Do you ever wonder why we wear semi-precious jewellery earrings, necklaces, bracelets and why over the years we have needed to make a statement with unique jewellery?

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If you look through history handmade jewellery, unique earrings, bracelets and handmade necklaces have been worn from the beginning of time and evidance of unique statement jewellery designs can be found throughout history

Handcrafted jewellery is and has always been a form of adornment that is worn universally as an adornment and throughout the ages has been handcrafted from a large range of materials like shells, stones, bones and wood and evidence of jewellery being handmade from these materials has been found from prehistoric times. We think that these early pieces of handmade jewellery were originally not worn as adornment but they were worn as some sort of talisman to word off evil spirits and also worn as some sort of ranking to show off there statement within their community.

When the working of metals was discovered this made a great difference in the development of the design of handmade jewellery and as progressive techniques in the art of metal work was learned many unique jewellery designs that were created became more intricate.

Long semi-precious jewellery necklace handcrafted into a unique design.

This is the latest of my unique jewellery designs with statement that have been added to my collection of semi-precious jewellery designs. This piece has been handcraftred from an eclectic mix of natural semi-precious stones and I have chosen to use earthy tones with this unusual long necklace design. I love the way that the colours melt together and this unique semi-precious jewellery design has stones that are all different in size and shape and I have not only used different shapes but I have also used both polished and faceted stones. This long necklace is a unique jewellery design and I have only made one piece.

Handmade jewellery in the Medieval Times

During the Medievial ages the unique handmade jewellery that was worn as adornment throughout Europe was prominently worn by men and was worn as a status symbol. Sociality in these times was very status conscious. We can see that Royalty and the highranking nobility could be seen wearing handcrafted statement jewellery that had been crafted from precious metals like gold and these jewellery designs were also set with precious and semi-precious stones. People of a lower rank and standing would have their jewellery handmade from base metals such as copper and brass and these would be adorned with semi-precious stones and enamelling. At this point semi-precious stones had not started to be cut and faceted so in these statement jewellery designs you would find that the semi-precious stones had been polished. Enamels were used widely in these designs and these were created by using ground glass and firing this glass onto the base metal at very high temperature this time the procedures were quite basic and today much finer details can be achieved

Unique Jade earrings the latest addition to my statement jewellery designs



These pretty jade earrings are the latest unique design that has been added to my collection of semi-precious statement jewellery. I have handmade these earrings by using a round wavy disc of Jade and then I have sat this under a round bead of Jade. With this semi-precious jewellery design I have chosen New Jade because of its lovely natural soft green colour and this works perfectly with the sterling silver earring hooks that I have used. I use Jade in many of my unique jewellery designs and New Jade is just one of the semi-precious Jades that I use and this is the softest of the greens. I do use Jade in darker shades of green and of course there is the white Jade that is used in my statement semi-precious drop earring jewellery designs

Unique handmade jewellery in the Renaissance

This is the era in jewellery making where women started to wear more jewellery and the art of enamelling really took off and the jewellery artist created some spectacular pieces. The artisans started to cover all of the metal with the enamel and the designs became more intricate and a lot more colourful and the addition of the enamel increased to splendour of the semi-precious stones used in these statement jewellery designs. This is an age when religion held a very important part in everyone's everyday life and many of the semi-precious jewellery designs of the day were created with religious connotations and there were some spectacular pieces hat were handcrafted and worn just to show wealth and power.

This is a time when the designs of these statement jewellery pieces reflected the resurgence and new interested in the classical world, there was a great interest in mythological figures of both ancient Rome and Greece.

Long green semi-precious agate jewellery earrings

Again these long drop earrings are a unique jewellery design with only one pair being made of this design. To create these earrings I have used a long elegant teardrop shaped green agate bead and this has been framed with sterling silver beads and this long green agate bead then sits under a circular shaped sterling silver earring hook. These earrings are long and elegant and the semi-precious bead has a faceted cut so this handmade jewellery design will catch the light perfectly if it catches the light.

Unusual handmade jewellery from the 17^th Century

When we reach the mid 17^th Century we see that there are changes being made in the fashion s and this influences the changes in the styles of jewellery. Up until this time clothes were usually made from deep and dark coloured fabrics and these were a perfect back drop for the gold and semi-precious stone jewellery designs that were elaborate and intricate but now more delicate shades were being used and this lead to the rise of a new design of handmade jewellery with paler shades of semi-precious stones and this is when pearls started to be used in abundance in the unusual jewellery designs. We have to remember that in this time the only light source was candles so the advance in the cutting of the semi-precious stones meant that these were used more in the semi-precious jewellery design so that these stones would sparkle when they caught the light. The most impressive of these statement jewellery designs were the large bodice pieces where large stones were attached to stiff fabrics a little like some of the statement jewellery designs that can be seen today. The designs became more fluid and as new skills were being learned by the artisans.

ChunkyTurquoise-semi-precious jewellery necklace design.

This unique statement jewellery design has been handmade from large barel shaped beads of semi-precious Turquoise. I love this shade of blue that the semi-precious Turquoise is in and to compliment this I have added large faceted beads of rainbow Obsidian. The black of the obsidian enhances the blue of the semi-precious Turquoise in this handmade statement jewellery design and to add some more interest and drama to the design I have spaced these semi-precious beads with small discs of bright red coral. This is a unique jewellery design with only one being made and I have used a large silver toggle clasp as a fastener with the design.

Handmade Statement jewellery created in the 18^th century.

At the end of the 17^th century we saw that the art of cutting semi-precious gemstones with a multi faceted cut which is called a brilliant cut and this is so that the stone reflects the light and precious gemstones like diamond now sparkle and catch the light like they have never done before and they were then used more and more in statement jewellery designs. Today we see diamonds prominently being set in yellow gold but the you would find diamonds set in silver. And they became the must have stone to be worn at court.

largest of these semi-precious gemstones could be seen worn as adornments on the bodice with small stones being scattered throughout the rest of the garment. There are not many of these examples to be seen as these semi-precious gemstones were constantly being reset into new unique statement jewellery designs.

 Rose quartz semi-precious jewellery the statement of love.

The semi-precious stone Rose Quartz is said to represent love and this makes this stone very popular to give as a gift. I have many statement jewellery designs handmade from Rose Quartz and my collection includes earrings, necklaces and bracelets.

With this unique necklace design I have used an oval pendant for the focal point for the handmade jewellery design and I have added pendants of Rainbow Obsidian to the design. To compliment the black colour of the semi-precious Obsidian and the soft pink of the Rose Quartz I have added rich cranberry coloured freshwater pearls to the unique statement jewellery design.

Unusual handmade statement jewellery in the 19^th Century

In the 19^th century we see big both social and industrial changed in the world with people looking to the future but this is where we see jewellery designed taking a look at the past for there semi-precious jewellery designs. In the first decade of this century you can see that the designs were very classical with the inspiration being the classical designs or ancient Rome and Greece. The world was very interested in antiques and antiquities inspired with the many archaeological discoveries. Jewellers and artisans tried to replicate the ancient skills of working with precious metals and create unique handmade statement jewellery designs that were in the style of these ancient pieces.

The medieval period also gave inspiration to the designers.

Semi-precious jewellery designs became very naturalistic and and you could see semi-precious gemstones being set into flower designs and some times in the form of fruits. These handmade statement jewellery designs became very popular as the interest in botany increased and of course this is the period of the romantic poets so these had a big influence of handmade jewellery designs. By the time of the 1850's the delicate and feminine designs had started to give way to pieces that were more intricate in design with both using flowers, foliage and fruit all in the same design and in these pieces you were starting to see birds. Many of these unusual semi-precious jewellery designs were given as love and friendship tokens and messages were spelt out with the flowers and in this century these statement jewellery designs were worn mainly by women.