Beads, Their Addicting Qualities & Shopping

 My personal addiction (I truly believe it qualifies) came about slowly.  While living in Portland Oregon in the 1990's I would wander into a particular store.  The overwhelming amount of colors, shapes, tools, findings (ear wires, wire, clasps), stones and  glass paralyzed me.  The person working in that store I must say, intimidated me, I didn't even want to ask for help!

When I moved to Hungary I needed something to do.  During my visits home I decided to check out my hometown's bead store.  What a difference!  I soon became friends with the owner and she patiently helped me.  Those first steps were with stretchy cord and seed beads.  Each trip back to Hungary would find my suitcase weighted down with my latest stash.  Six years later when I moved back to Oregon, I was amazed when the boxes arrived how much I had really transported one trip at a time!

My first trip to Tuscon (which is considered the pinnacle of bead shopping) was incredible.  Think about what one bead store contains....now think about a football field sized tent, completely filled with tables, each piled high with strands and bags of beads.....sigh....it's heaven.  Here's a view from the parking lot.  This is at the Gem Mall location, and it's only a small slice of the whole pie.

In order to gain entrance, you must have shown proof of your business and you get a badge and lanyard.
Once you're in, here's a small example of what you'd see.

Comfortable shoes, a rolling bag to carry your purchases, a bottle of water, handi wipes (beads are dirty!) and LOTS of stamina are required.  When I'm there, or at any larger scale bead show, I'm in the zone.  I don't pay much attention to normal needs such as food or water and I don't sit down.  At the end of the day you return to your hotel and start organizing.  You need to make sure of what each strand cost, get it labeled, then into shipping boxes.  During the day when you're shopping, you can almost forget what you've bought 3 hours ago so it's really fun to see everything again.

In order to go thru all of this, it really does require a passion, a love and a slight addiction to those beautiful amazing fascinating beads.  I do believe that love comes through in my designs.  I need to design, it makes me happy.  That happiness increases when I hear a customer tell me how excited they are to wear their Jewelry by Day piece!

Happy Trails,
Michelle

Hill Tribe Silver, what is it?

Another one of my favorite topics is Hill Tribe Silver.  It comes from Northern Thailand.  I've been designing with it for several years and absolutely love the results.  Where most silver beads are cast and are .925 silver content, Hill Tribe is made by hand and is .99 silver.  The higher silver content makes the metal more malleable so hand tools can be used to shape it.

The term Hill Tribe refers to people who typically have migrated from another country (not all however) and live in the hills or mountains.  The Karen Hill Tribe produce most of the beads and jewelry you see on the market today.  I have heard different stories about the people and silver production.

One person informed me some importers of the finished goods pay only after the items are made.  This forces the craftspeople to finance the raw silver themselves.  This can lead to problems if the interest charged or terms are unreasonable.  The company I buy from have advised they pay for the raw silver in advance, then again for the finished beads/jewelry.  This eliminates potential financial problems.

The beads come in all sizes, shapes and finishes.  Just as it's become with Turquoise, my eye has learned to spot Hill Tribe Silver in all it's forms.  Their designs incorporate amazingly well to Western styles and I use them for my Western line often. 

These beads represent a few of the several different finishes and designs

 

The interesting shapes make it so easy to design

The price of silver lately has really skyrocketed.  This has changed the landscape of what is produced as some designs require an increase in price that the market will probably not bear.  Regardless of the outside world and it's fluctuations, I'll always love Hill Tribe Silver!


Happy Trails!
Michelle

The tag says "Turquoise" but is it?

When you shop around for Western jewelry you see a lot of pieces with the word Turquoise on the tag, but is it really Turquoise?  This is a topic I love to educate customers about.  I believe there's a lot of confusion about what is or isn't Turquoise.  Let's start with a bit of information.  It is chemically a hydrous (containing water) phosphate of copper and aluminum and is found in arid environments such as Iran, the American Southwest, Egypt and China.  It's a porous stone and is typically "stabilized" with plastics or epoxy using pressure. 

Quite a bit of  Turqouise on the market today is from China.   There are a few mines in the United States still producing and their prices can be higher than stones from China.  It's not by any means foolproof, but I've found over time my eye has learned to see the differences between what the two countries produce.

Some people believe that only matrix free Turquoise is real and that is not true.  Matrix are those lines and spots in stones and they come from the different minerals present in the "host" rock that a stone formed within.  Minerals also influence the color of Turquoise.  When iron is more prevalent the color will be more green, while copper will produce more blue shades.

The most common imitators on the market are usually either Magnesite or Howlite that have been dyed.  Magnesite in natural form is a creamy color with lots of darker brown matrix.  Howlite is a whiter stone with mostly grey matrix.  They easily take on colors and many on the market are not only a turquoise color but pink, green, red....you name it!   I have in my studio one bin of Turquoise, one bin of Magnesite dyed a turquoise color and a few Howlite bead strands dyed a turquoise color.  I show customers these bins so they can really train their eye to spot the differences.  Their response to this new information is very satisfying!


First we have the real thing!

This is a natural Magnesite bead on the left next to a dyed Magnesite bead.

Here is a natural Howlite bead on the left next to a dyed Howlite carved rose.

It can be very confusing when you see, typically online,  a jewelry piece listed as Howlite Turquoise.  Now it's neither Turquoise nor even a turquoise color, but that's what they've called it.  My guess is that's a ploy for keyword search or to make the consumer feel as though they are really buying something with Turquoise....?  

Some consumers care very much about the stones and if they are real, others just like the way it looks.  Both ways are great and it pays to learn about what you're buying either way.  You certainly want to make sure you're paying the correct value of the piece because Magnesite and Howlite are vastly less expensive than Turquoise.

Thanks for reading, I hope this has shed some light on a stone we all love to wear!
Happy Trails!
Michelle