Costume jewelry is often created with non-precious metals,
usually gold or silver plated, and with or without beads and
stones. Costume jewelry has been extremely popular around the
world for thousands of years. The Ancient Egyptians are known
to have worn decorative beaded necklaces and Cleopatra is
probably one of the original wearers of what we now call
costume jewelry. In more recent times the people of the
Germanic and 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 large variety of materials are traditionally used to make
beads such as jet, wood, amber, gemstones, pottery, ceramic,
metals, horn, coral, ivory, tortoiseshell and pearls. Some
modern materials such as plastics, nylon and even polycarbonate
variants are also used to make beads. Costume jewelry can be
antique, period, or contemporary and there are many collectors
of every style of costume jewelry. Venetian glass pieces of
costume jewelry are particularly collectable as well as being
extremely popular for people to wear.

Cleaning costume jewelry is extremely simple but needs to be
done on a regular basis to prevent tarnishing. Simply use a
mild detergent mixed in water to keep your costume jewelry in
good condition. It is important not to soak the jewelry and 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 and oxidizing.

Unfortunately, there are a large 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 anyone that you are buying the
jewelry for is not allergic to nickel or copper, especially
with pierced earrings. Costume jewelry may look beautiful and,
especially in the case of contemporary pieces, be reasonably
priced but it is not suitable for everyone to wear. For many
people a piece of costume jewelry may be the first jewelry that
they have worn and it is important to look out for signs of a
reaction, especially after extended periods of wear. Often
people will not show a reaction if they wear the jewelry for a
short amount of time and this can be an ideal way to avoid 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.


About The Author: Alice is a jewelry designer with 18 years
experience. You can read much more from her on her blog at
http://www.jewelrybloghome.com.