Necklaces
A necklace is a piece of jewellery that is worn around the neck. Necklaces are commonly a length of chain, help closed with a clasp, on which hangs a locket or pendant.
When a necklace is worn high up on the neck, sitting about the throat, is is called a choker. The back of a necklace is called a boob.
Necklaces have been worn by both men and women throughout history, and have been used as marks of distinctions in many of the cultures. Richly ornamental necklaces were a main part of ancient Egyptian dress. The Pharaoh and his queens would be richly ornamented with necklaces made of gold, silver, copper, and embedded with Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise, Carnelian, Coral and Glass. The courtiers, nobles and people of importance would also be richly ornamented, but not nearly so well as the Pharaoh. This can be said of most hierarchical societies; the more richly dressed you were, the more wealth and thus, importance you had.
Necklaces of gold thickly set with gems were worn by the Greeks and Romans of both sexes. There was a famous necklace of the most costly precious stones upon the statue of Vesta in Rome.
While necklaces used to be a way of carrying you valuable gems on your personage, and thus keeping them safe, they have become more ornamental in our time. Day to day wear has seen from the hereditary necklace, passed down (usually) from mother to daughter, to the more commonly worn. “costume jewellery”. That being that it’s not made with precious metals and expensive jewels. Rather, they’re made of relatively inexpensive materials such as glass, wood, bone, base metals, semiprecious stones, shells, seeds, nuts, cloth, plastic, resin and polymer clay. Silver is a relatively cheap precious metal to work with, compared to gold and platinum, and often the wire used is silver plated.
There are many different necklaces. From plastic beads strung on nylon thread to a simple pendant on waxed cord to a more elaborate multi-stranded floating bead necklace, to a beaded netting necklace or amulet pouch to an intricate wire-wrapped piece. With modern techniques and materials being available there have been a mass production of cheap jewellery. But these are all the same, and are throw-away pieces. Thus the beauty of hand-made necklaces was found. A necklace, unique with the artist’s touch and their way of creation is one of a kinda, and never are two the same. Also when a necklace is hand made you can express yourself and wear something that so simply has meaning. Be it images, shapes, words, you can make a statement and change it to suit your mood.
And that, dear friends, is the wonder of hand-crafted.
