'G' is for Gold
Anna's Adornments is a jewellery blog. What G-word is the first that comes to mind when you think of jewellery? You guessed it! Gold! I don't even need to open the dictionary to find this week's G-word.
Russian Orthodox gold icon depicting the Mother of God,
St Iver and St Alexis , Moscow, Russia, 19th century. Photo source.
Unfortunately, I don't have any items that are made of gold in my online shops right now. (I wish.)
Yellow gold nuggets
(Photo source: Only Gold)
Sometimes I dream about working with real gold; going to goldsmith's school and learning how to work with real gold and making jewellery out of real gold. It would be nice. So what am I going to do for this post?
Gold in goldpan, Alaska
(Photo source)
(Photo source)
Write an ode to gold? Not quite. More like a quick history of gold. (Well, actually I did write a poem about gold; but it is so bad that I simply cannot use it here.) This post will just have to be a little 'jewellery-education' post; Precious Metals 101:
Neckring from Mone, 400 A.D
Gold is the oldest metal, generally known to mankind, and has been found in many different places around the world. Gold has therefore always been valued by all peoples from earliest times to this day.
Gold has always been appreciated for its brilliance and permanance. It does not change, corrode or tarnish.
Iron and copper may have advanced progress and technology, but gold was there first. It is easy to mine and work with compared to other metals that are found in ore bodies that make smelting difficult. Gold is found in an almost pure form that was easy for ancient people with primitive metods, to make into ornaments and later coins.
The first money was gold. Coins, that were stamped into lumps of 63% gold and 27% silver were produced by Lydian merchants around 700 B.C. (Source: Gold Only. Read more about the history of gold here.)
If I cannot show any pieces of my own jewellery made with real gold, I can at least show a design with something that is gold-coloured and also a G-word: GLASS!
These gold-coloured silver-lined glass beads shine like gold. (Compare the gold wedding bands on my finger with the gold-coloured glass beads.)
And why not make some soft stretch bangels with an opposite pattern: gold with just a few black beads?
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