Jewelry, significance for Indians

We’ve been adorning ourselves with jewels ever since the embarkment of early civilizations. The ornaments found from the remains of Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations are the records to justify the above belief. The oldest epics, Ramayana and Mahabharat have pages of illustrations on the jewels worn by the Indian gods and goddesses… the earliest form of jewelry being the Rudraksh beaded necklaces for the Rishis (spiritual people).  On reshuffling the pages of history books, one would find the British vying for Indian exotics… the story of Kohinoor diamond is an obvious example.

Therefore, I won’t hesitate in saying that India is truly the biggest home to ornaments and jewelries. In fact by the 3^rd century India was literally the biggest exporter of gemstones, particularly, diamonds. Owing to the ever growing demand, jewelry made of Gold, diamond, silver, copper, ivory, precious, semi-precious stones are designed and purchased in bulk every year. 

 

Jewelry is an integral part of an Indian woman’s Sringaar( adornment).  She dons jewelry to accentuate her feminity. There is a piece of jewelry for every part of the body. As in, anklets for the feet, bangles for the arms… similarly, chains, toe rings etc. Ask a painter sometime and he would never draw an Indian woman without her jewels on. Delving centuries back till today, Indian women, predominantly appreciate adornments made of gold, silver and diamonds. Precious and semi-precious stones engraved jewelry is still considered a fashionable option.

 

We hold both aesthetic and religious values to the jewelry. Even today necklaces hand-crafted in Rudraksh (religious beads), sandalwood bead, silk and gold thread
are used to adorn sculptures of gods, religious souls. This is a symbol of love and gratitude for the deities.

 

For some, jewelry is a symbol of status and wealth. So, the more you wear, the fatter seems your pocket. Moreover, in communities like Hindus, Jains and Sikhs women do not inherit landed property. Therefore, they are gifted jewelries as streedhana (gifts given by their maternal family at the time of their marriage).  It can further be easily encashed by the women, therefore in Indian culture, jewelry is also considered as an investment by many.

 

 

 

 

 

Gems jewelry, care and cleaning tips

We all are jewelry lovers at heart! No matter how much we dissuade ourselves from accepting this fact (owing to the steep prices), who doesn’t want to flaunt beautiful stone studded piece of jewel? But what fun if you can’t manage to care your priced possession. So, here are few tips on how to keep your jewels shining and glowing for ever.

First and the most important step. Do not stock your gemstone studded jewelry together. Doing this, the harder stone of the lot might scratch the softer stones. Keep each piece in cotton bugs and store them separately.

To clean transparent gemstones like Amethyst, Moonstone, Citrine, Peridot, Aventurine, topaz et al, they should be soaked in a bowl of water with a tinge of gentle dish soap. Take them out in a while, do not keep them immersed for long. This may tend to water seeping inside the stone and then ultimately getting cracked. Avoid immersing stones with cracks.

Next, the gemstones should be then scrubbed with a soft tooth brush to remove the remaining dust.

Only Diamonds, Rubies and Sapphires should be cleaned in ammonia water. It’ll remove all the dust and retain the sparkle of the stone. Do not use Ammonia to clean opaque gemstones like, Lapis, Onyx or Malachite. Remember these stones, being solid rocks and not crystal are more prone to absorbing water than other gemstones. On the other hand, organic gems like Pearls, Coral and Amber should only be wiped with a moist cloth since they are quite porous in nature.

Keep gemstones, especially organic gemstones away from sprays ( perfumed sprays), hair products and other cosmetics. So, I would advice you to wear such sprays at least 10 minutes prior to putting on your jewelry. Store them in a pouch, separate from the harder stones.

Gemstone rings should be taken off before engaging into tedious tasks like exercising, cooking. While removing your rings, do not pull off the gemstone, but, pull the metal ring. Pulling the gemstone may lessen its luster with the time.

Preserve your jewelry, follow the tips and watch them glowing with pride.

Gemstones, facts and information.

Our gems, our jewels! Here is a laydown on the nature of some of the gems available with us in the form of exotic pieces of jewellery.

Amethyst

Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. Owing to its extravagant colour, it is prdominantly used as an adornment stone in jewelleries. Amethyst is composed of an irregular superposition of alternate lamellae of right-handed and left-handed quartz. It has been shown that this structure may be due to mechanical stresses.
Amethyst occurs in primary hues from a light pinkish violet to a deep purple. Amethyst may exhibit one or both secondary hues, red and/or blue. The ideal grade is called "Deep Siberian" and has a primary purple hue of around 75–80 percent, 15–20 percent blue and (depending on the light source) red secondary hues.[6]

Traditionally included in the cardinal, or most valuable, gemstones (along with diamond, sapphire, ruby, and emerald), amethyst has lost much of its value due to the discovery of extensive deposits in locations such as Brazil. The highest grade amethyst (called "Deep Russian") is exceptionally rare and therefore its value is dependent on thea demand of collectors when one is found. It is however still orders of magnitude lower than the highest grade sapphires or rubies (sapphire or "pigeon's blood" ruby).

We have exploited the beauty of Amethyst in the form of beautiful adornments like necklaces, rings and bracelets.

Click on the link to check out our collection of Amethyst necklaces.

Agate

No gemstone is more creatively striped by Nature than agate, chalcedony quartz that forms in concentric layers in a wide variety of colours and textures. Each individual agate forms by filling a cavity in host rock. As a result, agate is often found as a round nodule, with concentric bands like the rings of a tree trunk. The bands sometimes look like eyes, fanciful scallops, or even a landscape with trees

Most agates occur as nodules in volcanic rocks or ancient lavas where they represent cavities originally produced by the disengagement of volatiles in the molten mass which were then filled, wholly or partially, by siliceous matter deposited in regular layers upon the walls. Such agates, when cut transversely, exhibit a succession of parallel lines, often of extreme tenuity, giving a banded appearance to the section. Such stones are known as banded agate, riband agate and striped agate.

check out the link to see our collection of Agate necklaces.

Aventurine

Yet another member of the Quartz family, it is most commonly found in royal green color. Besides green, it can also be found in orange, brown, yellow, blue, and gray. Aventurine is characterized by the flecks of mineral inclusions that gives it a sparkly look. It is found in many parts of the world including India, Brazil, and Russia. It is called the ‘lucky talisman’ and is supposed to increase libido, reduce stress, and strengthen blood and muscle tissues.
Aventurine looks its best cabochon and bead shape. Available in many colours and hues, you can fire your imagination to bead stylish adornments of this beautiful stone.
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Goldstone
Goldstone with its fine finish when beaded together in a jewellery form looks absolutely stunning. It is a type of glass made with copper or copper salts in the presence of a reducing flame.
The most common form of goldstone gives the illusion of being reddish-brown, although in fact that color comes from the copper crystals and the glass itself is colorless. Some goldstone variants have an intensely-colored glass matrix—usually blue or violet, more rarely green—and a more silvery appearance to the suspended crystals, whose color may be partially masked by the glass or which may be based on different metals than copper.
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Bloodstone
There is a belief that the bloodstone was formed from the blood of Christ dripping on the green earth and solidifying. Incidentally, thus mystic stone is green with distinctive red spots that resemble blood, thereby justifying its name. Sometimes yellow and/or other colors of jasper are also present, but these multi-colored gemstones are usually called "fancy jasper".
This attractive chalcedony quartz is also known as heliotrope because in ancient times polished stones were described as reflecting the sun: perhaps the appearance of the gem reminded the ancients of the red setting sun, mirrored in the ocean. The beads of this stone when hand-beaded together looks absolutely beautiful.
Have a look at our collection.

Citrine Quartz

In a stark yellow tinge, Citrine belonging to the family of quartz is often mistaken for Topaz. These beautiful gemstone are just meant for adornment. It is any quartz crystal or cluster that is yellow or orange in color. Although often cut as a gemstone, citrine is actually somewhat rare in nature

Like all crystal quartzes, the citrine has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and is thus, to a large extent, insensitive to scratches. It won't immediately take offence at being knocked about either, since its cleavage properties are non-existent. Even if their refractive index is relatively low, the yellow stones have just that mellow, warm tone that seems to have captured the last glow of autumn.
Citrine beaded jewellery.

Carnelian

Carnelian, sometimes spelled cornelian, is a red or reddish-brown variant of chalcedony.
Its radiant orange hue has been mesmerizing women folk since Roman times for embellishments.
Carnelian is a 7 on the Mohs scale and has been used for centuries to carve beautiful cameos. It is found in Australia, Brazil, Madagascar, Russia, South Africa, and the USA.
Carnelian is a 7 on the Mohs scale and has been used for centuries to carve beautiful cameos. It is found in Australia, Brazil, Madagascar, Russia, South Africa, and the USA.
Our collection of jewellery in Carnelian.

Garnet

The extremely beautiful rich red coloured stone which you often mistake for Ruby is Garnet. Tagged as one of the most beautiful semi-precious stones, it is the most sought after stone for carving jewelleries for today its royal red and green colours. Furthermore, the world of the garnets is also rich in rarities such as star garnets and stones whose colour changes depending on whether they are seen in daylight or artificial light.

It is true to say that red is the colour most often encountered, but the garnet also exists in various shades of green, a tender to intense yellow, a fiery orange and some fine earth-coloured nuances. The only colour it cannot offer is blue.

Our collection.

Lapis Lazuli

Lapis lazuli with its deep blue colour seems to have emerged from the Arabian Nights. This opaque, deep blue gemstone has a grand past. It was among the first gemstones to be worn as jewellery and worked on during the Alexander times.
Lapis lazuli is an opaque rock that mainly consists of diopside and lazurite. It came into being millions of years ago during the metamorphosis of lime to marble. Uncut, Lapis
lazuli is matt and of a deep, dark blue colour, often with golden inclusions and whitish marble veins. The small inclusions with their golden shimmer, which give the stone the magic of a starry sky, are not of gold as people used to think, but of pyrites.

Our collection.

Moonstone

The Moonstone is characterised by an enchanting play of light. Indeed it owes its name to that mysterious shimmer which always looks different when the stone is moved and is known in the trade as 'adularescence'. In earlier times, people believed they could recognise in it the crescent and waning phases of the moon

Moonstones from Sri Lanka, the classical country of origin of the Moonstone shimmer in pale blue on an almost transparent background. Specimens from India feature a nebulous interplay of light and shadow on a background of beige-brown, green, orange or brown. These discreet colours, in connection with the fine shimmer, make the Moonstone is an ideal gemstone for jewellery with a sensual, feminine aura.

Check out our collection in Moonstone necklaces.