Here are some helpful tips to get you started:

Get Noticed Splurge and amaze yourself something really fabulous.  For instance, a custom piece of handcrafted jewelry designed by an artiste will really make you stand out.  You will be shocked at how frequently you will be complimented and how it will really set you apart from the crowd.  Picking out a particular design will also flatter your personality.  Distinctive designs enhance certain personalities.  Brightly colored designs usually evoke a fun, extroverted, affectionate personality; Contemporary designed jewelry usually evokes an artsy personality; Ethnic jewelry usually evokes a bohemian or free spirit personality.

Pull Together Colors Color synchronize your jewelry to your outfit whenever possible by purchasing matching sets of jewelry in an array of colors.  Having matching sets guarantees you will always have coordinated well put together outfit.  A harmonized outfit expresses a well prepared, thorough, and professional person with great taste and a knack for fashion.  Having a blend of nicely synchronized colors does not mean that your jewelry has to be the same color as your outfit, but it does have to be part of a synchronized set of colors that blend nicely together. Never thought jewelry was that important?  Statement jewelry is a part of you that directs your internal style, your feelings, actions, longings, place in life, vocation and status.  It makes you feel great about yourself when you marvel at it in the mirror.  Every time you look at your jewelry, it gives you exhilaration inside when you hark back to where you acquired it or why you have it.  Custom handcrafted jewelry makes a positive statement about you every time you wear it, and each time you accept or collect something new, it is a tribute of that moment in your life.

Post from: Handcrafted Gold Jewelry by John S. Brana Blog

Save Up to 35% on New Handcrafted Designer Jewelry

©2010 Handcrafted Gold Jewelry. All Rights Reserved.

• Measures approximately 8 inches in length
• Secures with a Vermeil Toggle Closure
• Gift Boxed.
• What is Gold Vermeil?

Price:$345.00

Post from: Handcrafted Gold Jewelry by John S. Brana Blog

Save Up to 35% on New Handcrafted Designer Jewelry

©2010 Handcrafted Gold Jewelry. All Rights Reserved.

San Francisco jewelry designer John S. Brana talks about his handmade beaded gemstone collection backstage at "Bella Bikini Fashion Show" by Charleston Pierce at Temple nightclub. Dynamic shapes and countless layers of richly textured semi-precious gemstones define this show stopping statement jewelry collection which also features gold vermeil, 14K gold, 18Kgold, and fine and sterling silver. For those who love a statement piece, the Barbary Coast collection is perfect for those who choose to build an ensemble around their jewelry.

Click here to view the Barbary Coast Collection

Post from: Handcrafted Gold Jewelry by John S. Brana Blog

Save Up to 35% on New Handcrafted Designer Jewelry

©2010 Handcrafted Gold Jewelry. All Rights Reserved.

Throughout human history, gold has been the most prized of metals.  Golds brightness and color are highly attractive, gold is extremely malleable, and it’s usually found in nature in a relatively pure form.  All of these qualities and properties have made gold exceptionally valuable.  Gold is also remarkably inert (not chemically active) and gold neither bonds nor reacts with most chemicals, so it naturally resists tarnishing. 

Since the civilizations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, people have been using gold.  In ancient times, gold was almost exclusively recovered from river and stream beds and placer deposits (open-pit mining), where particles of gold weathered from its original rock.  Gold is rarely found in well formed crystals, but more commonly gold occurs as dendritic growths and as grains and scaly masses.  Virtually all igneous rocks contain gold in low concentrations, where it occurs mostly as invisible, disseminated grains.  Within the Earth’s crust, Gold’s abundance is estimated at roughly 0.005 parts per million. 

One unusually rich concentration of gold minerals was discovered at the famous Colorado gold-rush town of Cripple Creek in 1891 by a cowboy and part-time prospector, which later transformed the sleepy ranching community into one of the world’s richest gold camps.  Three mines still operate today:  Mollie Kathleen, the Cripple Creek Mine, and the Victor Gold Mine. 

Large masses of rock rich enough to mine only for the gold are rare.  Usually, Gold is mined typically in two ways:  hydrothermal veins, where gold is associated with quartz and pyrite (commonly referred to as Fool’s Gold); and placer (open-pit mining) deposits.  Smaller quantities of gold often occur in copper and lead deposits, where gold is recovered as a byproduct  in the refining of the primary extraction metal.

The pricipal ancient sources of gold were southern Sudan and egypte.  Major sources in Europe during the Middle Ages were the mines of Saxony and Austria.  The largets single gold-ore body known to the modern world is located in South Africa’s Witwatersrand.  Thalf of the Earth’s known gold reserves are in South Africa, with other large deposits in Russia, Brazil, Canada, Australian, and the U.S.

Post from: Handcrafted Gold Jewelry by John S. Brana Blog

Save Up to 35% on New Handcrafted Designer Jewelry

©2010 Handcrafted Gold Jewelry. All Rights Reserved.

After seeing the fashion and jewelry industries suffer this holiday season, I decided I would make it easier for customers seeking more affordable handcrafted gold jewelry, so I decided to launch Handcrafted Gold Jewelry.  This site focuses solely on 14K Gold-filled jewelry and 22K Gold Vermeil Granulated Jewelry.   14K Gold-filled jewelry provides the same "look" at a fraction of solid karat gold prices, and typically has a 35 year wear life.   All featured Vermeil is heavy-plated with at least 5 microns of 22K gold that provides a maximum wear live of up to 5 years of continuous wear.

If you are interested in heirloom quality jewelry in solid karat 14K or 18K Yellow Gold, you can find my couture jewelry at Handcrafted Fine Jewelry by John S. Brana.

Stay tuned for upcoming collections and new jewelry introductions!

Post from: Handcrafted Gold Jewelry by John S. Brana Blog

Save Up to 35% on New Handcrafted Designer Jewelry

©2010 Handcrafted Gold Jewelry. All Rights Reserved.