Choosing jewellery for friends

Christmas is just round the corner and almost everyone is in a festive mood. Being a multi-racial, multi-religious society in Singapore, Christmas day is a public holiday for all, even the non-christians. Sometimes, non-christians join in the celebration too with their friends, including gift exchange - after all it is a season of giving and sharing.

However, choosing a gift for close friends and family members can be daunting. Has she had this before? Does she like the colour? What about the size? You know what I mean. Sometimes, I think it boils down to how well you really know or understand the person. One will know the answer when the recipients wear or use what has been bought for them. If not, spend more time communicating and understanding the friend / family member. Hopefully, you got it right the next Christmas.

My shopping list for the ladies of different personalities from the Singaporean jewellery artisan  Carrie K. is as follows: -

For an Artistic lady - a beautiful mess spilled blue and gold bracelet

Bold-funky lady - a raw knuckle sandwich ring

Epicurean lady - a small safety pin paved pink sapphire rose gold ring

Free-Spirited lady - a pair of Egyptian hoop earrings

Gothic-styled lady - a razor ring

Minimalist lady - a pair of liquid drop earrings

Punky-rock lady - a leather antique brown nut and bolt bracelet

Religious lady - a pair of coat of arms earrings

Shirt-pants lady - a pair of forget me knot cufflinks

For rest of the ladies who do not fall under the above categories - a charmed wishbone necklace, may all their wishes come true...

Hopefully, it is a 'right' gift for them. If not, there is a always the next time..

And Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. :)

Wearing a Brooch as Pendant

A good design jewellery, no matter how much one loves it, one still feels a need to change it once in a while. Maybe that is why stack rings, interchangeable jewellery, etc are invented so that people can vary their designs occasionally. It maybe boring to wear the same piece of jewellery day after day. Or simply, it is a human's desire for a change once in a while. 

Speaking of interchangeable jewellery, one should not be unfamiliar with Pandora charm bracelets from Denmark. Or Charlotte Ehinger-Schwarz jewellery from Germany, which produces modular pieces that one can change and mix to make a ring, pendant, brooch, etc. 

Pandora Charm Bracelet

Charlotte Interchangeable ring and pendant

A brooch can double up as a pendant as I have discovered recently. One needs a necklace with a spring clasp to string the brooch. Just remember to string the clasp last before fastening the brooch pin as shown below: 

It works on a leather cord with lobster claw clasp too. String the clasp last before fastening helps to balance the brooch and prevent it from flipping when it is worn. 

Instead of clipping the the brooch on the blouse, one may consider wearing it as a pendant.  Make it an interchangeable jewellery and give a second thought to the new pendant you are eyeing.. :)

Artistic jewellers who set stones in silver

There is a loose lavender jade stone in my drawer and I am looking for a jeweller in Singapore to transform it to a minimalist ring set in silver. Why silver, you may ask..it is easier on the pocket and it is also chic and evergreen. Think of Tiffany silver rings and their blue boxes..

Looking through several websites, the designs from My Vintage Jewel Box (mvjb) caught my attention. Their designs are minimalist and each piece of jewellery is painstakingly handmade. MVJB is found by two jewellery artists, Ryn and Chris, based in Singapore. They pride themselves in making organic minimalist fine jewellery infused with stories. 

Their love seed oracle pendant, a new collection, which drew inspiration from love seed or saga seeds is engraved with an ancient Chinese oracle bone script below:

One may string the oracle pendant on a bracelet and wear it on  the wrist. 

I was also drawn to their scroll rings, which one can customise quotes and have them engrave on the ring. It can accommodate 160 characters. Likewise, one may string a necklace through it and wear it as pendant. Personalise it and it is a wonderful gift for Christmas. 

Looking through their profiles for customised jewellery.. It will be interesting to see the design they come up for my stone based their past profiles below:

 Maybe I share it in the future..well, that's for next time. :) 

Girl's best friend - Diamond and its 4Cs quality

Going through the jewellery that a woman owns, it is not hard to find a diamond among them. It may be a solitaire diamond, pave diamond, or diamond look-like. A diamond can stand on its own as a centrepiece or add sparkles to a gemstone centrepiece. Using the analogy of diamonds, it also reflects how a woman can be a leader or team member in the organisation and do well in both situations - i.e. she 'sparkles'. Hence, it is apt to say a diamond is a girl's best friend.

As you may have known that choosing a diamond depends on the 4Cs - carat, colour, clarity and cut. These standards are summarised in the table below :

Standards	Highest - - > Lowest
Carat	1 carat is divided into 100 points or 200 milligrams
Clarity	F -> VVS1 -> VVS2 -> VS1 -> VS2 -> SI1 -> SI2 -> I1 ->I2 -> I3
Colour	D -> Z or colourless, near colourless, faint, very light, light
Cut	Excellent -> Very Good -> Good -> Fair -> Poor

For more information, you may watch the video : GIA Video

The question that one may ask should I choose a bigger carat diamond with low clarity or a smaller carat diamond with high clarity given the same budget? Well, the seller usually values the latter than former, i.e. a smaller carat diamond with high clarity. It is rarer to find a diamond of flawless or F clarity. However, if one is buying a diamond ring to propose, it does not hurt to choose the bigger diamond. After all, one cannot tell the difference between F and VS1 without a microscope, and the perceived value of a bigger diamond is higher. 

However, one should not compromise on the colour and cut though. If you are considering a white colour diamond, the recommended grading is colour grade D to H (within the colourless group). Or you may consider the other end of the spectrum, i.e. a warm or yellowish colour diamond, the recommended grading is colour grade S to Z. Depending on the cut, a yellowish-colour diamond does not lose out to white-colour diamond in brilliance. I will mention coloured diamonds in my future post. 

The next question is the cut. Thanks to the advancement in technology, most of the diamonds are of good cut and above. I seldom come across a poorly cut diamond. The cut one may also consider is the shape of the diamond, i.e. heart shaped, cushion shaped or round brilliant. A point to note - different cut provides different light return through the top of the diamond, affecting the brilliance of a diamond. Thus, an emerald cut diamond is not as brilliant as a round brilliant cut. Depending on what suits you or the person who you are buying for, you decide which diamond is the best for you or the person.

Depending on the your 4Cs criteria and budget, one may proceed to choose a loose diamond from jewellery stores. Personally, I refer to the mobile apps 'My Jewelry' and 'Caraters' to find the guided price of a loose diamond. Remember each diamond is unique because of its 4Cs. 

Diamond earrings
source - caraters.com

Diamond ring
source - lovisdiamonds.com

Diamond pendant
source - vivodiamonds.com

Diamond bracelet
source - michaeltrio.com

9k,18k, 24k Gold - What does it mean?

Gold jewellery is coming back into fashion and it comes in different purity. How is a 18karats (k) gold ring different from a 24k gold ring? Should I buy a 18k gold bracelet with a great design or should I buy a 24k gold bracelet with a mediocre design given the same budget? How does the purity of gold affect the price of the jewellery? This is a question one may ask when buying gold jewellery, especially for 'si dian jin' - literally translated to four pieces of gold the bride will wear during the Chinese wedding tea ceremony.

Gold purity is measured in carats or karats with the symbol 'k'. Pure gold is 24k, it means 24 parts of the mass is gold. When we melt the mass, we are expected to extract 99.9% of gold from it. 18k means 18 parts of the mass are gold, 6 parts of it are alloy. Or 75% of the mass is gold, i.e. 18/24 x 100%. The table below shows the karat vs percentage of gold.

Karats	% of gold
9k	37.5
10k	41.7
12k	50.0
14k	58.3
17k	70.8
18k	75.0
21k	87.5
22k	91.6
23k	95.8
24k	99.9

Needless to say, the higher the percentage of gold, the more expensive is the piece of jewellery given the same design. However, the higher the percentage of gold, the softer will be the metal and it is not ideal for fine jewellery. 18k gold or 14k gold is usually used to make intricate fine jewellery because of their ideal hardness. 12k gold and below is usually not recommended for jewellery, though they can still be sold legally as real gold in some countries.

Having understanding the different gold purities, should one buy a 18k gold ring or 24k gold bracelet? The answer is it depends. If one intends to wear the 'si dian jian' once and keep them in a safe box after the wedding, it is recommended to buy 24k gold for appreciation potential. If one intends to wear them frequently, it is recommended to buy 18k  gold for its resistance to scratches and suitability to be made into a wider range of designs.

Better still, one may consider ORO22 gold jewellery from the Poh Heng Jewellery. It is made of 22k gold, which has a higher percentage of gold than 18k jewellery. And the designs modern and contemporary, designed for the women in the corporate world.

ORO22 Bracelet

ORO22 Earrings

ORO22 Ring