Jewelry Making Jargon

Glossaries, Jewelry Making No Comments
Texture: refers to the physical surface qualities of the plant or flowers in an arrangement. Smooth, glossy, rough, soft. It can also refer to the size of leaves, twigs, or branches in an arrangement.
Wreath: flowers, twigs, grasses, and/or vines intertwined in a circular or continuous shape.
Alloy: metal made up of a mixture of two or more different metals. Common examples of alloys include bronze (a mixture of copper and tin), brass (copper and zinc), and pewter (tin with antimony, copper and sometimes lead
Annealed: softened by heat
Bail: metal triangle used to attach a bead or a pendant to a necklace
Baroque: irregular, rounded stone, glass or bead
Base Metal: non-precious metals used as a core for plating and gold-filled items; brass and nickel are common base metals in jewelry
Bead Loom: wood or plastic frame used to stretch warp threads for bead weaving
Bead Tip: jewelry finding used for attaching thread to a clasp. A knot sits inside a small concave shape attached to a bent metal loop
Beeswax: used to strengthen and smooth beading thread
Bell Cap: jewelry finding used to convert a bead or stone with no hole into a pendant using glue
Bib: necklace that fits close to the base of the neck and extends over the chest in the shape of child’s bib
Burr: roughness left by a tool in cutting wire or metal
Cabochon: a round or oval stone, cut and polished with one flat side (the back) and one smooth domed side (the front or face); afaceted cabochon is cut with faceted surfaces around the edge of the stone
Catches: used for necklaces and bracelets to attach or clasp one end to the other end
Choker: short necklace, usually 15 inches long, fitting snugly at the base of the neck
Coil: flat spiral of wire or metal
Crimp Bead: small, soft metal beads that are squeezed shut to secure loops of threading material fasteners onto clasps
Dog collar: wide choker, worn tightly around the neck
Drop: attachment to jewelry that allows bead or metal to dangle away from the main line of the jewelry piece
Eyepin: wire finding with a loop at one end. used for linking beads or beaded links together
Facet: flat, polished surface cut into a stone or bead
Findings: as in jewelry findings, head pins, eye pins, fastenings, brooch and earring fittings, and more
Gauge: measure of dimension
Gold: yellow colored, soft, shiny metal commonly used in jewelry. The purity of gold is measured in “karats.” 24 karat (or 24k) denotes pure or fine gold; 12k is 50% gold; 14k is about 58% gold. Gold that is less than 24k is actually an alloy
Gold-filled: thin layer of gold bonded to a base metal core. In gold-filled products, the gold layer must be at least 1/20th (5%) of the overall product, by weight
Gold-plated: very thin layer of gold bonded to a base metal core
Hat Pin: very straight, often long eye pin with a sharp end, which usually has a back or cover. Originally used to help the ladies keep on their hats, modern use is ornamental rather than functional. Most of pin is exposed to the eye
Head Pin: also known as eye pins; long wires with a flattened end, used for basic component in many bead style earrings or for attaching beads to any type of jewelry piece
Hoop: circular earrings
Jump Rings: small metal rings used to attach necklace fastenings and to join metal lines
Knot: knots are formed to each side of bead to separate, space, or secure
Lampwork: technique for making glass beads by hand. A glass rod or cane is held into a flame or “lamp” and wound around a mandrel. The bead is shaped or smoothed by rotating the mandrel through the flame
Lapel Pin: also known as a bar pin; eye pin is bent to form clasp, is threaded, and then bent again to hold beads in place and form a pin back; back of pin not exposed to the eye
Lapidary: cutting, shaping, polishing and creating jewelry from precious and semi-precious stones
Lavaliere: necklace with a drop of a single stone suspended from a chain
Loaf: block of clay with a pattern throughout; usually a square shape
Log: roll of clay that is thicker than a cane
Matinee: necklace 24 to 26 inches long; in Europe, 30 to 35 inches
Opera: necklace 28 to 30 inches long; in Europe, 48 to 90 inches, can extend to 120 inches
Opacity: quality of not allowing light to pass through (the quality of being opaque)
Opaque: not allowing light to pass through; solid
Paste: jewelry made of glass imitating faceted gemstones
Pendant: main bead or other “show” piece that is dropped from a necklace
Princess: necklace 20 to 21 inches long
Rope: string of beads, pearls, stones used to form a bracelet or necklace
Sautoir: long necklace popular in the 1920s; usually made of chains, beads, or pearls and ending in a tassel or fringe
Silver: white colored, soft, shiny metal, commonly used in jewelry. Like gold, silver is available in different levels of purity: the purest form, Fine silver, is 99.9% silver; Sterling silver is 92.5% silver, with other metals (usually copper) making up the remaining 7.5%; Coin silver is 90% silver with 10% copper. Nickel silver is an alloy of copper (65%), nickel and zinc - no silver at all
Silver-plated: a very thin layer of silver bonded to a base metal core
Split Ring: small base metal finding resembling a key-ring
Stud: as in earring, simple earring with no drops
Torsade: combination of several strands of pearls, chains, or beads twisted together into a single necklace
Translucent: allowing some light to pass through; objects seen through translucent material are diffused or indistinct
Transparent: easily seen through; allowing light to pass through without obscuring the ability to see objects on the other side

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