http://www.morninglightjewelry.com

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a wonderful day. I just wanted to share this with my readers. I love this idea and I think this will be perfect for my apartment. This idea will also match the small wall art I posted previously. The great part about this is I can make it as big as I want. I need to cover a living room wall and I think this will be a inexpensive way to make my wall so cool and wonderful to look at. I am hoping this will also inspire my creativity.

Source: mychiclife.com via Amy: Mod Podge Rocks on Pinterest

Original source of project.


http://mychiclife.com/2012/05/31/art-of-the-steal/

Hey there folks I just wanted to stop in and say hello :) I have been working on decorating my apartment. I have had the same look for about 5 years now and I was ready for a change. I am still working on 3 walls but I have made some good changes. I even shopped in my own apartment. I changed some pictures around and it looks so different and cool now. I also designed a really cool wall paper. I call it wall paper because I used scrapbook paper lol. I found this really cool paper and decided to make wall paper. I used 24 sheets of paper a stencil and acrylic paint. It turned out really cool. I wish I could do another wall but it might be to much. I still have work to do on the 3 walls in my living room and hopefully soon I will figure out what to do with them. I am really struggling with the look I want. I want a nature look but it is hard to decide on a design. I have so many ideas and it is hard to choose lol. Below I have attached pictures of my design. OH and I added two mirrors from the dollar store that added a good accent. Mirrors are good for adding depth to a small space.
 Comment below and tell me what you think about my design.