Dream Again Jewelry – Bold and Beautiful Jewelry

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 May 2010 09:20 Written by DreamAgainJewelry Tuesday, 11 May 2010 08:38

Making jewelry has always been a passion of mine. I have been making jewelry for 17 years, since I was 20 years old. I happened into my first bead store while on vacation in Santa Cruz, CA., I immediately fell in love. The glass, clay, porcelain, metal, pearl, and shell beads overwhelmed me. I had no idea how to make any jewelry, but I bought some African trade beads, some leather, and some clasps. My first attempts were rather simple, but I was hooked. I am a completely self taught jewelry artist. I read all the books I could get my hands on, and later I searched the internet. I find great pleasure in making jewelry and I hope you find great pleasure in wearing my one of a kind treasures.

I make three different collections of jewelry; the bold and beautiful, vintage inspired, and chainmaille. All my jewelry is made by hand with pliers, wire, chain, beads, and stones. I don’t solder anything, it is all securely wrapped in wire. I sit at the work table and look over all my beads, and there are many, and just let the inspiration strike. I start dreaming up the jewelry and before you know it, I have a beautiful necklace, bracelet, or one of many other beautiful creations. I love to do custom work.
I spend my time making and selling jewelry on Etsy, writing about jewelry matters at my blog.
You can also follow me on Twitter, and my Facebook Fan Page.

The Artists Community

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 March 2010 08:18 Written by dreamriverdesigns Monday, 1 March 2010 04:03

The Handmade Artist Forum as a community

Community defined,

 a unified body of individuals:  b : the people with common interests 

 Since the advent of the Internet, the concept of Community no longer has geographical limitations, as people can now virtually gather in an online community and share common interests regardless of physical location.

Handmade artist forum http://handmadeartistsforum.com/forum/index.php is an ever growing community of individuals getting together to support, inspire, teach and learn from other handmade artist.  The community has grown and spread to include: an etsy team, facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/HAFteam/411011475367?ref=ts, artfire guild, this blog, the handmade artist shop www.handmadeartistshop.com and a few others.

The forum is a community to exchange hints,links, helps and also features a weekly chat for real time communications.  Members come from all over the world to join together in this community.  The group is open to anyone that creates handcrafted works or those that appreciate handcrafted.  Many different types of work are represented in a multitude of mediums from; textiles, glass, metal, crystals the list goes on. 

I believe Sheran Simo sums it up well,

http://www.facebook.com/smsimo#/pages/Indianapolis-IN/Sheran-M-Simo-Co/86434976361? 

“I am so impressed with the way Handmade Artists Forum members support and encourage each other! Over and over I see people going the extra step to explain something they’ve done, and encourage the use of their ideas! I often see artists trying something new, just because the person doing the original work is so willing to present it in a way that is easy to understand, or photographed in a way that it’s easy to determine how it was done, and then willing for others to “copy” it. I can say, that up to this point there seems to be an equal balance of those posting and those learning and I cannot see evidence that the forum is being abused. What a wonderful environment to be a part of!!! ”

History of Beads

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 March 2010 08:17 Written by dreamriverdesigns Friday, 19 February 2010 10:12

HISTORY OF BEADS

The oldest known jewelry was made from 100,000 year old shell beads.

Wearing jewelry sets humanity apart from the rest of the animal world. And beads have been used for jewelry throughout history.

Whether as decoration, to express individual and class identity (Star of David), to show social status (wedding rings), to store wealth (wampum), as magical amulets, or just to pin your clothes together, jewelry says a lot about who you are.

3,000 – 5,000 years ago
India has the longest continuous legacy of jewelry making anywhere. Beads were important in their jewelry trade even before metals were widely used.

The Egyptians liked gold, and wore it to signal wealth, but preferred colors of glass to those of gemstones.

Chinese designs were oriented to religion then, as now. To this day you will find Buddhist symbols carved into bone and stone beads. Both men and women wore jewelry to show nobility and wealth.

In the Americas, the Mayans made beads from bone and stone before they used metals. Aztec nobility wore gold to show rank, power and wealth. They also used jewelry in sacrifices to appease the gods.

4,000 years ago
In ancient Assyria, men and women both wore extensive amounts of jewelry, including amulets, ankle bracelets, heavy multistrand necklaces, and cylinder seals. In Mesopotamia, jewelry was created both for human use and to adorn statues.

2,400 years ago
Ancient Greeks used jewelry mostly on special occasions and for public appearances. Women wore it to show wealth, social status and beauty. The Greeks believed jewelry protected the wearer from the “evil eye” and gave its owner supernatural powers.

1,300 years ago
Jeweled weaponry and signet rings were common for men; other jewelry was most used by women.

Ornately beaded and jeweled imperial glove made in Palermo before the year 1200 (photo by Michal Mañas, courtesy Widipedia)

400 years ago
Increasing exploration and trade led to the availability of more types of materials and exposure to the arts of varied cultures.

200-120 years ago
Napoleon revived the style and grandeur of jewelry as fashion in France. This period saw the early stages of costume jewelry. Changing social conditions led to the growth of a middle class that wanted jewelry and the industrial revolution provided techniques and materials to produce it more cheaply. To set themselves apart from the masses, the wealthy patronized goldsmiths such as Françoise Désire Fromment Meurice and Pierre Cartier in France, Charles Lewis Tiffany in the United States, Bulgari in Italy and Peter Carl Fabergé in Russia.

Today
Jewelry has never been as diverse as it is today. The development of new materials, including plastics and synthetic gemstones, along with communication advances allowing design influence from many cultures, have combined with manufacturing technology to put jewelry within the economic grasp of a much larger segment of the population. The melding of cultural influences is one of the more significant features of jewelry today. Artisan jewelry is growing both as a hobby and as a profession. Popular because of its uniqueness, it is available in just about any price range.

Article courtesy of Joan at LTD Beads
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LTDBeads

(picture credit: C. Henshilwood & F. d’Errico, courtesy National Science Foundation, United States)