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Showing posts with label #etsy.com. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #etsy.com. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Not Just a Hallmark-Holiday - Mother's Day is Around the Corner: May 14!





May 14th
will be here before you know it.

Send her a card
Make your brunch reservations
Don't Forget to Call
Purchase her Gift 



Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans honoring their Goddesses. 
Up until the late 1800's,  the Christian festival of “Mothering Sunday” was a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. Originally, it was a day for the faithful to return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service. 
Over time, the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would honor their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day in the 1930s and 1940s.

Another precursor to Mother’s Day came from the abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe who, in the late 1800's, wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” a call to action that asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace. 
Today, Mother’s Day has also been a date for launching political or feminist causes. In 1968 Coretta Scott King used Mother’s Day to host a march in support of underprivileged women and children.
The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s.  Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring and celebrating the sacrifices mothers made for their children. After promoting her first National Mother's Day successfully,  Jarvis—(who never actually became a mother), resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar with the argument that American holidays were biased toward male achievements.

 By 1912 her efforts resulted in many states, towns, and churches adopting Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, and Jarvis had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. 

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

By 1920, Jarvis had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized. She  denounced the change and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and candies. 
By the time of her death in 1948 Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Timeless, Classic, Beautiful Pearls


 
-->Pearls: freshwater and saltwater


Pearls fit into two categories: freshwater and saltwater. As their name implies, freshwater pearls are formed in freshwater mussels that live in lakes, rivers, ponds and other bodies of fresh water. By contrast, saltwater pearls grow in mollusks that live in the ocean.

I have to send a special thank you to Lynn of Urban Pearl Studio on Etsy.com for finding me these beauties. I can't wait to see what they will become.



 

Urban Pearl Studio  is THE go to for handmade artisan wedding jewelry, from pearl strands, to  earrings; multi-strand necklaces and bracelets with gorgeous gemstone box clasps and so much more.

 
Multi Strand Keshi Pearl Necklace with Kyanite Box Clasp


 Lynn  has another shop where you can source out your own gemstones, TexasBeadz, or purchase more of her wonderful artisan gemstone jewelry at BeadzNBling, also on Etsy. Thank you again, Lynn, for finding me these gorgeous pearls!




Natural pearls are those pearls that are formed in nature, more or less by chance. Cultured pearls are those in which humans lend a helping hand, such as in China’s dominating freshwater pearl farms. Today more than 99% of all pearls sold worldwide, both fresh water and salt water, are cultured pearls, "designed" from the start to be primarily flawless.




The Different Types of Pearls 

Akoya Pearls are the pearls most people think of when they think of pearls. Perfectly round, gleaming and lustrous, white Akoya pearls were the very first cultured pearls available anywhere in the world. The classic look still reigns today as the definitive standard of the pearl industry. Akoya pearls are saltwater pearls from both Japan and China, and generally range in size from tiny 2.0-3.0mm seed pearls to the largest and rarest 9.5-10.0mm sizes.






Black Tahitian Pearls are rare black pearls from French Polynesia, shimmering with vibrant overtones that are unmistakable and unforgettable. Popular overtones include Peacock, which is a green-gold mix tinged with rose, to Aubergine or deep eggplant; silver and steel tones, and aquamarine or shades of blue-green, all laid over a palette of dove and dark charcoal greys..

Traditionally ranging from 8.0mm up to 16.0mm in size, their glamorous sizes, combined with their unique, naturally-occurring range of greys and blacks make these pearls very desirable.



South Sea Pearls: large and luminous in white and golden from Australia and the Philippians are the largest and rarest of all cultured pearl types in the world. Pearls cultured in the Pinctada maxima saltwater oyster, which can grow up to a foot in diameter at maturation, routinely obtain sizes that range from 9.0mm up to an astonishing 21.0mm! The pearls’ golden and white colors are completely natural, needing no dyes or artificial enhancements.


Cultured South Sea pearls are also known for their soft, satiny glow which is due to their thick nacre layers, acquired through as much as 4 years’ cultivation time. Gorgeously glowing. They truly draw me in.


freshwater


Freshwater pearls come in a variety of colors and shapes to suit every taste, occasion, and budget; from perfectly round, gem-quality pearls to cute button-shapes. Known for their natural pink, lavender and classic white hues, freshwater pearls are an affordable choice that brings the beauty of pearl jewelry to many, without sacrificing quality. 


Fresh water pearls are usually dyed or irradiated and it is not difficult to tell whether a pearl's color is natural. There is even a tutorial in Fire Mountain Gems on how to dye your own freshwater pearls!



There are several different types of Freshwater Pearls that you may be familiar with:

Biwa Pearls

The most famous type of freshwater cultured pearl is the Biwa  pearl which used to come from mussels grown in Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest freshwater lake which is now polluted. These grow to become what we know as “stick” pearls

Keshi (sometimes spelled Keishi) Pearls ( my favorites)

Keshi Pearl Necklace by Your Daily Jewels


Keshi (in Japanese it means "poppy seed") may be salt or freshwater and are sub-products of the pearl. Basically, pearl garbage. When the oyster rejects a nucleus or a pearl, the fragments of epithelium may yield keshi, baroque-shaped pearls of small diameter which have no nucleus. Keshis come in different size, shapes and coloration.

Mother of Pearl


Mother of Pearl is the iridescent substance that forms the lining of the shells of some fresh-water and some salt-water mollusks. Mother of Pearl jewelry is  made from the inside part of the oyster shell. Like the pearl it is a secretion of the mantle, (nacre). Among the chief sources are the pearl oyster, found in warm and tropical seas, chiefly in Asia; freshwater pearl mussels, which live in many rivers of the United States, Europe, and Asia; and the abalone of California, Japan, and other Pacific regions.


To learn more about pearls, how they are made, their role in history, how they are graded, etc. there is a beautiful exhibit, full of really interesting info. at the online site of the American Museum of Natural History-online

 also, great information on PBS at The Perfect Pearl.

Here is a hint of what will be coming from those lovely pearls I got from Lynn.

YourDailyJewels




everyone loves pearls!


Don't for get to scroll down for some JET Pearls! 
Thanks for reading,