Fashion jewellery unlike is all about accessorizing a look that you create with your style of dress. If you’re wearing something Bohemian looking then chances are you’d want to complete the look with Bohemian looking jewelry that matches what you’re wearing. A lot of this type of jewelry is made from semi precious materials like chalcedony and metal wire. You can visit the wholesale fashion jewellery district in your area where you can probably pick up some beads of assorted materials and wire with some tools to get you started on making your own jewelry.

Fashion costume jewellery is really what people mean when they refer to fashion jewelry. Costume jewelry implies the use of plastics and simulated material instead of genuine inexpensive stones like chalcedony and quartz. Many fashion brands have their own lines of costume jewelry that sells for anywhere between $5 and up for basic pendants, rings, earrings and so on. From companies like Avon the cosmetics giant all the way to new fashion companies like Juicy Couture, costume jewelry has become a big part of their product lineup. Materials such as bronze, pewter and other base metals are used for this jewelry along with embellishments like glass beads from Swarovsky and silver and other metal beads from manufactureres in Italy and China.

On the other end you have gold fashion jewellery which usually means precious and semi precious stones mounted in gold rather than base metals and glass beads. This type of jewelry will obviously run into the hundreds of dollars because of the high price of gold today. The fashion staple in gold would be your standard pair of gold hoop earrings whether in yellow or white gold. Most women own at least one pair of this type of earring because it a universal fashion accessory that goes with any type of dress whether a woman is going to work or play.

Basic gold hoops used to sell in price points that were $50 to $80. This is no longer the case since the run up in gold prices over the last few years. The same basic hoops today in gold go for $250. Because of this silver fashion jewellery has become the new gold as women now gravitate towards such basics as silver hoops or vermeil hoops as their style requires. With silver they are able to purchase a pair of basic earrings in the $20-$50 range again with more or less a similar look to their gold earrings. Unfortunately, cheap fashion jewellery can no longer include gold in its repertoire of metals since the days of $300 to $500 per ounce gold are long gone.

Of course business has suffered as fashion jewellery wholesalers have struggled to find designs in gold jewellery that fit a certain price point and have instead resorted to stocking designs now made from sterling silver and vermeil. Of course, if you design jewelry for a price point out of cheaper metals then you have to use the less expensive gemstones that suit the metals being used. For instance you would not set high quality 15 point white diamonds in silver. But you could set inexpensive 2 point black diamonds in silver and that would make perfect sense. There is a huge selection of this type of inexpensive fashion jewellery online from designer fashion jewellery like Judith Jack to red carpet imitations from emitations dot com. In mens fashion jewellery, silver and alternative metals are more popular now than ever. Designers like David Yurman and Edward Mirell have extensive collections of mens fashion jewelry made from these materials.

Garnet has been a part of the jewelry landscape since the bronze age and is grouped into six different categories. Although garnet varieties occur in many colores from red through orange to yellow and green, the most popular color is the brownish red almandine garnet variety.

garnet stud earrings are the most common type for January’s birthstone. Almandine garnet is fairly inexepensive and so many different shapes apart from the basic round used for studs are available. Other  Coomonly seen cuts are cushion, pear and emerald cut. Almandine garnet is a clean stone as well as hard and offers good durability for use as studs. Brilliance is also good when almandine garnet is of a lighter tone.

Silver garnet earrings come in a wide assortment. Inexpensive silver combined with almandine garnet allows for scale in a silver earring design since you will only be restricted by the weight of the earring as it approaches a level where it would be uncomfortable for the average woman to wear. Antique garnet earrings designs work well in sterling because this metal can be blackened to give a vintage look.Usually garnet is paired with lighter colored stones like rose quartz and amber because these colored stones are more complimentary to the darkened red color of almandine.

Garnet drop earrings are quite popular in sterling silver, especially with small faceted or cabochon round garnet beads that form the the middle of the drop. Usually its the cheaper garnet family gems like almandine that are used as cabochons and beads in silver fashion earrings. The other more expensive varieties like tsavorite are frequently faceted into traditional gem cuts to be used as centers stones because tsavorite costs upwards of $30 per carat on the retail market. Tsavorite and the more expensive malaia and color change garnets are more used in garnet gold earrings rahter than sterling silver garnet earrings.

Gold is running at over $850 an ounce and so the practice of less expensive gem stones that were mounted in gold settings when gold was $400-$600 an ounce has pretty much stopped. The only time this happens is when designer jewelry pieces require the inexpensive gemstone for color purposes. In any event, the pricing of designer jewelry like David Yurman goes beyond the mere cost of the jewelry materials. It doesn’t really matter what gemstones are used in high end designer pieces since the designer label itself will command a healthy premium.

Chandelier earrings came to popularity in the last few years and garnet chandelier earrings are particularly intriguing because of the huge variety of shapes that almandine garnet can be cut into without concern for cost or wastage. The chandlier earrings shown incorporate marquise and square shaped garnets which add a lot of dimensionality to the earring as aopposed to using the standard round or cusion cut shapes that more expensive gemstones are cut in to save weight.

garnet dangle earrings like the garnet and emerald earrings below is a good color combination. The emeralds are small and light in color and contrast beautifully with the larger oval shaped garnet stones in the setting. Notice that the garnets are faceted and are lighter in color than normal for almandite garnet. This is because this shade goes well with the light green of the emeralds.

Garnet hoop earrings are popular in silver but see the image where the gold hoop has small round pyrope or rhodolite garnets set on the edge. This color goes wonderfully with the yellow gold and being more expensive than almandite garnet makes it a good fir for gold in a generic design like this one.

Jadeite is one of two minerals commonly referred to as jade. The other mineral is called nephrite however they both look close to the same thing and it is impossible to tell the difference between the two without examination of their spectra lines, specific gravity, or refractive index. Jade earrings may be made from either material and not much effort is made in the trade to identify one from the other nor is much effort spared to identify dyed vs not dyed material.

most of the jade you see in the budget jewelry has most probably been dyed or enhanced by with dye to produce different colors. Natural colors include apple green and dark green to black, light purple, reddish orange, gray and brown. There is also dyed jade that is not representative of any of the natural colors of jade like the Tacori blue bridal hairpin created especially for Anne Hathaway’s character in the film “Bride wars” with five faceted turquoise blue jade petals that encircle a white topaz gem stone set in sterling silver.

A jade earring can thus come in a multitude of colors, usually they are cabochon cut but may also be faceted like the hairpin described above. Jade is abundant in larger sizes but for earrings they are usually small cabochons or carvings because they are heavy stones and so when designing them into earrings you have to take comfort into consideration. Jade is also formed into beads and used to make wire earrings like the sort that you see in beading magazines and craft magazines.

All it takes is some silver wire and various types of jade like moss in snow jade, kingfisher jade and Yunan jade. Green jade earrings are quite popular because the green shades found in jade go well with sterling silver. Jade hoop earrings are also popular because they are reminiscent of the familiar Chinese disc shaped jade that look like a flattened donut with a hole in the middle. Jade stud earrings are usually made from matching jade cabochons although I have seen many small matching jade carvings made into stud earrings.

Jade is a much tougher gem than most others because of its mono clinic crystal system which does not cleave that easily when stress is applied to the jade. This makes jade ideal for carving because it can take an enormous amount of shock from grinding implements without shattering. Some of the best looking jade drop earrings are the ones where the jade piece dangling at the end of the earring is a beautifully carved Buddha, dragon or serpent.

In earrings some women prefer various jade colors over others so there is quite a variety from red jade earrings, lavender jade earrings, to pink jade earrings and yellow jade earrings. You will often find the different colors combined into one earring. Some of the popular combinations include green jade and black jade along with white jade and orangey red jade as multiple dangling beads hanging off of silver wire. Pink jade is often combined with purple jade, white jade and apple green jade for a more pastel colored look. Intensely colored purple jade earrings are obviously color dyed but look great faceted or as cabochons.

A jewelry distributor is needed if you want to open an online jewelry store or a brick and mortar store. Jewelry distributors have various profiles depending on the type of jewelry that is being offered. Most costume jewelry distributors have their back offices in China, India and elsewhere. Either that or they are wholesale importers with contacts in Asia and their marketing and sales tentacles in the West. Jewelry distributors operations are not huge enterprises since jewelry is not that huge a part of the retail economy relative to everything else.

Wholesale jewelry distributors that deal in fine jewelry are usually vertically integrated because jewelry is a lot like fashion in the sense that tastes change and a wholesale jewelry distributor that controls what is manufactured and when is usually in a better position than one that simply purchases ready made jewelry and wholesales it to retailers. Also you need to keep in mind that jewelry does not take up a whole lot of space and so when you think of someone like a gold jewelry distributor, they are not a huge operation space wise. However a costume jewelry distributor will have more warehouse space because non precious jewelry is obviously a less value dense product and you need more of it to offer selection to your customers.

Fashion jewelry distributors are the same way. I see their products as pretty much the same as costume jewelry in that their product is more related to accessories than fine jewelry. There is also a huge distinction between silver jewelry and costume jewelry. Silver jewelry distributors are still working with a somewhat precious metal and they do need to keep up to speed with trends in the retail market and should also be vertically integrated in the sense that they have some control over their design and production.

The body jewelry distributor has a product that is for the most part made of surgical steel because of the fact that people would rather not break out on their most sensitive body parts because of an allergic reaction to nickel in gold or poor grade alternative metals. A Body jewelry distributor is not as vertically integrated as is a silver jewelry distributor because most of that product is not as design intensive and the content value of the merchandise is not that great.

Wholesale fashion jewelry distributors can be found online or in merchandise marts like the one at the Radisson in Miami Florida. It is basically a mall of fashion and other wholesalers collected under one roof where you need a special pass to get in because you have to prove that you own a retail business to have access to the wholesale selection and pricing. You can also go to major downtown districts in big cities like New York or Los Angeles. The other venues include jewelry trade shows that occur in conventions across the country where distributors of jewelry set up booths for the weekend and play host to retailers from all over the world. Some examples include the JCK Jewelry Show in Las Vegas and the JIS Show in Miami Florida.

Moonstone or adularia as its sometimes called is one of those unknown gemstones that would slip into obscurity were it nor for the designers that often times invigorate a gemstone by using it in highly publicized pieces.

Moonstone is a variety of orthoclase which is a mineral species in the feldspar group. They generally appear transparent to opaque and in terms of color they range from colorless to white and sometimes green, orange, yellow to brown and gray to nearly black. Moonstone is commonly known for its adularescence which is a term best described as meaning having a milky, bluish luster or glow that seems to come from beneath the surface of the gemstone. This characteristic optical quality of moonstone results from the interplay of light with layers of tiny albite crystals giving it a billowy effect when observed in light that moves like in this moonstone cuff below to the left

Rainbow moonstone jewelry reveals different colors from different angles and rainbow moonstone is commonly cut in cabochon to flat because it is in these shapes that the optical effects of rainbow moonstone are most evident. Rainbow moonstone is a bit of a misnomer because it isn’t moonstone at all but is actually labradorite. Moonstone jewelry is more than likely going to be in silver because it is not considered a precious or even semi precious gem.

The more commercial moonstone jewelry does not use the more valuable moonstone from Sri Lanka. Many years ago the larger and more valuable blue sheen moonstones were quite available and in abundance and they could be bought for affordable prices and silver moonstone jewelry with this grade of moonstone was reasonably priced. However in today’s market these gems are five to ten times as much and so most find their way into the homes of collectors rather then being used for blue moonstone jewelry.

The only source thus far for blue sheen moonstone has been Sri Lanka and production ended as early as 1987. That being the case many jewelry makers and designers that must use the blue sheen variety have to sort through antique moonstone jewelry and vintage moonstone jewelry to find those specimens that are of the blue sheen variety and are undamaged.

Moonstone has a lot of superstition associated with it. It was believed to have mystical powers and was said to be protective of women and babies. Other legends associate it with the sea and planting cycles and that it helped with the balance of yin and yang. In the middle ages it was believed to have the capability of curing epilepsy and was also a highly prized gift for lovers because it arouses tender passion and brings good fortune.

In general moonstone was considered an aid in love, sleep and was associated with the divine. hence you see a lot of Celtic moonstone jewelry being made in silver along with moonstone jewelry for men since it was the bringer of good luck. People still buy moonstone jewelry for some of these reasons. Moonstone jewelry earrings and moonstone jewelry rings are most popular among people who are more mystical in their outlook. You will see moonstone jewelry adorning most psychics and fortune tellers for this reason.

Garnet is a huge family of natural gemstones, possibly the largest there is. Garnet colors and prices are all over the place. The typical specimen that you see in garnet birthstone jewelry is the slightly reddish brown stone of a dark tone. It is called almandite garnet and is inexpensive enough that it is commonly used in commercial colored stone jewelry and garnet jewelry sets and is on par with amethyst and blue topaz in terms of price. In fact it is so inexpensive that silver garnet jewelry is preferred by people who wear garnet

Victorian Garnet Ring

because the cost of  It’s deep reddish rust color is not the most attractive color for a gemstone but it does have its share of fans apart from the the January birthstone aficionados.

The typical garnet jewelry set can use a variety of garnets apart from almandite garnet. The second most popular garnet is rhodolite garnet. It is light to dark purplish red through reddish purple and is quite available making rhodolite garnet jewelry the second most popular garnet jewelry. Most people don’t recognize this stone as a garnet because the predominant thinking is that garnets come only in dark red colors. Indeed the term garnet today is seen by dealers as referring to the ugliness in color of any red gen including ruby. If a dealer wants to malign the color of a ruby, they will refer to it as “garnet like” or say it looks like garnet jewelry..

The regular garnet that is seen in commercial jewelry typically has heavy secondaries of brown and purple which are considered unattractive. Then there was a massive amount of cheap garnet jewelry production in the mid 1800s to early 1900s with Victorian era styling that exploded onto the market in America and the UK. This antique garnet jewelry using both the brown tinged almandine garnet and purple tinged pyrope garnet became known for low priced mass manufactured jewelry and was effectively termed “the poor man’s ruby”. Garnet’s reputation as an unattractive, very dark red stone found in grandmother’s rings was partly fueled by this vintage garnet jewelry that seemed to be everywhere.

It wasn’t till Art deco took hold of the jewelry world in the mid 1900s that the African chromium variety with its burning red color began to be used in bohemian garnet jewelry that garnet’s reputation began to take a slight upswing.

Tsavorite garnet jewelry is all about the green stone that could. Tsavorite came on the gem market in the early 1970s and it’s beguiling green color was close to that of emerald except for the extra tinge of blue that the finest colored emeralds have. Tsavorite was harder, more brilliant and had a rich green color that was made all the more apparent by the fact that tsavorite hardly had any inclusions.

Tsavorite Octagon Gemstone

For the most part this green garnet had a low level of imperfections in commercially mined material in much the same way that aquamarine does while emerald is a gemstone that is hard to find clean specimens. Because of its hardiness it became a popular green stone for use in mens garnet jewelry as opposed to the fragile emerald. Gold garnet jewelry using tsavorite seemed to be a match made in heaven because this gemstone’s slightly yellowish tinge was greatly complimented by yellow gold.