The basics — all of the items in our Silver ranges (Pendants, Rings, Bracelets and so on) are .925 sterling silver, handcrafted here in Bali. No exceptions.

Red Coral

One of more popular lines, a number of clients have worried that perhaps we’re using coral mined from the reef — not so; all of the coral we use is farmed or ‘cultured’ coral from shell farms in Madura (a coastal area on the island of Java).

Unprocessed coral, by the way, has a mat (or non-shiny) finish. The coral is finished and polished with wax  after it’s cut to shape for its setting.

Fresh Water Pearl

Our pearls are also cultured from pearl farms in Lombok an island nearby to Bali.

Pricing on pearl tends to depend on the quality, size, shape and color — a large, symetrical, natural color pearl is usually the most expensive.

We try for a good balance — cost-effective pearls for export quality pieces.

Mother of Pearl

Most of our Mother of Pearl pieces are predominantly white with touches of woody brown, dark brown (chocolate) and black.

As with the coral, the Mother of Pearl is a cultured item — grown in the same area (Madura).

Sometimes, we craft the silver to suit the natural shape of the Mother of Pearl — alternatively, we cut and shape it to fit the setting.

You’ll also find Mother of Pearl in our fashion accessories — necklaces.

Shell

Our other shell settings are also cultured or farmed in Maduras.

Shell pieces tend to be very popular — they have their own similar but unique patterns and strengths — excellent for settings across sets or ranges of sliver items (the ring on your right matches with a pendant and earrings — the pattern is natural, distinctive (known as Tiger Shell) but close enough to match with others

Abalone or Pawe Shell

This is the only type of shell we need to import — Pawe is cultured in New Zealand and imported to Bali.

Abalone shells always have holes — which we seal with colored wax — and have great texture — they’re never flat and never the same. Meaning, when you order a Pawe shell piece, we can almost guarantee the shell will not look exactly like the photo… better of course.

Turquoise

We typically use two different kinds of turquoise: stone and turquoise powder. They are fairly easy to tell apart.

The piece on the left is naturally shaped stone (rounded, 3-dimensional). It can be cut, polished and shaped but still retains the rounded character of a natural stone piece.

The turquoise powder (picture on the right), is flat and can be pressed into fitting any shape of pendant or setting.

Gemstones

We use many different of gemstone like Druze, Peridot, Black Onyx, Ametyst, Green Quartz, Zircon, Garnet, Blue Topaz etc.

The art of working with gemstones is simply to fit or marry them to the silver… each piece tends to reflect the value of the stone which like silver or gold, has an international market value.

That’s all for tonight but if you have any questions about any materials, shells or stones or any of our processes or methods, feel free to ask — we’re happy to answer your questions.

Athina

2006 was very busy year for us.

And we want to take a deep breath and say to all of our customers, have a happy, healthy and profitable new year.

On our side, we’ve spent the first couple of weeks of the new year putting together collections that we believe will knock your socks off.

Firstly, we’ve added some combination silver and stone to our collections.

As always, everything you’ll see is handmade here in Bali using only the best natural materials.

Take a look at:

Silver Bracelets Silver Broochs Silver Earrings

Silver Pendants Silver Rings

Also, away from precious metals, we hope you’ll enjoy our new Fashion Jewelry Collection

Bracelets Wood Necklaces

And, finally, a taste of things to come — here are a few images of our upcoming new line of Piercing Products and more Wood Necklaces — send us an email and we’ll make sure you get a letter when this category goes live.

 

Regards

Athina & Sean (Beads-Bali)

We’ve just uploaded about 50 new hand made, .925 sterling Silver Pendants — that’s silver with shell, mother of pearl, turquoise, gemstones.

We love these pieces — from the very simple to the magnificent, we’re sure you’ll also like them.

Go to: http://beads-bali.com/category.php?category=Silver%20Pendants

Enjoy,

Athina & Sean