Handmade Beaded Gemstone Silver Leather Tribal Jewellery

It's that time of year again when Christmas is almost upon us and we wrack our brains for the ideal Christmas gifts for our friends and loved-ones.  More often than not, buying Christmas gifts is stressful rather than pleasurable.  There is the incessant pressure to find something perfect within a finite period of time. Not only that, there is - for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere - the chilly winter to contend with.  Who really wants to go into town when it's freezing and they've already got a cold?

The good news is that with Mochishop, you're pretty much guaranteed to find a suitable item of jewellery [jewelry] - whether your buying men's jewellery [men's jewelry] or women's jewellery [women's jewelry], for your friends or family - or yourself.  Best of all, as Mochishop is on-line, you can sit there in your comfy warm seating browsing all the jewellery [jewelry] and accessories in our store and just wait for them to arrive.  You can even pour yourself a warm mug of cocoa while you are browsing, sparing little thought for all those unfortunate people tiring themselves in town still unable to find that perfect present.

So what do we have?  Well, if your buying a gift for the special lady in your life, you can't go wrong with our gemstone heart jewellery [gemstone heart jewelry].  Our heart pendants are handcrafted into hearts using a variety of gemstones.  If she likes pink go for our rose quartz necklace; if she likes blue try our turquoise necklace; or if she likes black then we have an onyx necklace.

If you're buying for a lady with classic taste, then we have a simple, elegant 925 Sterling silver heart necklace from our silver jewellery [silver jewelry] range.

Buying for a guy?  For those outdoors, adventurous types of guys we have an excellent range of tribal jewellery [tribal jewelry], including our speciality leather bracelets, ox bone necklaces and silver rings.

Is he into curb chains?  Then we have curb chain necklaces and and bracelets in many different styles. You'll definitely find one that he likes.

If you just want something seasonal to wear on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day, then check out our customised red and green magnetic bracelet, snowflake necklace or the tree of gems pendant.

We hope we've given you plenty of ideas in part one of our Christmas Guide To Jewellery.  In part two we'll be giving suggestions about which Mochishop jewellery you can combine into gift sets.  That's right, you can just let us do the matching for you...

How do we buy jewelry (jewellery)? Are there any rules for buying jewelry (jewellery)? How do we know which jewelry (jewellery) will look good on us? In septemeber Mochishop style blog brought you the original fashion guide of wearing jewelry (jewellery). Follow the rules,  you will learn how to choose the right necklaces, bracelets (bangles) and earrings that suit your body shape.

In our last article we revealed that, to wear necklaces properly, we need a necklace was serves to keep the neck and chest proportional.  Luckily, when choosing the right bracelets or bangles, we only need to take one factor into consideration: Wrist size.

Part 2 - How to Wear Bracelets and Bangles

Quite simply, big-boned women with larger wrists can wear larger bracelets and bangles whereas small-boned women can wear smaller bracelets and bangles.

This is because wearing a wrong-sized bracelet or bangle creates an optical illusion so as to exaggerate either the bigness or smallness of the wrist.  Conversely, a good sized bracelet or bangle keeps the wrist looking proportional and focus attention entirely on the style of the wristwear and the complimentary effect it has on ourselves and our outfit.

Which of your two wrists should you wear your bracelets?  Either. It doesn't matter so long as you are not wearing a watch as well.  If you are wearing a watch, wear your bracelet on the alternative wrist.

You can wear multiple bangles, though not multiple metals.  Silver or gold, never both.  When wearing multiple bangles, your arm jewelry (jewellery) becomes not only a visual piece but an auditory piece to.  What we mean by this is that bangles should have a 'music'. When multiple bangles jangle together they should produce a beautiful percussive sound.

And one more thing... don't wear bracelets or bangles over sleeves.  They are much better suited to sleeveless garments.  As always, jewelry (jewellery) is always most flattering when it is upon the skin.

We hope you find this information useful when choosing your Mochishop bracelets and bangles. There should be something within our shop which suits your body type. If you feel you require a bracelet to be custom made for you, then please drop us an email with your ideas.

Remember to check back to Mochishop's Style Blog regularly. In part three we'll be advising you how to wear your earrings.

Mochishop has released a new range of retro geometric jewellery [jewelry].  Geometric jewellery [jewellery] has its roots in geometric abstractionism, an artistic extension of cubism which comes under the avant-garde umbrella.  Within this artistic discipline, there was an exploration of simple geometric forms and color, often dispensing with representations of the real world.  A well-known artist of this era was, Piet Mondrian, viewed the world as being composed of simple lines, shapes and colour and made his art according to this view.

In the world of style and fashion, the art of geometry found a popular outlet in the art deco period of the 1920s and '30s.  Everything from jewellery [jewelry] to household objects incorporated the ideals of art deco - elegant, simple, modern.

At Mochishop, we have created our range of geometric jewellery [jewelry] inspired by the simplicity of shape and color.  Our geometric range is made from cubes, spheres and uniform block colours.

As the art deco period followed The Great War, the post-war economic struggle meant that jewellery [jewelry] was no longer valued in terms of expense.  Gemstones were often excluded from post-war, art deco jewellery [jewelry].  As the emphasis moved away from luxury, it began to focus on purely the appearance of the jewellery [jewelry].

This is another element we have incorporated into our Geometric jewellery [jewelry]: affordability.  With our latest range we have perfectly captured the essence of geometric, art deco jewellery [jewelry] and present you with our simple, stylish, modern and affordable geometric bracelets.  This is your opportunity to buy jewelry (jewellery) made in the spirit of 1920s and '30s - the glamorous decades.

Generally when looking for new clothes we have a good idea of how to buy clothes that will suit us: The two most important guidelines are (i) does it have good fit and (ii) does the color match my skin tone? When we applying these guidelines to clothes shopping we can be confident that we will walk out of a shop with a suitable item of clothing.

But how do we buy jewelry (jewellery)? Are there any rules for buying jewelry (jewellery)? How do we know which jewelry (jewellery) will look good on us?

Part 1 - How to Wear Necklaces

The two factors which influence your choice of necklace are neck and breasts. As with clothing, we need to ask ourselves does it fit? Is the necklace in proportion with our necks and chests? This is far more important that just choosing an item of jewelry (jewellery) that is fashionable. In fact, Mochishop would prefer to buck the trend and advise you never to buy any item of jewelry (jewellery) solely because of its current en vogue status. Fashion for fashion's sake can have hideous or laughable results.

Loosely speaking, if your neck is long then you can wear chokers or long, draping necklaces. If you have a shorter neck then you need a necklace which is roughly midway between choker and long, draping necklace. A chocker on a short neck will draw attention to the shortness of the neck, whereas a choker on a swan-like neck will draw attention to your asset.

The Lenox globe is one of the oldest representations of the planet, dating back to the 16th Century. A cartographical quirk of the globe was to mark unknown territory with HC SVNT DRACONES. Translated from the Latin: Here Be Dragon.

Such is the enigma of the mythical dragon that it is a fitting representative of unknown, mysterious territories. This is true for a majority of cultures, from Western to Jewish to Asian, of whom this powerful, urgent beast is a part of their literatures and folklores.

In recognition of the universal appeal of the dragon, we at Mochishop have chosen this favoured mythical creature as the ambassador of our jewelry (jewellery), devoting an entire range to Mochishop dragon jewelry (jewellery).

We have focused, in particular, on the Oriental dragon and its depiction. This is because, in Chinese legend, the dragon is a benevolent creature and has become connoted with protective qualities as well as powerful ones.  That is, the Oriental dragon acts as a guardian to protect the ones you love.

From materials as diverse as jade and leather and silver, we have fashioned the image of the dragon into our jewelry (jewellery). Our silver bracelets feature fantastic, ornate dragon panoramas, our leather wristbands bear prints and emblems of the dragon and our jade necklaces are engraved with dragons.

Our dragon jewelry (dragon jewellery) displays the irresistible force of the dragon.  For jewelry (jewellery) that evokes the mysterious power of the dragon, click here to view and buy Mochishop's dragon jewelery range.

Turquoise is derived from the word Turkish – Turquoise was frequently traded in the bazaars in Turkey in the 16th Century, although it is a misconception that there was wealth of turquoise in Turkey itself.

This opaque gemstone is composed of copper and iron, and ranges in color from moss-green to duck-egg blue depending on the relative quantities of copper and iron. The bluer the turquoise the greater the ratio of copper to iron; the greener the turquoise the greater the ratio of iron to copper.

Turquoise has played a big part in the culture and costumes of many great civilizations, both New and Old World, some extant some extinct: The Aztecs, Ancient Egyptians, Tibetans, and Native Americans, to name a few.

Clearly there is something universally enchanting about turquoise that has made it consistently desirable across time and space.  There is an unearthly quality about turquoise that leads Tibetans to believe turquoise is not a stone but rather a piece of the heavens.

In AD 900, in the Maya city of Chichen Itza, the Mayans used turquoise for mosaics.  A fellow New World civilization, the Aztecs, used turquoise for religious objects such as the Mask of Tezcatlipoca, an important deity of the Aztec pantheon.

In Ad-Saharan Africa, the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor was alternatively know as The Lady of Turquoise and The Mistress of Turquoise.

The otherworldly appeal of turquoise is undeniable; perhaps for its strange, enchanting paradox of being both blue and green.  And neither.  You could stare at a piece of turquoise and wait eternally for either of its composite colors to dominate or come into focus.  They never will.

In modern times, turquoise is possibly a symbol of the natural world, a reminder of a more pastoral existence, when the glittering seas and wide, achingly beautiful skies were more pertinent to our philosophies than to now, when our attentions are compelled towards the quotidian greyness of our industrial and post-industrial worlds.

Some of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry [jewellery] are made from combinations of turquoise with red coral. Not only is this a visually-pleasing marriage of gemstones, but it is also conceptually intriguing: The coolness of blue turquoise offsets the fieriness of the red coral. Likewise, turquoise is often associated with the sky and coral with the sea.

From the spiritual properties of turquoise, we turn to its scientific properties: On the Mohs scale the hardness of turquoise falls somewhere between five and six.  This makes it just harder than window glass and softer than amethyst or diamond.  For this reason, turquoise should be prevented from clashing against harder stones such as the aforesaid amethyst or diamond.

Turquoise is a companion. Those who acquire an item of turquoise jewelry [turquoise jewellery] will keep it for many years, for turquoise – full of idiosyncratic characteristics – becomes part of its owner’s identity, an extension of their own uniqueness.

Turquoise, indeed, will last a lifetime, and maintain its enchanting colour, when given a little care. You may find jewelry care (jewellery care) information elsewhere that advises the use of water to clean turquoise – we disagree. Turquoise is porous so care should be taken to avoid your turquoise coming into contact with liquids such as water and especially soaps and oils. Allowing your turquoise to absorb liquids or oils may cause discolouration.

If your turquoise becomes tarnished, a soft, dry cloth – preferably a silver cloth – will be sufficient for cleaning. When you are not wearing your turquoise jewelry [turquoise jewellery], store it in a box or soft pouch and keep it in a cool place, away from sunlight wherever possible.