Jewellery

This is a timeline of jewellery production from the first uses of metal in history to the Renaissance. Glass which has not been annealed will usually at least crack, and can shatter due to a seemingly minor temperature change or other shock. Among uncommonly used materials are fish scales (Video clip). This relieves the internal stresses, resulting in a piece which should last for many years. The smallest type of beads commonly used are known as seed beads; these are the beads used for the "woven" style of beaded jewellery. The piece is then slowly cooled at a predetermined rate until its temperature is below a critical point, at which it can no longer generate internal stresses, and then the temperature can safely be dropped to room temperature. Beads may be large or small. The piece is then allowed to heat-soak until its temperature is even throughout; the time necessary for this varies depending on the type of glass and thickness of the thickest section.

Beaded jewellery commonly encompasses necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and belts. Annealing, in glass terms, is heating a piece until its temperature reaches a stress-relief point, that is, a temperature at which the glass is still too hard to deform, but is soft enough for internal stresses to ease. These may be made of many different substances including glass, gemstones, wood, shells, clay and polymer clay. Once finished, the piece must be annealed in an oven, or else it will eventually crack or shatter. Beads are commonly used in jewellery. All parts of the workpiece must be kept hot, at similar temperatures, or else they can crack or shatter. Other commonly used materials include glass, such as fused glass or enamel; wood, often carved or turned; shells and other natural animal substances such as bone and ivory; and natural clay and plasticine clays, such as polymer clay. The glass is heated until molten, merged with other pieces, and shaped with various tools.

Dozens more are also commonly used. Once ready to begin, the lampworker slowly introduces glass rod and tubing into the flame so that the pieces won't shatter from thermal shock. Common gemstones that are used include diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and opals. After designing a piece, a lampworker must carefully plan how to construct it. The silver used in jewellery is often sterling silver. Steel jacks, usually coated with beeswax, are used to neck down or cut off a piece. Most gold alloys used in jewellery range from 10K to 22K gold, while platinum alloys range from 900 (90% pure) to 950 (95.0% pure). Tungsten picks can be used to drag glass around on the surface, or to bore a hole through a piece.

Common metals used for jewellery include gold, platinum or silver. Brass, graphite, or wooden molds (usually of apple or cherry wood) can be used to mold the hot glass. A variety of precious gemstones, coins or other precious items can be used, often set into precious metals. Graphite or steel pads, rods, and other shapes are used for marvering the glass. Jewellery, particularly when made with precious materials, is generally considered valuable and desirable. Tools for lampworking are similar to those used in glassblowing. . In addition to producing a hotter flame, the use of pure oxygen allows more control over the flame's oxidizing or reducing properties, which is necessary because some coloring chemicals in borosilicate glass react with any remaining oxygen in the flame either to produce the desired final color or to discolor if extra oxygen is present.

Personal adornment seems to be a basic human tendency. Also, its working range is at higher temperatures than Moretti, requiring larger torches and the use of oxygen instead of air. Jewellery in various forms has been made and worn by both sexes in almost every (if not every) human culture, on every inhabited continent. However, it has a narrower working temperature range than Moretti, has fewer available colors, and is considerably more expensive. Jewellery can also be symbolic, as in the case of Christians wearing a crucifix in the form of jewellery, or, as is the case in many Western cultures, married people wearing a wedding ring. Borosilicate glass is considered more forgiving to work with, as its lower COE makes it less apt to crack than Moretti. Some cultures have a practice of keeping large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Chemically, some colors can react with each other when melted together, usually causing undesirable effects such as discoloration, bubbling, or devitrification.

Further tracing leads back to the Latin word "jocale", meaning plaything. Different major types of glass, e.g., borosilicate and Moretti, are not compatible with each other. The word is derived from the word "jewel", which was anglicised from the Old French "jouel" in around the 13th century. Glass with incompatible COE, mixed together, can create powerful stresses within a finished piece as it cools, cracking or even violently shattering the piece. However, jewellery can and has been made out of almost every kind of material. Different colors of glass must be carefully selected for compatibility with each other, both chemically and in terms of coefficient of thermal expansion (COE). Costume jewellery is made from less valuable materials. Leaded glass tubing was commonly used in the manufacture of neon signs, although its use has been fading due to environmental concerns and health risks.

Jewellery (Jewelry in American spelling) comprises ornamental objects worn by persons, typically made with gems and precious metals. Lampworking can be done with many types of glass, but the most common are soda-lime glass, sometimes called "soft glass", or Moretti after an early Italian manufacturer; and borosilicate glass, particularly Pyrex. Elias Akaoui -- founder of Akaoui stores in Cairo, Egypt. . Sotirios Voulgaris -- founder of Bulgari. Most artists today use torches that burn either propane or natural gas for the fuel gas, with either air or pure oxygen as the oxidizer. Charles Lewis Tiffany -- founder of Tiffany & Co.. Early lampworking was done in the flame of an oil lamp, with the artist blowing air into the flame through a pipe.

Tom Shane -- Founder of The Shane Company and radio advertisement personality. In addition to artwork, lampworking is used to create scientific tools, particularly for chemistry. William Calley -- the convicted Vietnam war criminal is a jeweler in Columbus, Georgia. Some well-known lampworkers include Roger Parramore, sometimes called "the human lathe" due to his peerless ability to create smoothly turned vessels, Bandhu Scott Dunham, author of several lampworking textbooks and artistic compilations, and Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, who created sea-life and botanic models in glass for Harvard. Paolo Bulgari -- Chairman of Bulgari. Although the art form has been practiced since ancient times, it flowered in Murano, Italy in the 1300s, and spread from there to the rest of Europe. AD 1500 - The Renaissance. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the modern practice no longer uses oil fuled lamps.

AD 400 - A shale die is found in Britain. Lampworking is glassworking using a torch to melt and shape the glass. AD 400 - Pewter jewellery is made. AD 300 - Lead becomes more common in places. AD 150 - Tin rings found in Nubia.

AD 100 - Sulphur fills hollow gold items throughout the Roman Empire. AD 50 - Start of the Roman period, where addition of silver to gold becomes almost unknown. 300 BC - Red Coral popular in Celtic jewellery. 300 BC - Diadems are first seen.

325 BC - Animal or human-headed hoop earrings were popular. 350 BC - Use of combined punches and dies of bronze. 400 BC - Greeks using Beeswax for filler in repoussé. 500 BC - Iron in use in Britain.

500 BC - Hafted hammers were being used in some parts. 575 BC - In Greece, jewellery is still very rare. 700 BC - World's oldest coinage in Lydia. 900 BC - The Greeks have iron.

1000 BC - The start of true engraving. 1000 BC - Persian sheet bronze work 0.05mm thick. 1400 BC - Very copper rich gold alloys popular in Egypt. 1400 BC - Philistines have iron.

1400 BC - Deliberate addition of zinc to copper in Canaan. 1400 BC - Egypt Amarna period, using resin and mud for repoussé backing. 1500 BC - Earplugs and earrings become popular in Egypt. 2000 BC - Use of patterned punches.

2500 BC - Gold wires are characterised by seam lines that follow a spiral path along the wire. 2500 BC - The intentional addition of silver and copper to gold. 2500 BC - True iron production technology in Near East. 2500 BC - Egyptians using copper/lead alloys.

2600 BC - Beaded wires began to be used. 2000 BC - First signs of the swagging technique. 3000 BC - The Middle East employ semi-mass-production. 3000 BC - Egypt and Iran makeing simple hammered iron beads.

3500 BC - Gold makes an appearance in Egyptian jewellery. 3450 BC - Use of natural zinc/copper alloy in Egypt. 4000 BC - Smelting technology for copper in Egypt and Iran. 5000 BC - Uses of copper in Egypt.

7000 BC - Uses of copper in Anatolia, Iran and Eastern Europe.