Category: The Sparkle On Blog

Whether we’re talking about the famous necklace dropped to the bottom of the sea by a character in the film Titanic, the engagement ring presented to a soon-to-be royal princess, a bauble in a blue box that came from that place where Audrey Hepburn had breakfast, or the singular design innovation for which a jewelry brand became a household word, there are certain pieces of jewelry that are instantly recognizable. One of the ongoing features of the Sparkle On blog I plan to share are descriptions of iconic jewelry designs that have become synonymous with a style, brand, or image, so that you can learn to identify the attributes that characterize a classic piece of jewelry. While most of us do not live the lifestyle of a character in the old TV drama Dynasty, these are the pieces that launched a thousand knock-offs. You may not aspire to own that museum timepiece, or, drat it all, you’ve long since forgotten where you hid the darn key to the family jewelry vault, but you may aspire to get the look for less. Here, I’ll tell you the story, or history, behind some of the most memorable jewelry designs, and how you can capture the essence of the original without the price tag. or, where to get the real thing if money is no object.

What leaps to mind first and foremost in this category is the diamond tennis bracelet.

The classic design that we associate with the name “tennis bracelet ” has been around since the 1920’s. Originally called a line bracelet, it only became known as a tennis bracelet in the 1970’s when it is said that tennis champion Chris Evert wore her diamond jewelry on the court, even while playing in professional matches. During one of these matches, her bracelet broke and went flying, and the match had to be halted while she looked for it. How the name tennis bracelet actually stuck is a matter of some debate. Either it was because Evert herself referred to the bracelet as her “tennis bracelet,” because she wore it during her tennis matches, or because someone else referred to it as such, no one is sure, but it has been called a tennis bracelet ever since.

A tennis or line bracelet is characterized by diamonds of the same shape, size, and cut lined up in a single row and set closely together. Depending upon the specific design, each stone is set into an individual setting of precious metal, then linked together, usually with tiny hinge pins, making the bracelet flexible. The effect is an unbroken line of sparkle around the wrist, which is why the line bracelet is sometimes also called an eternity bracelet. When the stones are set into white gold or platinum, the diamond line bracelet is dazzling. The design is very simple, which is usually what makes anything a classic.

A diamond tennis bracelet is aspirational for most of us because of the cost. Since the diamonds used are typically very small, many stones are needed to wrap all the way around the wrist, which can add up to multiple carats of gem weight. The stones must be very similar in clarity and color, since they are set immediately adjacent to one another. A single stone of poor color quality would visually break the line and ruin the effect. also, sourcing and setting so many nearly identical stones for a single piece of jewelry is labor-intensive. All of these factors, along with desirability, contribute to the sky-high price tag.

While the line bracelet is a classic, and can stand on its own, wearing it alongside a watch is tres chic. Want to wear diamonds with an edge? If bracelets are your jam, then you have probably indulged in the stacking trend. Stacking bracelets in multiples on one or both arms can elevate the look of an otherwise demure piece of jewelry. That barely visible diamond chip bracelet that you saved up for forever while in college can benefit by adding several sparkly siblings to create lots of drama. Although a diamond line bracelet may be a whisper-thin thread around the wrist, it is such an iconic look, not to mention a status symbol, that it requires no additional embellishment. I’ll never forget a photo I once saw in a magazine of Barbra Streisand wearing a diamond line bracelet as her only piece of jewelry, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.

Gentlemen, if you are enraptured by a woman who loves jewelry, you are all but guaranteed to be asked for a diamond tennis bracelet as a gift. Even if you are currently dating no such woman, I’d start saving now, because you can expect to spend thousands of dollars, depending upon how many gems and total carat weight is used to make up the design, and in what type of metal the stones are set. Doing a quick search, I saw a jewelry reseller named for a big blue river offering bracelets that start around $3,000, set in gold, and a high-end design house with a revered name that starts with a C is offering them starting at $20,000.00. I’ll take the one in rose gold, please.

Sparkle on!

Laura

You say tomato, I say tomahto, you say potato, I say potahto, and we all say carrot, karat, and carat. When referring to jewelry, you often hear a word that sounds like “carrot” used to describe what seems to be some mystifying attribute, but what does it actually mean? If you are using a screen reader, let me take a moment to spell each of these variations. Yes, the three words sound identical, but they are spelled differently. The orange vegetable consumed in vast quantities by a certain cartoon bunny wabbit is spelled C A R R O T. When referring to gold, it is spelled K A R A T. When talking about gemstones, it is spelled C A R A T.

Quick note: For those of you who do not use a screen reader, the above may have been superfluous, but screen reader users are hearing this text as it is being read aloud, so spelling each word for readers who are blind or who are audio learners may be helpful.

A carat, spelled with a C and one R, is a unit of weight for precious and semi-precious gemstones. You often see it abbreviated as “cttw,” which is short for carat total weight. So, if a gemstone is one-half carat, it will be abbreviated as .50 cttw. A carat is the mass equivalent of 200 milligrams. The word ‘carat” is thought to be derived from the word “carob,” which is a type of tree. these trees produced seeds that were nearly identical in size and weight, making them a popular unit of measure for traders in Europe and the Middle East thousands of years ago. The more seeds required to balance scales used to measure the weight of a gem, the heavier, and therefore more valuable the gem. In the early 1900’s, the Council on Weights and Measures adopted the metric carat as the standard for measuring gemstone weight. One metric carat is about the weight of a paper clip.

A karat, spelled with a K and one R, is the unit of measurement used to identify gold purity. pure gold is said to be 24 karat gold. Gold that is part gold, part other metals is expressed as parts of 24. For example, 18 karat gold is 18 parts pure gold, 6 parts other metals, so it is 75 percent pure gold, the other 25 percent is other metals. If you are wearing a piece of jewelry that is 14 karat gold, you are wearing an item that is about 58.3 percent gold, the rest is other metals. The “other metals”, usually some combination of nickel, copper, and zinc, are added to gold as it is liquefied so as to enhance strength and durability. Pure 24 karat gold is very soft. The lower the number describing the gold purity, the stronger, more durable, and more scratch-resistant the gold becomes, because it contains a lower amount of pure gold, and a greater amount of other metals. Often, the term karat is abbreviated as kt, so gold that is 75 percent pure gold, the rest other metals is expressed as 18 kt. In the US, 14 karat gold is the standard, in Europe, 18 karat gold is preferred. It is very rare to find 24 kt gold in a retail store here in the US, but it is popular in India and a few other countries, although it is usually mixed with copper or silver to add just a bit more durability, making it 22karat gold.

In researching the etymology of the word karat, it appears from some sources that carat with a C and karat with a K have the same origins, but language differences changed the spellings and ultimately the meaning. However, I was able to find one source that indicated that karat with a K was a unit of measure equivalent to the Roman siliqua, which was 1/24th of a golden solidus of Constantine, which is thought to be the reason a karat took on the proportion of 1/24, and became a measure of gold purity.

If you would like to hear a bit of additional info, I published a podcast for The Fashionability Channel, where I host a program called All That Glitters. I posted a show on gold, including colors, characteristics, and other uses.

You can listen to the episode here.

Do you have a favorite piece of gold jewelry? Is it a keepsake, a fashion statement, or your everyday go-to, such as a timepiece?

Sparkle on!

Laura

If you think of yourself as a person with a strong sense of style, then you probably adhere to certain fashion “rules.” Perhaps you refuse to violate the “no white after Labor Day” dictum, or maybe you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a synthetic fabric, or maybe it would be unthinkable that you would outfit yourself in anything other than a top designer brand. In today’s “anything goes” fashion free-for-all, however, most of those style statutes have gone the way of rotary dial telephones.

The same is true of jewelry, and those who love it. If you are a die-hard gold girl, then it doesn’t matter to you how cute a jewelry design is,, if it isn’t available in 14 karat gold, at the very least, then you don’t even want to look at it. On the other hand, if sterling silver suits you, both in the way of skin tone, lifestyle, and budget, then you bypass gold with a dismissive wave of your shiny silver stack ringed and bangle braceleted hand. But what if you are the type of person who zeroes in on design, who gravitates toward symbolism or sentiment that really speaks to you, regardless of the materials used? Maybe you have a strong preference for a type of metal or material, but are jewelry curious, and wonder if it’s okay to mix fashion and fine jewelry. Does it really matter what a piece of jewelry is made of, so long as it rings your bell? So what if you love that bracelet made of bike chain, or a necklace crafted of cork? Isn’t that considered fashionable? And what of this distinction between fashion and fine jewelry? If it’s fashionable and produced in platinum, or has sentimental value and made from recycled materials, if it’s fine jewelry to you, who really cares, right? What’s the difference between fine jewelry and fashion jewelry?

Actually, there are a few distinctions to be aware of, so in case you are wondering where to draw a line between fine jewelry and fashion jewelry, read on.

Jewelry purists will tell you that fine jewelry can only be crafted of gold or platinum metals, and can only be set with precious gems, such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, or sapphires. In the strictest terms, this definition leaves out sterling silver. However, if one is willing to move the line just a bit, sterling silver is considered to be a noble metal, and can be included in the ‘fine” jewelry category.

What about gold, platinum, or silver plating? These jewelry items would not be considered fine jewelry, even if they are set with precious gemstones. yes, you can easily find jewelry crafted of sterling silver plated with gold or platinum, and set with genuine gems, but these pieces are still not considered fine jewelry. So, you can see where that line is starting to get a little blurry at this point.

Fashion jewelry is a catch-all term that is inclusive of any jewelry that does not fit into the strictest definition of fine jewelry above. A sterling silver ring plated in platinum and set with a ruby is considered to be fashion jewelry. So, then what is costume jewelry? The term “costume jewelry” originated from live theater, where actors needed to appear adorned in finery, yet were actually wearing props made of base metals or glass “gems,” so the costume departments didn’t have to worry about expense, loss, or theft, since the costume pieces were of little or no value. So, the term fashion jewelry is just a more modern way of referring to costume jewelry. Again, however, the line between fine jewelry and fashion jewelry, or what is colloquially called “junk jewelry” is a bit fuzzy. “Junk” connotes trash, garbage, detritus or debris that is disposable, and without value. However, some fashion jewelry can be quite costly, especially if it is labeled with a designer brand name, or is manufactured using complex tooling or techniques, such as metal mesh, or, conversely, jewelry that is entirely hand crafted, such as Bali silver, or native American jewelry. If you purchased any of this type of jewelry, for which you may have spent hundreds of dollars, would you consider it “junk?

To allow for a certain amount of wiggle-room with respect to categorizing jewelry, you may sometimes hear another term used. Semi-fine, or bridge jewelry is a relatively modern way of characterizing jewelry that falls somewhere in between the two most extreme ends of the jewelry spectrum. Jewelry made of copper, which is a metal mined from the earth and found on the Periodic Table of Elements, is often set with semi-precious gemstones, either transparent or opaque, and is an example of jewelry that can be placed firmly in the “bridge,” or semi-fine category. Southwestern jewelry often uses this particular combination of materials, along with sterling silver, and if you have ever traveled to Albuquerque or Santa Fe, and shopped the galleries filled with authentic local artisan jewelry, then you know it can be incredibly expensive.

Nowadays, there is such a wide range of jewelry style that just about anyone can wear what speaks to them. Some fashion jewelry can so closely mimic the real thing that the average person couldn’t tell the difference, even with a trained eye, without the use of jeweler’s tools. in fact, arguably the world’s most renown diamond producer, De Beers, recently shook up the jewelry world by announcing their new lab-grown diamonds, sold by the carat with prices that for some, make that line between fine and fashion jewelry barely discernible. So, whether you consider yourself a designer brand diva, a fashion jewelry fashionista, or if you prefer conflict-free and sustainable style, there’s definitely something out there for everyone’s taste and budget.

Sparkle on!

Laura

Have you ever taken on a challenge that was just far enough outside your comfort zone that getting to the goal line seemed all but impossible? Of course you have. We can all relate to the feeling of standing at the foot of that proverbial insurmountable peak and thinking it’s just too high a hill to climb. Well, that was me, rebuilding Elegant Insights.

Unless one is a programmer, a software developer, code jockey, or whatever you want to call it, most people who want to build a web site these days use a platform such as Word Press, which allows for a certain amount of cobbling together parts and pieces of desired features, a sort of modular approach, to creating a complete picture – that of an online destination that is inviting to visitors. you know, sort of like digital Leggo. Or, maybe Tetris would be the better analogy, since the idea is to make all the pieces fit together seamlessly.

There was a great deal to take into consideration for the new Elegant Insights online boutique, not the least of which was to identify accessible solutions for web site features that were not only usable by my site visitors, but usable for me. Of course, it all has to actually function, but accessibility was of prime importance for me, and that meant using some of those building blocks that were not necessarily the most popular versions of that particular feature set. The long and the short of it is, it seemed to take forever to finish, and I’m still not really done.

I’m implementing a suggestions box opportunity that I’m calling “Feedback Fridays.” Each week in October, I’ll ask you to take a look at a specific feature on the web site that is either new, or has been changed, so you can let me know if the aesthetics, accessibility, or workflow works for you. Or, frankly, works at all. In fact, I discovered, only after a customer attempted to use the new wish list, that it wasn’t working well. Sometimes, it’s more effective for a user who hasn’t been up to their eyeballs in a project to find the real-world usability issues. Thanks to her feedback, I was able to identify a code conflict about which I had not known. It was necessary to scrap the wish list module that I had been building on, and to start over with something else. Offering feedback will not require anything of you other than to poke around and tell me what you think, and if I need some help from you for testing purposes, I’ll ask, “okay, how is this?” Or, “does it work now?”

After I’m comfortable that the web site seems to be functioning in a way that is acceptable to a majority, I’ll focus on writing content for the blog. I’ve already received a great suggestion for a blog topic, so feel free to send ideas my way if you can think of something jewelry or style related that would be valuable to you. After all, it’s really about the jewelry!

Thanks for reading, and sparkle on!

Laura

Greetings!

Welcome to the home of my new Sparkle On blog, which is a new feature of the new Elegant Insights online boutique. That’s a lot of new!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Laura, and I am the owner, manager, marketer, chief bottle-washer and janitor for Elegant Insights. I’m also the designer of all the products that you’ll see on the site. However, my customers and staff contribute their genius as well, so if you ever have a design idea, we can help you to bring it to life.

As I re-launch the site, I wanted to create a place where we can share our love of jewelry, and chat about Elegant Insights products. I also plan to include jewelry industry news, latest jewelry and accessories trends, how-to-wear and where-to-buy tips, and plenty of jewelry educational information, too. Got a request? If you have any burning jewelry questions, feel free to send them my way, along with any blog topic ideas.

By the way, if you are already subscribed to the Elegant Insights newsletters via the old site, there’s no need to resubscribe. However, if you want to be sure to get all of our latest news, and you have not previously subscribed, I promise to work really hard to win your respect and admiration, and ultimately, your shameless adoration.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the blog. Sparkle on!

xoxo
Laura