Welcome to our website! Handilymadejewelry.com grew out of our passions for quality made jewelry and handcrafted wood working. Our wonderful jewelry artist, Bonnie Riconda, is nationally known and recognized for her unique quality designs. Our wood artist, Roger Weatherholt, has been creating beautiful pieces for many years; and we are thrilled to now be able to showcase his most recent endeavor - jewelry boxes.
We hope you will spend some relaxing time at our web page and enjoy browsing through the many fine products we have to offer. Paula and I want you to know that you can purchase our jewelry and jewelry boxes with complete confidence. Not only will you be acquiring a quality piece at a very reasonable price, but you will also be protected by our 100% price back guarantee. If you are unhappy with your purchase, for any reason, simply return it within 7 days for a complete refund. We want you to be pleased with your shopping experience and return to visit us often!
What is handcrafted?
"Handcrafted" can be a loosely based term, but at HANDILY MADE JEWELRY, be assured that every piece is truly handcrafted by the artist. There are no mass-produced or machine-made parts or components. Everything is made by hand (even the earwires and hoops), with the utmost attention to craftsmanship and detail. Our Sterling Silver Jewelry and Gold Filled Jewelry products are very top of the line.
So, when you wear a piece of jewelry from HANDILY MADE JEWELRY, you'll know you're wearing something very special, lovingly created by the artist, with the unique look that is distinctive to something truly made by hand.
Gemstones, Pearls, and Crystals:
All gemstones, pearls, and crystals sold by HANDILY MADE JEWELRY are carefully and personally selected by the artist, assuring that only high-quality stones are used. Our gemstones and pearls are all-natural, meaning that there are no fake imitations or cheap stones used. Crystals and cubic zirconia are always manmade, but they have the longevity and color-fastness and brilliance of real gemstones, while at a fraction of the cost.
Semi-precious and Precious Gemstones, pearls, crystals:
(translucent - light shines through easily and is semi-clear)
(opaque - some light shines through and is a more solid color)
Tourmaline - various shades, usually deep-to-pale pink and some greens (translucent)
Peridot - lime green (translucent)
Lemon quartz - pale yellow (translucent)
Rose Quartz - very pale rosy-pink (opaque)
Clear Quartz - clear, with some inclusions of crystallization (translucent)
Cherry Quartz - medium peachy-red (translucent)
Citrine - pale orange-yellow (translucent)
Carnelian - deep orange (opaque)
Apatite - bright blue-green (translucent)
Iolite - medium denim blue (translucent)
Amethyst - dark to light purple (translucent)
Idocrase - bright leaf-green (translucent)
Chalcedony - in the natural state is a pale periwinkle blue, but due to certain properties of the stone, it lends itself to being treated in various colors ranging from bright pink to tangerine to yellow to pale mint-green or blue to lavender (opaque)
Garnet - deep blood-red to reddish-purple (translucent)
Grossular Garnet - yellowish-green (translucent)
Spinel - close to ruby in composition and hardness, spinel can have a small range of colors (used here is a brilliant red-pink (translucent) and black (that has highlights of red)
Sapphire - range of colors, including pink and tundru
Topaz - various shades, including golden topaz (dark burnt-orange, translucent)
and lemon topaz (pale, bright lemon yellow - translucent)
Ruby - one of the hardest of the corundums, usually a brilliant pinky dark red
Peruvian Opal - glowing sea-foam blue
Turquoise - bright green-blue
Red Coral - bright blood-red
Howlite - brilliant blue-green
Raspberry Agate - ranges from pale purple-pink to bright purple
Onyx - can vary in shades, ranging from bright royal blue to black
Jade - rich mossy-green
Amber - orange-yellow
Pearls - all pearls are freshwater, irregular shaped, and can range in color from opalescent ivory to ivory-pink, ivory-peach, pale green-gold, copper, bronze, gold, and ebony.
Opalescent means that while one color is predominant, many other colors will sparkle and shine through when the light hits it - a trademark sign of true freshwater pearls.
Keshi or Biwa pearls are from Japan and are always irregularly shaped, ranging from long skinny sticks to wide oblong pieces to irregular round pieces.
Crystals - created in a similar fashion to making glass; and while that sounds "artificial", these stones are meticulously created in labs and come in a range of gorgeously beautiful colors, with the lasting longevity of color, brilliance and sparkle of natural gemstones.
Cubic Zirconia - a synthetic gemstone, zirconium oxide (ZrO2), a mineral that is extremely rare in nature but is widely synthesized for use as a diamond simulant. The synthesized material is hard, optically flawless and usually colorless, but may be made in a variety of different colors by using certain metal oxides during the manufacturing process. Cubic zirconia is relatively hard, at about 8.5 on the Mohs scale - close to diamond, and much harder than most natural gems. Because of its low cost, durability and close visual likeness to diamond, synthetic cubic zirconia has remained the most gemologically and economically important diamond simulant since 1976.
CARE AND CLEANING OF YOUR JEWELRY
Sterling silver jewelry needs to be cleaned often to keep it bright and shiny, as it will tarnish and become dull and dingy looking, eventually oxidizing and turning almost black.
Tarnishing is the natural process of a metal oxidizing, reacting with oxygen in the air and changing color (like iron rusting). This does not happen with gold, as gold is an inert metal and does not react with oxygen, which is why it is valuable and highly prized.
Every so often, maybe every month or so, or when you notice your silver jewelry is no longer looking bright silvery white, but dull and perhaps even grey, clean it with a commercial silver cleaner. Tarnex, a liquid silver cleaner (that smells like rotten eggs!) is recommended. You can just dunk your jewelry in the liquid, swish it around for about 5-7 seconds, and pull it out. Keeping it in the liquid any longer may damage stones!!! Rinse with warm running water and dry with a paper towel (not terry cloth, as it may snag), and your jewelry will look bright and shiny again.
Keeping your sterling silver jewelry protected in a jewelry box will also help slow down the tarnishing. Gold-filled jewelry does not tarnish as does sterling silver, but it can be occasionally cleaned (the same way as regular 14K gold) using warm soapy water and an old toothbrush. A little ammonia added will help too. Or, you can use a commercial liquid gold cleaner.
Jewelry should be handled with care, as it is delicate. If it does snag on something, do not pull at the jewelry, as it may stretch it out of shape.
When not being worn, the jewelry should be carefully stored in separate quarters, away from other jewelry, to prevent tangling. Optimally, it should be hung on displays specifically designed for hanging jewelry.
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