Handmade jewellery designs in recent history, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau jewellery, Art Deco, and semi-precious Contemporary jewellery designs

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There have been very many types of designs of jewellery over the years, statement designs that have inspired me in my designs and have given me great pleasure.

The Arts and Crafts movement.

The Arts and Crafts movement was developed towards the end of the 19^th Century and a name that we always associate with the Arts and Crafts movement is William Morris.

The movement was started to combat the industrialisation of the world that was growing all the time. The semi-precious jewellery designers of the time started to go back to old methods of working breaking away form some of the industrial ways of making statement jewellery there were starting to be used on a large scale. These unique jewellery designers focused on handcrafting individual semi-precious stones and this is the way I like to wok by letting the semi-precious stones be the inspiration for my statement jewellery designs. Working in this way was believed to improve the soul of the designer along with the design.
The statement jewellery designers from this time tried to avoid large faceted semi-precious stones in there unusual designs instead the designers preferred to use polished cabochon. They used free flowing designs which was totally different from the mainstream settings of the time and many of these unusual jewellery designs had symbolism in there designs

 With these pieces of unique semi-precious stone jewellery you can see where I have used the stones as the inspiration for the designs.

In the first piece that you can see I have also added some beautiful handmade lampwork beads into this statement necklace design. The semi-precious beads are black cracked agate and these have an usual finish with the beads and I have framed each of these semi-precious beads with freshwater pearls in a deep rich cranberry colour and these freshwater pearls compliment the beautiful colours in the lampwork beads. This is a unique piece and in this statement jewellery design I have also set faceted quartz crystal beads and I have used these semi-precious stones to highlight the cracked in the black Agate beads.

The next of these unique semi-precious jewellery designs has a large oval shaped Porcelain Jasper bead as the focal point for the design. I love Porcelain Jasper as each of the beads I use has a different colour and design. With this large Jasper bead it has a grey background and on the top of this you will see naturally dark grey and purple markings. To compliment the natural purple markings in the Jasper I have set this large polished natural stone in the centre of a necklace handmade from nuggets of deep purple coloured semi-precious Amethyst. These Amethyst nuggets have been alternated with lilac coloured cracked Agate beads and with this unique statement necklace design I have used a sterling silver toggle clasp as a fastener.

The third necklace design you can see that I have used both lilac coloured semi-precious Amethyst and deep purple coloured amethyst. I love this statement jewellery design and in the centre of the unique necklace design I have placed 3 large faceted deep purple coloured nuggets of semi-precious Amethyst and I have spaced these with peacock blue coloured freshwater pearls. The design then continues with long rice shaped lilac coloured Amethyst beads beads and more of the deep purple semi-precious nuggets. The unique statement jewellery design continues with more of the beautiful freshwater pearls. I have completed this statement necklace design with purple coloured agate beads and as with all my handmade jewellery designs I have used a sterling silver toggle clasp as a fastener.

He last of the four examples of my statement necklaces has been handmade from nuggets of the beautiful smoky quartz and in this unique design I have used nuggets in different shapes, with the brown smoky quartz I have used chunky faceted shapes and the other golden smoky quartz are a longer shape and the shape of these show that this semi-precious stone is a quartz in structure. To compliment and enhance the natural colours of these semi-precious stones I have spaced these smoky quartz nuggets with antique gold coloured freshwater pearls. This unique jewellery design continues with Carnelian semi-precious stones and this pieces is a unique handmade jewellery design with only one being made.

Art Nouveau designs that have inspired my semi-precious stone jewellery designs

The Art Nouveau movement created a great shift in the design of statement jewellery and thus style reached its peak around 1900 and was launched at the great exhibition in Paris. The beautiful natural designs of these statement pieces had a very natural flowing feel with the unique designs and the artisans that produced these pieces created with its sinuous organic pieces, Some of the famous designers like lalique removed themselves from the conventional designs of earlier generations. These statement jewellery designers moved away from using semi-precious gemstones in there handmade jewellery designs and created their stunning pieces and in these pieces you will see where that have used enamel, glass and these designs became much more accessible to everyone .

Some of the more radical designs did not fit with ever-ones tastes and you are also able to find designs grander pieces of statement jewellery that were handmade with diamonds and precious metals.

Statement Earrings all handmade from semi-precious stones 

In the first of the statement jewellery designs I have not only used bold coloured in the unusual earring design but I have used a combination of bold shapes as well. At the base of the statement earring design I have placed a large cube shaped bead of the sparkly Blue Goldstone and on the top of this I have placed a round bead of semi-precious agate in a bright pink colour. I have spaced these semi-precious stones with sterling silver beads and I have pleased these on sterling silver hooks that have a rope design.

The next statement earring design is a longer length and these have been handmade from rectangular beads of faceted quartz at the base of the semi-precious jewellery design and this has been topped with a roundel of the same quartz and I have spaced with a faceted round bead of rich chocolate coloured Agate.

The next of these designs shows where I have left the semi-precious jewellery design simple to show the beauty of the natural stone. In this piece of handmade jewellery I have left the natural stone make the statement. These are a unique jewellery design with only one pair being made.

The last of these designs is a pair of semi-precious earrings handmade from 3 different semi-precious stones. At the base of the statement jewellery design sits a round cracked agate bead in a beautiful amber colour and this has been topped with a deep rich green coloured agate bead and then a carnelian bead. These statement earrings are a limited edition design and only 5 pairs have been made of this design

Statement jewellery designs jewellery designs of the modern ages.

In the coming years the world was buffeted by many cycles of boom, depression and of course the wars but semi-precious jewellery design between 1920 and 1950 maintained its glamour. Sharp geometric designs were used to create the machine age and other more romantic designs were far more exotic and these unique jewellery designs were inspired by the Near and Far East which started to make jewellery designs more international in feel. Up until this time Paris had lead semi-precious jewellery designs but by now New York had taken over as the centre of jewellery fashion. Dense concentrations of semi-precious gemstones can be found in art deco pieces. When we come to the 1930s there was a demand for cheaper more fashion pieces to be worn not only for parties and special occasions but also on a daily basis and this was the birth of fashion statement jewellery.

When it came to the 1960s the boundaries for semi-precious stone jewellery designs started to be redefined. May of the conventions after the war had changed and as new generation of jewellery designer started to emerge the ideas and designs started to change. New materials were being used to create these handmade jewellery designs. Jewellery designs have been taking many twists and turns over the years and now you are able to find a large range of statement jewellery designs to suite everyone's tastes