Archive for the ‘Handcrafted’ Category
The Underappreciated Artisans
When most people think of artists, they think of painters and sculptors like Leonardo da Vinci. Artists can also create unique handmade beaded bracelets and other jewelry. There are some really great homemade pieces out there on the market. Each necklace, bracelet or pair of earrings is unlike any other, and there’s something to be said in owning a piece of completely unique and beautiful handmade jewelry.
Handmade jewelry is typically unique, as each artisan has a different technique to how they create their personal styles and craft their art. You can find handmade pieces in a variety of places — the internet and outdoor markets, for example. Buying something from an artist is like buying a piece of their heart. The next time you’re looking for a new piece of jewelry, give handcrafted jewelry a try.
Bringing Back Art Fair Memories
Throughout my childhood, I spent summers traveling from town to town with my grandmother. She had discovered woodworking later in life, after my grandfather died, and it became her passion and motivation to move forward. For my part, I liked hopping in the car on Saturday mornings and riding along for dozens or in some case hundreds of miles to an unfamiliar village. Once there, we would unload the car and start pitching the tent.
Arts and crafts fairs also appealed to me because of the wide variety of goods that were on display. I had never seen such exotic items before, and many of them were inspired by world cultures that I only knew about from books. The handcrafted artisan jewelry was beyond compare – available in styles, colors and designs of every stripe. When I was looking at jewelry on the Internet the other day, it brought these memories flooding back.
An Old Style Reborn
Lampwork is one of the most stylized and intricate ways of creating glass jewelry. As one might guess from the name, the first examples of lampwork were fashioned by melting tubes of colored glass over an especially hot lamp. This method has died out almost completely in modern times, but the quaintly decorative end result remains the same. Lampwork necklaces feature finely shaped glass beads that are molded with much the same tools that a glassblower would use.
The most prominent lampworkers in history were most likely the Italian artisans who flourished during the Renaissance. Cultural centers such as Venice and Florence contained flourishing markets for glass jewelry and other elegant accoutrements. American artists have been inspired by the form in the last few decades, and most of the lampwork jewelry we see today has been produced domestically.
Handmade Bracelets
Despite the fact that great things can be created by machines, humans are still better at some things. It’s probably the same principle that is behind the fact that most people prefer handcrafted jewelry over that produced by machines.
Handcrafted bracelets are not just beautiful but are also one of a kind. In comparison to the machine crafted bracelets and necklaces, a beaded necklace holds beauty that is unique. When given as gifts, such accessories have the same sentimental value as all the other jewelry, while also reminding the receiver that the necklace belonged to her and is exclusively hers alone.