At all times, the fair sex adorned themselves with jewelry made of precious stones. Raw materials of natural origin, significantly different in its elegance and beauty from artificial materials. Necklaces with real specimens are also popular among modern women. You can buy them in a special store or do it yourself.
Those who wish to create exclusive copyright works would be well acquainted with the affordable arsenal of beads made of natural stone. This article will describe the characteristics of certain types of minerals that have aesthetic features. We will also talk about how they can be combined with various fittings and accessories.
General information
Affordable and cheaper material for making jewelry are semiprecious stones. The secret to the popularity of minerals lies in their diversity and the bizarre form that allows you to create unique variations. The imagination and the range of their colors are amazing. All of them have a different structure - matte, dense with unusual stains or transparent, decorated with all kinds of dashes and blotches. For example, rock crystal and many quartzites are very fragile. Most of them are used for crafts with the effect of broken glass.
In many stores you can buy ready-made beads made of natural stone that have been processed. Since they were touched by a person’s hand, they all have a specific configuration. There are flat and round blanks with different diameters, as well as in the form of geometric shapes. A huge arrangement among many masters was won by a crumb (chips) from this raw material. This is a slide or string of strung fragments from which you can create not only jewelry, but also objects for interior decoration in a residential or office building. Mosaic paintings and other crafts from the chips add a touch of artistic design and, meanwhile, allow you to feel the unity with nature.
Jewelry Stones
Natural material is widely used in many fields of creative activity. These stones are used to string stylish and solid beads for middle-aged women. At the same time, they are woven into bracelets that young people wear with pleasure. For everyday use, it is better to buy a jewelry made of medium-sized beads. The classic necklace gives its owner a look of nobility and grace.
Increasingly, you can see fragments using natural materials in copyrighted products. Many professional needlewomen, accustomed to working with plastic or beads, finally appreciated the type of raw material with which you can enhance the exterior features of their creative works. In addition, it is much more pleasant to embody your ideas in unsurpassed jewelry made of natural stone. Beads are glued into brooches and pendants, made from them rings and earrings, weave intricate necklaces. Below is a list of jewelry using natural materials. With the presence of stones you can meet:
- Leather goods on the neck and braided laces in combination with stones. A twisted rope with one large specimen located in the center looks quite interesting.
- Necklace for special occasions, with peculiar pendants and openwork weaving. Most often, they are found complete with earrings and other accessories.
- Hand and foot bracelets. In addition to rubber bands and cables, various accessories are used for their manufacture. As an option - a wire with memory, with the help of which a spiral decoration in the form of a snake is created.
- Hair jewelry: combs, hair clips, braided elastic bands, tiaras. For the manufacture of such products, special blanks are commercially available. They are made out using fishing line or fixed with glue.
- Rings, the basis for which is a metal billet. With the help of jewelry studs, small pebbles are fastened in the designated holes.
- Earrings of various configurations combined with metal fittings and chains. Ready-made earrings and pendants are available for sale, on which beads can be hooked or glued.
Material types
Stones are native and grown. The first are extracted from land crevices or mines and are extracted from rocks. They are processed, polished and surface cut (possibly painting). Such material is the most valuable and more expensive.
What are artificial stones? They are successfully grown in the laboratory by synthesizing chemicals. Minerals are placed in a solution that promotes their accelerated growth. Some varieties are obtained in the process of pressing from rejects and chips of raw materials of natural origin.
Only a specialist can see the differences between the types of these materials. Although beads carved from natural stone are rated higher, their chemical and physical properties are not much different from synthesized minerals. In fact, they are all considered semi-precious raw materials. Consider the most common types of beads used for jewelry.
Agate
Representative from the genus of chalcedony. Its color may vary depending on the properties of the fractions contained in it; it has a characteristic pattern that determines its age. Against the background of such minerals, the most beautiful appearance is precisely the agate stone. The beads obtained from it are distinguished by the uniqueness of their structure and color. In some places they are transparent, and in some parts cloudy, with a gradual transition to a different color.
Pearls
All magnificence and elegance incorporated jewelry made of natural pearls. Beads, considered the top of the classics, are found in nature in several colors and different shapes. This makes it possible to create products from them for all occasions.
Natural pearl beads can become a luxurious decoration both on a festive evening and in everyday business life. The main thing is to try to choose a product that will match the style of your clothes and other accessories. For example, peach and white minerals go well with gold products, and black with silver.
River pearls are distinguished by a peculiar configuration of beads. From it it is better to string a necklace that can be worn constantly. For a celebration and other special occasions, you should use a marine mineral with a round shape and a flat surface.
Amber
From ancient times and up to our time, amber beads are famous for their beauty and healing properties. Coniferous trees serve as a source and supplier of unique raw materials. In fact, wonderful beads are a hardened fossil resin that is subsequently processed. The polished material is transparent, like a tear, so in it you can consider all the internal modifications that occurred during its formation. Jewelry made of semiprecious nugget looks chic and expensive.
It is recommended to wear amber beads for people with thyroid disease. In order for the necklace to really bring the expected effect, you need to buy only unpolished resin.
Characteristics of semiprecious stones
- Jasper. Silica with a large amount of impurities. Thanks to these properties, it has become interesting to many beauty lovers. Under natural conditions, jasper forms shades of green, red and light brown colors, purple and blue are less common. Impurities manifest themselves in the form of specks, stripes and bright spots.
- Cat's eye. Refers to quartzite, has rutile fractions in the composition. There is a playing band on the beads, in which the whole charm of this mineral lies. Due to the fact that it began to be grown in special plants, imitating material has a rich palette of colors.
- Nephritis. Semi-precious solid mineral of green color. Due to the presence of magnesium, calcium and iron in the composition, it sometimes casts with a pale red tint or blue. Due to the glass-like structure, it has a rather rich appearance.
- Tiger's Eye. Those who like to use large beads made of natural stones in their works should pay attention to the tiger's eye. Firstly, it contains two well-combined colors - yellow and brown. Secondly, the mineral has a very shiny wax surface. The whole beauty of the stone can be appreciated only on large forms.
- Turquoise. An opaque bright blue or turquoise mineral with characteristic thin brown branches. It has a beautiful glossy surface, due to which it is attributed to highly aesthetic materials. Turquoise itself is fragile and has a porous structure.
- Aventurine. This is colored quartzite, beautifully shimmering in the light. Its surface is covered with tiny gold specks. As a material for making jewelry, it is more common with brown and dark blue colors. Mica impurities are found inside natural quartz.
Gems
In certain historical periods, minerals have been evaluated in different ways. It is now difficult for a modern person to understand the real value of jewelry. Nevertheless, one can single out the main criteria that add significant weight to natural gemstones. These include:
- rarity;
- transparency;
- aesthetics;
- hardness.
It is noteworthy that, depending on the listed conditions, the same nugget can belong to different groups of material.
Names of gemstones: sapphire, chrysolite, smoky quartz, amber, topaz, ruby, emerald, opal, cat's eye, coral, kunzite, pearls, demantoid, garnet, heliodor, beryl, verdelite, alexandrite, diamond, aquamarine, turquoise, lapis lazuli, zircon.
Conclusion
As you can see, needlewomen and beauty lovers have ample opportunities for creativity. Making classic beads from natural stones is not so difficult. A variety of shapes and colors of natural materials greatly facilitate this task. After all, you can choose a color based on what items and accessories are already in your wardrobe.