Zimagal Monthly Magazine - Volume One, Issue Ten

A (Very) Brief History of Jewelry
Jewelry is one of the oldest forms of decorative art. Gold attracted craftsmen in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia some 5000 years ago as much as it does the designers and jewelers of today. It was and is the answer to man's need for self-adornment.

There are splendid examples of gold jewelry from the Royal Tombs of Ur (in present-day Iraq) dating back to 2500 BC - hair ornaments, complicated gold chains and necklaces, finger rings inlaid with lapis lazuli. The art of the Sumerian jeweler spread over Western Asia to Turkey, Greece, and different parts of the Eastern Mediterranean region.

By about 2000 BC, the craft of metalworking had been introduced to Northern Europe, where Celts created bronze jewelry with coral inlay and red enamel ornamentation. The technique of enamelling evolved and by the 6th century AD, cloisonné jewelry had reached new artistic heights in the workshops of the Byzantine courts.

As time went on, metalsmithing became an artform. Precious metals were finely wrought into glorious jewelry by means of casting and fabrication, with such techniques as granulation, repoussé, and filigree used to decorate it. Gemstones were first carved and later faceted and set into metal jewelry to add color and dazzle. Some also were believed to have talismanic properties.

Jewelry is one of the details of life that has been a constant from century to century, from generation to generation, from culture to culture. Even after 7000 years, we as humans still feel the need to decorate ourselves. Today, we carry on the tradition of jewelry-making for personal adornment. We do not use only precious metal and gems, but also beads, base metals, and found objects, just as our ancestors did. Jewelry is still used as ornament for the body, and except for the ease of mass-production available to jewelry manufacturers today, not much about the craft has changed. Today's jewelry makers still implement age old techniques of inlay, granulation, lost wax casting; gemstones and imitation gemstones are still used.

Jewelry is a luxury to some, a necessity to others. Whatever the case, it is one thing that will exist as long as we humans do.

Minx Jewelry Designs
Time to blow my own horn :) I have been designing jewelry for a number of years. I have always gotten great pleasure from handling fine jewelry and loose gemstones, and was lucky enough to do a lot of that in the years in which I worked in the jewelry industry. I took the opportunity to collect interesting gems and then design jewelry around them, utilizing the incredible talents of our goldsmiths to create the finished pieces. I also do my own hands-on creating with beads and found objects.

My work can be found at Minx Jewelry Designs.

Some Minx sketches.

Jewelry Links
Gemological Institute of America The place to learn about gems and gemology.
History of Jewelry Links Various links with some historical jewels.
Lapidary Journal My favorite trade magazine about stones and stonecutting.
Gem Book Publishers Publishers of the Fred Ward Gem Series.
Jewelry @ The Mining Company Lots of links to jewelry-making sites.
Lane Lapidary My favorite opal supplier.
National Jeweler Online Weekly trade newspaper online.
Rio Grande Jewelry making supplies - findings, tools, etc.