Tag: gold

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Everything You Need to Know About Vermeil

Sterling Silver 18k Gold Vermeil Kelp Seaweed Inspired Rings with Kyanite Gemstone made by My Jewellery Garden

Everything You Need to Know About Vermeil

Vermeil is a thick layer of gold over sterling grade silver (925) or higher; silver is always the base metal for vermeil (pronounced as ver-may).

Why choose vermeil jewellery?
Vermeil offers you a luxuriant, lighter, durable and affordable way to add gold into your jewellery collection.
 
Is vermeil real gold?
Yes, vermeil is real gold. It should be 14k or above.
 
What carat gold do you use?
My vermeil jewellery is 18k gold over sterling silver.
 
How long does it last?
It is much longer lasting than standard gold plating as vermeil is, at a minimum, 5 times thicker than gold plating. Vermeil is usually 2.5microns plus thick whereas, standard gold plating is around 0.5microns thick.
 
Vermeil is durable when compared to gold plate alone. However, if you wear a vermeil piece continuously the gold can begin to wear away after around 6 months but this can vary.
 
It’s important to be aware that vermeil doesn’t wear off uniformly and you will see more wear in areas of contact i.e with other jewellery or where the piece makes contact with other surfaces on a regular basis.
 
To extend the life of your vermeil plating, you can choose not to wear the piece every day; remove it before any activities where it will make contact with hard surfaces or be scratched like gardening or working out at the gym.
 
I also recommend you take off your vermeil jewellery when swimming or showering – this is a general care recommendation for all jewellery, and you can read more on my jewellery care blog.
 
Does vermeil tarnish?
Yes, it can tarnish but there are easy ways to remove it.
Vermeil tarnishes because of the sterling silver base. When sterling silver comes into contact with moisture, air, or chemicals (including body chemistry) it can react and form a dark layer which can show through the gold layer, causing the tarnished appearance.
 
How can you minimise tarnish or remove tarnish?
Read my section on vermeil on my jewellery care blog.
 
Can I have vermeil re-applied to my jewellery?
Yes. Contact me and I’ll guide you on next steps and cost.
 
Please contact me if you have any other questions about vermeil. I’d be happy to help.
 
Thanks for reading, from Emma at My Jewellery Garden
 
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Magwitchery Blue Velvet Collection Comes in from the Cold …….

Winter is coming (well, not really!) …….

Adding to my Tudor Velvet Collections with Blue Velvet (to be honest, it’s been waiting for me for a little while now).  

Blue Velvet shares the Renaissance meets Contemporary style of the rest of the Velvet Collections but with the icy tones of bright turquoise Swiss Blue Topaz and mysterious dark turquoise London Blue Topaz for your Frozen Princess or imperious Ice Queen.  The pieces feature rich etched textures and gold settings in addition to the sparkle of the Topaz.

The ombré pendant features London Blue and Swiss Blue Topaz in a variety of 9K settings.  Ring, domed pendant and earrings are available in either Swiss Blue Topaz or London Blue Topaz so you can mix and match as you choose.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that you now get my beautiful new black eco packaging embossed with my logo.

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Bevart designs and ‘Wabi Sabi’ a Japanese philosophy

What inspires to me to make my jewellery pieces.

Hello, I am Beverley from Bevart designs.

I am an artist that has been inspired to make jewellery from my love of art. So in short, my jewellery creations have been inspired from my artworks. 

I love wood and colour and have combined the two elements to make beautiful art inspired jewellery for you to wear. 

Whilst doing my degree back in 2008 whooooa! long time ago.

I was fascinated by making something that was quite ordinary very beautiful, I incorporated copper pipe and wire and velvet fabrics to bring my 3-D relief paintings and sculptures to life.

 

The photo is a piece that I created for my fine art degree, I embedded a large ornate mirror, red velvet and copper pipe. This work was made in response to self Indulgence and decadence.

 

Artwork – 5ft x 3ft plaster, paint, velvet, copper pipe, mirror and varnish.

Entitled  – ‘Indulge’

SOLD

 

Fast forward to now, in my fine artwork I use gold leaf and mark making using unconventional tools. My ethos in my creative life is ‘Making the ordinary beautiful’ a few years ago I discovered WabiSabi a Japanese philosophy and way of life.

 The Japanese people embrace things that would be normally deemed as useless or boring or very ordinary, old, cracked or broken, they fix and make beautiful. I am fascinated with that as a thing in its self, so the way that I use WabiSabi and making the ordinary beautiful into my artwork, is that I embrace things that could possibly go wrong, like, unintentional marks, the drips from the paint the knots in the wood!

I fix good with love, polishing and gold/silver and rose gold leaf.

The pink and green artwork photograph is a painting that I made a couple of years ago, I have used wax and mark making to create this ‘Indian Summer’ inspired piece. We went on holiday to Goa, whilst on a market trip we met a lady selling the most amazing fabrics, she was wearing the most exquisite sari, my painting was inspired by this trip.

 

Art work – wax, oil paints and gold leaf, painted on board.

Entitled – ‘Indian Summer’

 

This is just a little insight into the jewellery making and the things that inspire me to be creative.

Bevart designs creations! are inspired by my paintings, travel, and WabiSabi.

 

Thankyou Beverley x

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Gold and Red Radiance

I gain a lot of inspiration while out running with the dogs, did you know it’s actually a sport called Canicross or Canix for short? I don’t enter races, I find that I get enough satisfaction with the local trails…which is where certain tiny details in nature catch my eye.

It was while I was out on one of these runs that I passed a wonderful Cotoneaster plant cascading over the ground with it’s scarlet leaves and berries. It was quite a sight!

cotoneaster

cotoneaster

The tiny leaves and the number of them and did I mention the colour!? Wow! I knew that I had to make something based on this! Paired with another find of the gold centred red leaves of brambles also turning in the cold late autumn weather I had the perfect combination for something very special. Did you know that red is considered a lucky colour by some people? 

brambles

This is where the Red and Gold Radiance bridal range was born.

Starting with a clear acrylic hair comb, while I mulled over the larger details of the tiara, and a number of different coloured beads of various sizes and shapes I drew together the elements that would work well together adding in extras to embellish and be a contrast against the richness of the red and gold; something to draw the eye in and to hold the attention.

Working very much in an organic way the gold centred red leaves and foliage began to take shape. Wire twisting and bending into curved stems. Stems building and a dense design beginning to unfold and grow.

bead work

Stems secured onto the hair comb by the tail ends of the wires, twisting and trimming the excess the before the finishing touch of a band of red and gold could be placed as a boarder hiding all the working and bringing the piece to a stunning conclusion.
hair comb in held in hand