so..... I completely forgot about breakfast or lunch... didn't feel hungry at all until I came back from lala land.... oh lord....
and!! Marcy took a photo of us, I brought a camera with me, but of course I forgot about that as well... sheeesh.....
and I forgot to take a picture with Sam too Deronda!!! **cries!!**
I was tempted with a lot of gorgeous beads!! And was such a pleasure to see/meet/chat with some of the biggest names that I've only had the pleasure to read in publications... OH MY GAWD......
Anyway, here's what I came home with... along with 2 little gifts from Marcy, which of course I am using them to make some things for myself.. :P Thank you Marcy!! Oh oh!!! And I can't even start to tell you how cuteness overload Marcy's beads are!!! OMG..... 1000 times better than any of her photos can show!!! ehm... not saying that her photos are bad or anything but... you know what I mean...
yes I had a lot of fun!! ;D
August 11, 2008
August 4, 2008
US ban import of Burmese Ruby and Jadeit
Bush signs legislation banning imports of ruby and jade from Myanmar
-- JCK-Jewelers Circular Keystone, 7/31/2008 11:06:00 AM
President Bush signed legislation Tuesday designed to punish Myanmar's brutal ruling regime by banning the importation of rubies and jade from that country into the U.S.
The “Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act of 2008” bans Burmese gem imports, something that already is the voluntary policy of retailers such as Tiffany's and Bulgari. U.S. officials say Myanmar has been evading earlier gem-targeting sanctions by laundering the stones in other countries before they are shipped to the United States. Congress approved the bill July 22.
"The bill requires that within 60 days, jadeite or rubies of Burma origin cannot be imported into the U.S," the Jewelers Vigilance Committee said in a statement. "This importation ban would encompass all Burmese origin jadeite and rubies, notwithstanding “substantial transformation” in Thailand or elsewhere.
The importation ban does not apply to Burmese jadeite or rubies that are imported for personal use, JVC said. The law does not apply to exports of Burmese rubies or jadeite from the U.S. Further, the bill does not prevent U.S. sales of Burmese jadeite or rubies already in the U.S.
"Non-Burmese rough and polished jadeite and rubies (or jewelry containing jadeite and rubies) may be imported from other countries under certain conditions. These imports require the president to 'determine and certify' to the appropriate legislative committees and government agencies that those countries have implemented verifiable controls from mine to first exportation that demonstrate that the jadeite and ruby does not originate in Burma," JVC said. "These non-Burmese imports must be accompanied by officially-validated documentation certifying the country from which the jadeite and rubies were mined or extracted, total carat weight, and value of the jadeite or rubies. All entities mining, exporting or importing non-Burmese jadeite and rubies are required to maintain verifiable records demonstrating compliance with these requirements."
The importation ban does not apply to any Burmese rubies or jadeite that were in the U.S. before the ban and then exported from the U.S. when they are re-imported into the U.S. by the same person, as long as the jadeite or rubies have not been improved in condition or value while outside the U.S., JVC said Customs is still determining whether or not this exemption would apply to cut and polished rubies that are exported from the U.S., placed into jewelry and then re-imported.
June 29, 2008
Quick and Dirty about Pearls
"Quick and Dirty about Pearls" a novel by Deb @ Crysallis
Most of what we see available on the market today are Cultured Pearl, which is a method introduced by Mikimoto, yes that's a person's last name and not just a brand name. lol
Japanese Akoya pearl was actually the first culture pearl that came into the market back then, Mr. Mikimoto realized that if a neucleus was introduced to a mollusk, the shell starts to wrap these pearl forming layers around the foreign object as self defense mechanism, and this is how pearls are form, and since it's done by hand and in a controlled environment, thus they're called cultured pearls.
Due to realization of cheap and mass abundance of labor in China, Akoya brought their culture pearl to be produced in China, then of course such method was adopt by Chinese, which is how we have Chinese Freshwater Pearls today.
Both salt water and fresh water pearls are cultured pearls, the mollusks were habitat in different water and that's basically all the difference. While salt water pearls naturally produced pearl nacre that's with more depth and colorplay, like what we'll see on an abalone shell ( aka Paua shell ), due to mineral elements that's within sea water in comparison to freshwater.... way to techy for me to find them interest to be honest....
Salt water pearls used to have way more "pink" pearlescence finish when placed side by side with FWP, but that's no longer true today. Chinese Fresh Water pearls are catching up by leaps and bound in quality and definitely way more in production quantity, compare to Akoya salt water pearls.
There are the 4 C's when it comes to grading of diamond, it's about as complicated with pearls as it is with diamond. Even within GIA courses "Pearl" is a seperate study. I do not know all the real technical things (yet!!) but here is what I know..
When judging the value of pearls, there are a few things that I tend to look for: roundness, nacre, luster, not in particular order. I would for certain sacrifice roundness if I can have the other 2 factors, because it is always harder to have a perfectly round pearls compare to have a gorgeous luster thick nacre pearl, and personally I am not that crazy about pearls, at least not any of the sightly affordable ones... LOL
Luster, simply put, is if the pearl "shines", while Nacre is referring to the pearl layers of a pearl.
To pick out a good strand of pearl at show, do not judge them by the price the seller sells them, but rather go to someone you trust. There's no set rules for how to price pearls, so all can be fooled unless if it's someone who's fully trained and not a lot can be done even by professionals just by touching and looking at pearls with bare eyes. So the best thing to do is to go with your gut feeling, if you trust this seller, and definitely comparison shop around before you buy.
One more fact before I go on.... usually only bad bad poor quality pearls will be used to dye into colored pearls, which are commonly used in bead jewelry today and rightfully so... why would you want to risk scratching up a perfectly fine pearl that may costs hundreds or thousands?? LOL So all that you'll need to look for with colored pearls is if you like the shape, whether or not their consistant on the strand, is the drilled hole straight all the way through?? And that's basically it! IF you fancy a certain color that you see, I would say grab a few more strands than you think you'll "need", because with each dye lot of colored pearls, they will be different. All that you'll need to do is make sure you're not paying an arm and a leg for colored pearls, and if you trust the seller. That's all...
Another surge in the market today is Keishi pearls. This has always been one of my favorite type of pearl to work with, not only for their texture, but also because Keishi pearls are "pure pearls", meanning there's no neucleus or foreign object introduced into the mollusks to produce these. There are a lot of sellers out there today who name irregular shaped pearl nuggets as Keishi, which is really deceiving.... so be careful when you buy/
I think that's enough info for now.... Let me know if you need further info with anything???
Deb
Most of what we see available on the market today are Cultured Pearl, which is a method introduced by Mikimoto, yes that's a person's last name and not just a brand name. lol
Japanese Akoya pearl was actually the first culture pearl that came into the market back then, Mr. Mikimoto realized that if a neucleus was introduced to a mollusk, the shell starts to wrap these pearl forming layers around the foreign object as self defense mechanism, and this is how pearls are form, and since it's done by hand and in a controlled environment, thus they're called cultured pearls.
Due to realization of cheap and mass abundance of labor in China, Akoya brought their culture pearl to be produced in China, then of course such method was adopt by Chinese, which is how we have Chinese Freshwater Pearls today.
Both salt water and fresh water pearls are cultured pearls, the mollusks were habitat in different water and that's basically all the difference. While salt water pearls naturally produced pearl nacre that's with more depth and colorplay, like what we'll see on an abalone shell ( aka Paua shell ), due to mineral elements that's within sea water in comparison to freshwater.... way to techy for me to find them interest to be honest....
Salt water pearls used to have way more "pink" pearlescence finish when placed side by side with FWP, but that's no longer true today. Chinese Fresh Water pearls are catching up by leaps and bound in quality and definitely way more in production quantity, compare to Akoya salt water pearls.
There are the 4 C's when it comes to grading of diamond, it's about as complicated with pearls as it is with diamond. Even within GIA courses "Pearl" is a seperate study. I do not know all the real technical things (yet!!) but here is what I know..
When judging the value of pearls, there are a few things that I tend to look for: roundness, nacre, luster, not in particular order. I would for certain sacrifice roundness if I can have the other 2 factors, because it is always harder to have a perfectly round pearls compare to have a gorgeous luster thick nacre pearl, and personally I am not that crazy about pearls, at least not any of the sightly affordable ones... LOL
Luster, simply put, is if the pearl "shines", while Nacre is referring to the pearl layers of a pearl.
To pick out a good strand of pearl at show, do not judge them by the price the seller sells them, but rather go to someone you trust. There's no set rules for how to price pearls, so all can be fooled unless if it's someone who's fully trained and not a lot can be done even by professionals just by touching and looking at pearls with bare eyes. So the best thing to do is to go with your gut feeling, if you trust this seller, and definitely comparison shop around before you buy.
One more fact before I go on.... usually only bad bad poor quality pearls will be used to dye into colored pearls, which are commonly used in bead jewelry today and rightfully so... why would you want to risk scratching up a perfectly fine pearl that may costs hundreds or thousands?? LOL So all that you'll need to look for with colored pearls is if you like the shape, whether or not their consistant on the strand, is the drilled hole straight all the way through?? And that's basically it! IF you fancy a certain color that you see, I would say grab a few more strands than you think you'll "need", because with each dye lot of colored pearls, they will be different. All that you'll need to do is make sure you're not paying an arm and a leg for colored pearls, and if you trust the seller. That's all...
Another surge in the market today is Keishi pearls. This has always been one of my favorite type of pearl to work with, not only for their texture, but also because Keishi pearls are "pure pearls", meanning there's no neucleus or foreign object introduced into the mollusks to produce these. There are a lot of sellers out there today who name irregular shaped pearl nuggets as Keishi, which is really deceiving.... so be careful when you buy/
I think that's enough info for now.... Let me know if you need further info with anything???
Deb
Thank you for visiting my Brand Spanking new BLOG!!!
This is way overdue... I know... yet I am really not a huge blogger, and I don't usually read blogs either..... but it's time... :)
Not sure what the focus will be on my blog, but I may just start with posting some info that I recented added to a great new group that I am taking part with!!! Then at random times things through my jewelry making journey, new finds from suppliers, or just random blurbs....
Anyway, thank you for your interest!!!
XOXO Deb
Not sure what the focus will be on my blog, but I may just start with posting some info that I recented added to a great new group that I am taking part with!!! Then at random times things through my jewelry making journey, new finds from suppliers, or just random blurbs....
Anyway, thank you for your interest!!!
XOXO Deb
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