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Did you know beautiful cubic zirconia is a relatively newly discovered and perfected material? Derived from zirconium oxide, a yellowing monoclinic mineral baddeleyite in 1872, cubic zirconia has come quite a long way since its beginnings. In 1899 German mineralogists M.V. Stackelberg and K. Chudoba discovered naturally occurring cubic zirconia in the form of microscopic grains found in metamict zircon. This counterpart of synthetic cubic zirconia was confirmed by x-ray diffraction.
Although, zirconia’s very high melting point makes it hard to control the growth of crystals, scientists were determined to find a way and, to the eventual delight of jewelry lovers everywhere, they eventually did. Stabilized zirconia was not introduced until 1920. Stabilized zirconia was not introduced until 1920.
In the 1960’s French scientists began attempting to grow single controlled cubic zirconia crystals. Two scientists known as Roulin and R. Collongues were successful in this endeavor. Their process became known as the cold crucible process. Although it was a step in the right direction, this process only grew very small crystals.
By 1976, however soviet scientists V. Osiko at the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow Russia perfected the skull crucible technique, which is still used in CZ production today. By 1980 50 million carats were produced worldwide. Now, thanks to metal oxide dopants which can be mixed into the feed powder, CZ can be generated in large variety of colors as well!
Stabilized zirconia was not introduced until 1920. Originally cubic zirconia was used as a refractory material in industrial machinery. Like many materials who take their origins from industrial use, CZ has become a popular staple in the jewelry industry, one many men and women now know and love!
If you’re older than 25, you probably have not-so-distant memories of a brighter, more intense time in the world of fashion – one when neon hair accessories and oversized pink, orange, yellow, and lime jewelry could be seen on women of all ages. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s neons were very popular in Men’s fashion as well, with designer collections featuring brightly colored tees and even jeans with pops of bold color splattered on.
By the mid 1990’s, however, designers traded in their basic magenta, bright, blue, and lime palettes for much more traditional and subdued hues, with seasonal color cues remaining very close to the beaten path. Now, after nearly two entire decades of what some might call “drab” runways are “waking up” with neon pink dresses, orange accessories, and just about everything in between. Fortunately, for those who aren’t quite ready to jump back into the all-over bright look, bright accessories provide a way to stay seasonally savvy with just a pop of trendy color.
For example, fashionistas can scoop up the neon Crystal Necklace by sought after celebrity costume jewelry Noir on Shopbop.com. The piece features a stunning arrangement of loose CZ stones hanging from a neon yellow cord, creating a uniquely interesting blend of elements. Similar looks are available on hot retailer websites like TopShop, BaubleBar, and The Outnet. Other jewelry designers who have combined CZ stones with neons include Juicy Couture, Tom Binns, and Alyssa Norton, whose pieces retail for upwards of $1,000 at Barney’s.
If you’re a jewelry designer, you may want to play around with this look yourself! Consider combining clear loose CZ stones with twine, fabric, leatherette or other materials that are colored hot pink, lime green, bright yellow, or even shocking sky blue.
Most jewelry store customers visit their jeweler looking for gold, silver, or platinum jewelry, but now there is a new is a new metal that is making its way into the mainstream – Palladium. Palladium, whose chemical symbol and atomic number are Pd and 46 respectively, is a rare and lustrous silver-white metal. The discoverer of Palladium, William Hyde Wollaston, named the metal after the asteroid Pallas.
Although the natural element named Palladium was discovered as early as the beginning of the 19th century, it was not until recently that the metal started to become widely known to jewelry customers. Palladium, a part of the platinum group of elements, which also includes the well known tarnish resistant jewelry plating metal, rhodium, has many unique properties.
During the mid 20th century jewelers started using Palladium as an alternative to platinum for making white gold. It’s popularity surged during World War II when jewelers were discouraged from using platinum which was declared a strategic government resource at the time. After the war, however, the price of Palladium long remained much higher than platinum and palladium’s use in jewelry making became very rare due to the fact that it was very hard to cast. For decades, palladium was usually used only in the process of creating white gold itself.
In the early 2000’s however, the price of platinum began skyrocketing as the price of palladium continued the fall. Subsequently, new techniques were developed that allowed jewelry to be easily cast out of the once elusive metal. Within the last 5 years, many jewelry companies have started casting entire pieces of jewelry out of solid palladium. Now, loose gemstones like CZs and diamonds can be set in platinum to create the same traditional look that can be achieved with white gold and platinum.
What is it that attracts millions to the work of artists like M.C. Escher who are known for their obsessively precise, mathematically inspired, and geometric works of art? Escher, like other artists who played very deliberately with mathematical concepts to create his work, worked directly from structures in plane and projective geometry. The human eye is naturally attracted to or intrigued by images or objects composed of harmonious and sometimes repetitious proportions. It’s only natural for humanity to have an ongoing love affair with shapes, patterns, and repetitive angles, and this Spring and Fall 2012 season, the affair lives on within the collections of jewelry designers throughout the world. To create their seasonal collections, many designers seem to be taking their cues from geometry itself, but also from the many old-world yet eloquently beautiful tribal designs that are founded on simple repetitive lines and patterns.
Designers are creating bangles featuring tessellation like designs and bright tribal patterns by painting them, appliquéing them, wrapping them in brilliantly patterned fabric or by setting colored CZs or loose gemstones to strategically form geometric patterns. Metal cuffs, necklaces, earrings, and rings that feature well arranged cut out shapes, pyramid-like forms, and even honeycomb designs, are becoming a go-to look for fashionistas everywhere. Today’s geometrically inspired jewelry combines bright tribal colors with sometimes imprecisely drawn edges to soften up the look a bit.
Providing further evidence that geometry was a big inspiration for many 2012 jewelry collections, today’s popular “pave spheres” used in macramé style bracelets this season are reminiscent of the way geometric artists like Escher played with polyhedra, intersecting platonic solids in order to create intriguing new shapes with multiple irregularly shaped faces. To recreate the geometrically inspired look, with a new high sparkle twist, jewelers usually set hundreds of loose cut CZ gemstones carefully in a spherical setting. Today’s pieces that take a little page from the math book really do add up to high style.
The 2012 award season was kicked off in style on January 10th with a jewelry bash. This year Forevermark, the relatively new branch of diamond maker DeBeers and InStyle magazine, the go-to publication round the world for style advice, teamed up to host the event.
The Jewelry bash takes place annually just before the Golden Globes and was held at the posh Beverly Hills Hotel this year and hosted by Dawson’s Creek star Michelle Williams who recently starred as the diamond loving legend Marilyn Monroe herself in the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn. Appropriately, Michelle William’s stood among the many pieces of jewelry made with the world’s most well known loose cut stone as attendees looked on in awe.
The jewelry bash attracted a wide array of familiar faces all known in part, for their love their jewels as well, including Jessica Alba, Mary J. Blige, Rebecca Romijn, and Julianne Hough among others according to National Jeweler Magazine.
Designs by famous names like Fred Leighton, Kimberly McDonald, Stephen Webster, Martin Katz, Mimi So and others were featured at the star studded event. In a special twist, attendees were informed that many of the designs on display would likely be seen gracing the bodies of thoroughly glammed-up celebs during the Golden Globes main presentation that was to come, but of course, no one was told exactly which ones would be worn on which celebs. Of course guests were able to make their own speculations but needed to do some serious people watching during the awards night to find out which pieces made the final cut. The pieces that make their way onto the red carpet each year often become the year’s most coveted styles!
Those who would like to get the Golden Globes style, without having to spend a Golden Globe’s price tag can do so by buying pieces featuring CZs or cubic zirconia set in the same styles seen on awards night which will look just as stunning at any bash!
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and of course, with it being one of the biggest gift- giving holidays of the year, jewelry designers and artisans are stocking up on loose stones in shapes like hearts and solitaires to prepare for the rush!
Aside from gearing up by making sure they’re in stock, jewelers must also get geared up by increasing marketing efforts in an ever changing and always competitive market. World famous retailer Tiffany and Company has come up with a creative way to do so this year by incorporating a Valentine’s Day campaign meant to appeal to real couples everywhere.
Together Sartorialist contributors and Tiffany & Company marketing professionals created a heartwarming album featuring real life couples in love. By teaming up with the widely read fashion blog, Tiffany & Company hopes to encourage fashion savvy blog readers to remember to gift their loved ones with a tried and true classic this Valentine’s Day – diamond jewelry.
If you’re a jeweler, remember, however, that there is another way to create tried and true classic pieces for your customers to enjoy this year! While diamonds are of course beautiful, in this economy, many couples, especially young couples are looking for Valentine’s gifts that offer excellent value without sacrificing the beauty and classicism of a diamond.
Buying wholesale CZ’s allows jewelry designers to offer their customers something they’ll be able to treasure forever at a price point that won’t ever leave their wallet empty in the mean time. Today, even the most exclusive and acclaimed jewelers are using CZ stones in many of their pieces. With CZ’s there are so many brilliant shapes, including the heart, to choose from, allowing jewelers to create something for everyone.
People often make New Year’s resolutions that they don’t end up keeping. Did you ever wonder why that might be? Perhaps it’s because they aren’t choosing New Year’s resolutions that are actually fun to keep! In fact, the case is usually precisely the opposite. Resolutions that require dieting or committing to an exercise routine that doesn’t particularly interest you certainly aren’t fun. Those who resolve to do such things often end up feeling disappointed and as if their life remains unenhanced twelve months later, so why not consider making a resolution that you’ll actually have fun sticking to this year – one that will enhance your day to day life and your day to day look! There is no rule that personal development has to be boring, so this year, why not resolve to develop a more well rounded and versatile jewelry wardrobe!
Start by studying what you already have in your jewelry box and thinking about how much wear you get out of each piece and on which occasions. Chances are that up until this point, you’ve bought jewelry as you’ve needed it for specific events. This sort of jewelry buying can leave you with the type of jewelry collection that lacks the versatility it takes to spice up and even stretch your day to day wardrobe!
After opening your jewelry box, do you see pieces ranging from sparkling CZs and diamonds to intriguing loose stones with brilliant colors and patterns? Do you see a variety of necklace shapes and styles and earrings of varied size and tone, perhaps some that include loose gemstones and some simply designed of silver or gold? If so, you’re on the right track, but if your jewelry box is barren or lacking the variety it takes to flatter every neckline, every look, and every occasion, consider making a resolution to decide what types of pieces you’re lacking and gather them this year!
Lab Created Gemstones are Wonderfully Economical
Today’s jewelry buyers look for value when they shop. Whether they’re looking for something simple or extravagant, they are usually looking for a piece that is high quality at a price tag they can afford. Loose cubic zirconia gemstones not only sparkle like quality diamonds, their price tag sparkle as well for both jewelers and their retail customers.
Lab Created Gems offer Brilliant Perfected Beauty
Looking for a flawless gemstone? Turn to lab created stones. From lab created ruby, tanzanite, to sapphire, diamonds and more, loose lab gems offer jewelers of all budgets to purchase flawless loose stones.
Lab Created Gems are 100% Conflict free
Want to steer clear of all of the ethical conflict that comes along with mining stones like diamonds, rubies, and sapphires? Buying wholesale loose cubic zirconia stones instead of mined stones makes it easy. Both jewelers who use lab created gems as well as their retail customers can feel comfortable knowing that no lives were lost or natural resources harmed in order to create their beautiful jewels.
Consistency in Color, Shape, Texture, and Size
Consistency in the color, shape, texture, and size of gemstones can be very important for jewelers who create seasonal collections that are widely distributed. Your customers will expect to receive the same exact product they see pictured online or in an advertisement. Lab created gemstones make creating identical pieces easier.
Easily accessible variety
Shopping for lab created gemstones can be much more convenient than shopping for mined gemstones. Instead of spending time and money searching the world over for the perfect and unique gemstone cut you’re looking for, you can access a very wide variety of beautiful cuts, shapes, and sizes by simply shopping the Pehnec catalog online. Searching through the catalog, you’ll find round and square shapes, and also unique heart, oval, octagon, marquise, pear and star shapes and more.
Do you have a favorite animal and if so would you like the world to know? As it turns out, many men and women do! That’s why rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings featuring “critters” or animals are so very coveted today and have been historically as well. Celebrities, including Katy Perry, who was photographed wearing a bejeweled flying pig ring at the 2009 Annual People Magazine Party, are also fans of the look!
Animal themes in jewelry have always been classic, but over the past few years, we’ve seen jewelry designers really turn up the volume on their nature inspired pieces! From spiders, to peacocks, to elephants, to sparrows, to cats, recent designer collections have included many statement insect and animal inspired pieces, many of them studded with sparkling, gorgeous, loose CZ jewels.
Using colorful loose CZ gemstones in critter jewelry allows jewelry designers to create pieces that easily conjure up images of those originally made only for royalty by custom gold and silversmiths at a fraction of the cost. In fact, the main difference between “critter” jewels of days of old and those being created today is simply better affordability. Thanks to loose cut CZ stones beauty and quality do not have to be sacrificed! By setting various colors of cz stones in pave or mosaic fashion, jewelers can give true vibrant color and texture to animal likeness they are creating. Many jewelers use CZ’s in conjunction with enamel to create majestic animal kingdom inspired jewels that are unbelievably easy on the jewelry collector’s wallet. Now collectors everywhere can delight in scooping up a pig cocktail ring, a long peacock necklace, and perhaps even a bullfrog bangle all in the same shopping trip!
The layered necklace look is actually a classic look that can take many forms, and is yet another great way to spice up a simple outfit or even a plain formfitting tee. You can layer necklaces to easily create a bohemian look or a “rockstar” look and proper necklace layering can certainly work for a formal soirée as well – think Coco Chanel’s layered pearls!
Layering necklaces the right way is a bit more complicated than some think. It can be tough to know what kind of pieces layer. You’ll want to take a few things into consideration lest you end up looking like you just stumbled out of an out of control Mardi Gras celebration.
First take into account the materials you’d like to use. While you may want to look eclectic, looking too eclectic is can be confusing to the eye. You don’t have to be too “matchy matchy” while layering pieces, but you should make sure that the necklaces you decide to layer are related to each other in some way. Relate them by metal type, tone, theme, or even by the type of loose gemstone inclusions. You’ll want to be careful when layering man made gemstones with mined gemstones as well, since wearing the two together can sometimes make your look less fluid.
Don’t forget to consider necklace lengths as well. Layering too many necklaces of the same length on can result in a heavy look that confuses the viewer. Try to use necklaces of varied lengths when layering. If you’re a beginner to layering, try starting out with a simple 16-18’’ necklace with a cz solitaire pendant. Compliment it with 28-36’’ delicate chain necklace. This look works with many different necklines including the scoop neck and the V-neck.
Check out your own jewelry box and experiment. Layered necklaces look great under a jacket even for everyday wear! Have fun incorporating this style into your look.
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