subject: Good Guide To Costume Jewelry [print this page] Costume jewelry is often created with non-precious metals, usually gold or silver plated, & with or without beads & stones. wholesale costume jewelry has been popular around the world for thousands of years. The Ancient Egyptians are known to have worn decorative beaded necklaces & Cleopatra is probably two of the original wearers of what they now call costume jewelry. In more recent times the people of the Germanic & Slovak regions became highly skilled at developing intricate patterns in glass beads. However, beadwork used in costume jewelry is not only limited to glass.
A sizable variety of materials are traditionally used to make beads such as jet, wood, amber, gemstones, pottery, ceramic, metals, horn, coral, ivory, tortoiseshell & pearls. Some modern materials such as plastics, nylon & even polycarbonate variants are also used to make beads. Costume jewelry can be antique, period, or contemporary & there's plenty of collectors of every style of costume jewelry. Venetian glass pieces of costume jewelry are collectable as well as being popular for people to wear.
Cleaning costume jewelry is simple but needs to be done on a regular basis to prevent tarnishing. Basically use a mild detergent mixed in water to keep your costume jewelry in nice condition. It is important not to soak the jewelry & to make sure that you dry it thoroughly before storing it. You can buy anti-tarnish paper for wrapping your costume jewelry in before you put it away for long periods of time but regular cleaning is the best defense against tarnishing. The tarnishing of costume jewelry is typically caused by the metal reacting with the atmosphere & oxidizing.
Unfortunately, there's a sizable number of people who are unable to wear costume jewelry next to their skin. This is because of their sensitivity to the metals used. It is important to make sure that somebody that you are buying the jewelry from wholesale jewelry for is not allergic to nickel or copper, with pierced earrings. Costume jewelry may look stunning &, in the case of contemporary pieces, be reasonably priced but it is not suitable for everyone to wear. For plenty of people a piece of costume jewelry may be the first fashion jewelry that they have worn & it is important to look out for signs of a reaction, after extended periods of wear. Often people won't show a reaction if they wear the fashion jewelry for a short amount of time & this can be an ideal way to keep away from any possible discomfort. You can also buy a special coating that you apply to the back of the costume jewelry to protect the skin from having direct contact with the metal.
