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Handmade Jewelry

The oldest jewelry in the world is handmade jewelry, and it is still practiced and popular today. One of the easiest pieces of jewelry to make is a necklace. The earliest necklaces were made from bone, teeth, shells or other natural items, and threaded together with sinew from animals. Putting bones or teeth through earlobes of the labret were some other early pieces of jewelry, and were often smoothed or carved by hand.

Handmade jewelry by definition is anything that has been assembled or formed by hand rather than through the use of machines. This does not mean that machines are not used, but they must be guided by hand. A bead that is carved with the aid of a lathe is still considered handmade. Using a drill to make a hole for a bead is still an acceptable tool for handmade beads. As long as the process is guided by hand, a product can be considered to be handmade. Machined jewelry is created using CNC machining, casting molds and punch presses on automated systems.

Even though there is plenty of affordable and beautiful machined jewelry, handmade jewelry will always be created. This is because of the desire people have to own completely unique jewelry crafted by a skilled artisan. Part of the appeal of jewelry is its uniqueness and difficulty in reproducing which will allow handmade adornments to survive well into the future, and ensure that those artisans will have plenty of work to do as well.

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