Jewelry Blog

Pame Designs

Pame Designs blend a beautiful and bold mix of leather and Tahitian pearls, along with other precious metals, to create a stunning collection of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings. All handmade in Aspen, Colorado, Pam Sweeny’s inspiration for her designs comes from her experiences while traveling and exploring exotic beaches, and her love of surfing; which gives her collection a unique and beautiful surfer chic appeal.  In order to give back to the environment, a portion of all jewelry sales is donated to SurfRider.org or the San Diego Coast Keeper to ensure our oceans remain clean and healthy.

The Surfrider.org foundation is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches.  Founded in 1984, by a group of surfers out of Malibu, California, Surfrider.org has over 50,000 members and 90 chapters worldwide.  With donations and contributions from generous people, like Pam Sweeny, Surfrider.org can continue to educate, and promote the conservation of our oceans, waves, and beaches.

The San Diego Coastkeeper is another organization that benefits from the sales of Pame Designs. With more than 80% of their donations going towards educational programs that teach residence how to make sustainable choices, protect animal life from pollution and the restoration of marine habitats.  The San Diego Coast Keeper has helped reduce the amount of sewage spills, and the number of beach advisories.

By helping give back, Pame’s pieces make you feel good and look good.  With pieces that can be worn to a casual beach picnic, or with a little black dress and heels, Pame Designs boasts a collection of unique and beautifully delicate pieces that can be worn for any occasion, and that give back to the preservation of our oceans.

Pame Design collection can be purchased in stores throughout California, Colorado, New York, and Texas and also online. For more information on Pam and her designs, and to view the full collection, please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

How to make a pearl necklace for yourself?

Diamonds might be the girl’s best friend jewelry, but for some girls, pearls can be claimed for this position. With its origin, the ocean gems, pearls are symbol of fortune. Pearls can go easily with black dress; even you have only a single strand of pearl. However, there are lots of ways for ‘how to make a pearl necklace’ to go with other jewelry wire. By this suggestion, you will have a variety of pearl necklace as your wish.

The first step on’ make pearl necklace’ start with choose your pearls. Based on your design necklace, you will already got the size , shape and color of pearls in your mind. Go and look around, variety of pearls are always available for you to get one that exactly right for yours.

Then, get the right length of your necklace wire. It was recommended to have at least 6 inches longer that your design necklace.

Start with the wire, secure it with 2 crimp beads on a wire end. Place half of the clasp on a wire and pass it back through the already strung crimp beads. Use a crimping tool to tight it to a wire. Then, string the pearls onto the wire. Make sure that it pass through the crimp beads. With a simple strand pearls necklace, you can keep stringing pearls until reach the necklace length. Otherwise, with different style of necklace, you can put any jewelry type as the order that you already design until its length has been reach.

The last step for ‘how to make a pearls necklace’ when the last pearl has been attached is place another 2 crimping beads onto the wire. Place a second part of the clasp on a wire and pass it through a crimp beads and some pearls. Adjust a wire length and fasten the beads with a crimping tool again. By this way, your own style pearls necklace will be made as your desire. Photos courtesy of etsy.com/listing/38133861/necklace-wedding-jewelry-pearl-crystal

Pearl wedding jewelry for your special day

They are as traditional as the white wedding dress and right now, pearls are a big bridal trend.  Pearl wedding jewelry symbolizes love and purity making them a perfect choice for brides, but that doesn’t mean you have to settle for traditional styles.

Pearl jewelry is everywhere at the moment as vintage is a key look and you will find designs ranging from pure and simple to glamorous and bespoke.  Designs come in silver and gold and mixed with other stones such as diamontes.  However when it comes to choosing pearl jewelry you should choose styles which complement your dress to get the maximum impact.

Here are a few styling tips to help you pick the right pearl jewelry for your special day:

If your dress is off the shoulder in style then choose a pearl choker.  Chokers are traditionally anything from one to three strands and which sit close to the neck, whilst modern designs can have anything up to sixty strands of ‘floating’ pearls which creates a striking and luxurious look.
If your wedding dress is strapless or has a plunging neckline then choose a collar style necklace.  This is a more traditional Victorian style and consists of three or more strands of pearls which fit snugly around the throat.

If your dress is strapless choose a Princess style of pearl necklace which sits below the hollow of the neck and usually will have pendant.  This style can also suit any bridal style.

If your dress has a low neckline go for a Matinee style which is longer than the Princess, usually sitting just about the bust line at the top of the dress.  This style looks lovely when worn with a bateau, jewel or low neckline which has a lace or sheer fabric inset which covers the de colletage area.

Pearl  is easy to source and many retailers stock different designs or offer bespoke services where you can choose a custom made design.  Of course, for many brides their pearl jewelry is handed down to them by someone in the family.  This can create something of a dilemma if the jewelry does not suit you.  Consider looking a creative and skilled jeweller who could turn it into something more suited to you, whether that means restringing a necklace, turning a pendant into a brooch or creating a pretty bracelet, is up to you – just check with whoever gave it to you first that they are ok with this!

Freshwater pearls

Freshwater pearls, which often compared to natural pearls, are of such value because they are composed of all nacre. Yes, all nacre just like the natural pearl! The only difference however between the natural pearl and freshwater pearl is that there was a little bit of human intervention to get the culturing going, not to mention the significant savings and affordability that can also be found!
Cultured pearls are the least expensive pearls available in the market, however by looking at them you would not think so. Pearls offer an abundance of quality and colors. Also, being that pearls are all nacre they last a very long time if cared for correctly.

Can you imagine a pearl that is all nacre at such a nominal price? It is SO, and with such an array of sizes, shapes, and colors available the sky is the limit. Comparably freshwater pearls are a fraction of the price South Sea Pearls, Tahitian Pearls and Japanese Akoya Pearls, and just as nice if not nicer– what a value!

Many designers are incorporating more and more pearls in their designs resulting in very unique high quality jewelry at a remarkably low price. Designers who solely used beads and gemstones in their designs are now using Chinese cultured freshwater pearls instead because of the versatility and value for dollar that they offer.

This is great for the consumers for two reasons – first reason is that there is much more variety to choose from in pearl necklaces, pearl bracelets and pearl earrings than there ever were available before, and the second reason is affordability of pearls in designer pieces.

Many consumers who couldn’t afford to purchase a quality piece of jewelry or a pearl necklace can now afford it as a result of freshwater pearls and the value they offer.

Some of the shapes that you may find in your search to find the perfect freshwater pearl necklace or pearl bracelet are, baroque, round, semi-round, potato, coin, rice, stick, see and keshi just to name a few.

Most freshwater pearls found in today’s market are cultured freshwater pearls, however with the superior quality becoming more readily available day by day they will continue to hold and be the best value for dollar as time goes by.

What is a pearl?

The allure of the pearl is timeless and universal. Since the beginning of history, the pearl has always been regarded as one of the rarest, most valuable and symbolic of gems and has been prized in every culture, from ancient China, India, Egypt, Rome, through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance to today. The pearl is today’s birthstone for June and the 30th wedding anniversary symbol.

A pearl is formed when a tiny intruder, such as a parasite, a piece of grit, etc. lodges itself inside a mollusc (called “an oyster” or “mussel” although the ones producing pearls are much larger than the oysters/mussels we know and most are non-edible). If the mollusc cannot get rid of the intruder, it starts to produce a substance to soothe the irritation the intruder causes: Nacre. What we know as a pearl is the build up of layer after layer of nacre, enveloping the intruder. Nacre is the same substance that forms the lining within the shell.