Welcome to the Deco Belle Inc. Jewelry Blog
Our friends at Gene Kosoy photography were kind enough to photograph a special gift, on a most spectacular beach in the Dominican Republic. Listed below are these wonderful photos of our Millefiori Murano glass heart pendant, and 4mm bezel Grade 'A' CZ necklace, courtesy of GKweddings.com
More beautiful photos can also be seen at GeneKosoy.com. The brown chocolate jewelry box and complimenting teal gift ribbon are part of our free gift wrapping, that is included in every order. We also offer free shipping for qualifying orders within the USA, and offer worldwide shipping.
As with all content and images from our website, these photos are copyright protected.
Labels: art/lit/film, glass, millefiori, murano, necklace, pendant, silver, travel, venice
by: Deco Belle Inc.
What is the difference between Cubic Zirconia, Moissanite, Crystal, Glass, and Rhinestone?(This is the original article, edited version appears in Bride 9 and Mocha Bride Fall 2009 Magazines)
In these recessionista times, shiny, budget friendly alternatives are being sought out in lieu of traditional diamonds for necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and even rings, but what exactly is the difference? Diamonds, the standard in clear, brilliant quality, and luxe jewelery is the bar for all other simulations.
Cubic zirconia (CZ), is the cubic crystalline form of zirconium, a metal. Since only the finest and rarest of diamonds are truly colorless, most having a tinge of yellow or brown, cubic zirconia is a good alternative in clarity as in most cases it can be made entirely colorless, equivalent to a perfect "D" on the Diamond Color grading scale.
The synthesized material is hard, optically flawless and usually colorless, but may be made in a variety of different colors to simulate gemstones. Due to its low cost, durability, and close visual likeness to diamonds, synthetic cubic zirconia has remained the most economically important competitor for diamonds since 1976 when commercial production first began.
In 1973, Soviet scientists perfected the technique of creating a CZ gem, which they named the jewel Fianit, but the name was not used outside of the USSR and the Soviets published their findings. Once commercial production began in 1976, annual global production grew to 50 million carats (10 tonnes) by 1980. Contemporary production of cubic zirconia is virtually flawless, whereas most diamonds have some sort of defect. Deco Belle.com carries a wide selection of clear, and simulated gemstone Grade A quality CZ jewelry in our China section.
CZ’s main competition as a synthetic gemstone is the more recently cultivated material, synthetic moissanite (named after its Nobel Prize winning discoverer). When first discovered while examining rock samples from a meteor crater located in Canyon Diablo, Arizona in 1893, moissanite was mistaken for diamonds. Its double facet edges (as opposed to single facet edges of a diamond) and its nearly colorless with a grade range of I-J-K on the Diamond Color Grading scale make it difficult to distinguish from diamonds by the untrained eye. Its impressive properties include comparable index of refraction and better than twice the fire of diamond. It is only slightly less expensive than diamonds due to the difficulty in growing the crystals.
Speaking of crystals, all crystals are glass, but not all glass is crystal. What separates the two? Lead. The significance of lead lies in how the refractive index of the finished product increases, straight out shine! In addition to lead, special cutting and polishing processes are used to give crystal glass even more sparkle.
Crystals are often heavier, more delicate, and more expensive than glass, with the ultimate standard in crystal jewelry being Swarovski Austrian. This brand has more fire and brilliance (by adding 32 percent lead creating a high refraction rate) than any other crystal jewelry on the market. In addition different chemical coatings are added to the crystal surface to enhance color and sparkle. The difference is quite remarkable and affordably priced, much less expensive than jewelry made from precious stones. These lovely crystals can be found in our Paris section at DecoBelle.com
Glass in its most basic form is molten sand that is combined with various additives and cooled with such celerity that crystal structures have no time to form. There is not much brilliance, or fire on the surface of glass jewelry. The best and highest quality glass is handmade Murano glass from the island of Murano, in Venice, Italy. At DecoBelle.com we have a wide selection of handcrafted Murano glass jewelry.
Glass goes even farther with some rhinestones being made of glass. Other rhinestones (so named as originally the rock crystals were gathered from the river Rhine) are synthetically made of crystal or acrylic. The difference between the crystals and rhinestones is not that clear-cut. Rhinestone has a metal or foil backing to reflect light and make the stone glitter. Crystal, on the other hand, requires no backing and is always made of glass and lead that give the stones extra sparkle and brilliance. For dazzling craft projects, rhinestones are fine, but crystals fare better in jewelry presentation and quality.
Labels: cz, gemstone, glass, magazine, millefiori, murano, paris, venice
by: Deco Belle Inc.
We would like to thank our customers who purchased Venice jewelry during the month of May. This included sales of Murano glass Millefiori, Millacreli, Designo, and plain silver Italian jewelry.
Part of these proceeds allowed Deco Belle Inc. Global Jewelry to donated $115 to the Breast Cancer Research Fund. This is an organization which aims to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime by providing critical funding for innovative clinical and translational research.
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the United States (other than skin cancer), no matter of race or ethnicity. Each year, more than 182,460 American women learn they have this disease. For more links about breast cancer awareness, please reference our October 1st newsletter which contained a cache of information and resources.
Labels: charity, designo, millacreli, millefiori, venice
by: Deco Belle Inc.
The rarest and most expensive of all precious metals.
A note as to why we would not recommend altering or resizing any rhodium plated jewelry (rings, pendant bails, etc.). In the past, we've been asked by our customers if we suggest resizing rhodium plated jewelry, as we carry an extensive collection of nickel-free, rhodium plated, 925 sterling silver in our Venice Millacreli, Millefiori, Designo, plain silver, and China Cubic Zirconia (CZ, cubic crystalline form of zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) to be exact). In short, no.
Our original blog article on Rhodium, the metal, provides a background as to the reasons why this is highly prized in jewelry.
Despite being a part of the Platinum family of metals, Rhodium does not tarnish, or oxidize, and has a very high reflectance, optimal qualities in the jewelry market. It is the rarest and most expensive of all precious metals, giving each piece a lustrous, white gold appearance. For this reason, when a piece of jewelry is coated with this (rhodium plating, rhodium finishing, rhodium flashing) it can be thought of as having a seal, or a shell.
Heating the metal to expand it would break this "shell" and the newly exposed metal skin would not be rhodium plated; therefore, suceptible to tarnishing. The recommended way to enlarge jewelry would be to add metal, not heat it and stretch it. In this case, that new metal would then need to be nickel-free, and rhodium plated as well once the jewelry has been re-sized to the desired size to avoid tarnishing in the portions of the metal that are not rhodium finished.
Have a jewelry question for Deco Belle? Let us know and we'll do our best to provide insightful information on jewelry care to keep your jewels shining brightly and gleaming. Deco Belle Global Jewelry carries a large selection of rhodium plated jewelry, giving the ultimate in brilliance at an affordable price.Labels: care, cz, rhodium, ring, silver, venice
by: Deco Belle Inc.
