Crystal Hard
Crystal Fashion Jewelry – How does quality compare
While there are natural crystals like rock crystal or quartz, most crystals for jewelry are man-made. In simple terms, crystals are made similarly to glass, thus its core pre-manufactured product is sand.
The end result is quite different however; once a crystal is complete, a good quality crystal will by highly brilliant, pure, and of enormous beauty, dazzling with style, elegance, fashion and with the ability to reflect light infinitely.
The quality of crystals depends on the purity and attributes of the manufacturing process, and how it is cut. The purest crystals are totally free of any flaws, without any scratches bubbles or any kind of dullness. It is vital that the best crystals have absolute purity and a very high degree of brilliance.
Obviously it is a complex process of creating beautiful crystals; Swarovski is definitely the world leader when it comes to the production of fine crystals. Another major crystal manufacturer is Preciosa, located in the Czech Republic; known for its quality and precision. Czech crystals, like Swarovski crystals, are also common in jewelry, often used in tableware and lighting as well. Murano glass is manufactured in the Venice region of Italy and is sometimes referred to as crystal jewelry, but more often it is identified simply as Murano glass or Venetian glass, keeping its own niche in the glass market. While there are other countries that manufacture crystals for jewelry, the other notable crystal manufacturing giant is obviously China, especially for fashion jewelry. China has been able to produce crystals for quite some time now and has become a major player in the crystal jewelry field.
When it comes to quality, nobody can beat Swarovski. Precision cut crystals by Swarovski formerly known as STRASS and now referred to as Swarovski Elements are the world renowned, known as the finest crystals in the world. Each crystal over a certain size even carries an authentication logo within the crystal; an easy way to determine that the crystal was manufactured by Swarovski.
In the Czech Republic and throughout Bohemia you will find manufactures that produce excellent crystals as well. Preciosa, another world leading producer of cut crystals specializes much in fashion jewelry and utilizes similar methods of manufacturing crystals through machine cut chatons, beads and other fashion jewelry crystals.
As far as quality is concerned, the best quality is derived from razor sharp machine cutting. While one will find this technology in China as well, more often than not, hand cut crystals with lower purity are utilized in China. Europe is very advanced in the technology of machinery, and coupled with the experience for over 100 years in crystal making, it is hard to compete with the Europeans in crystals.
About the Author
Naroka is a well known jewelry portal with expretise in the fashion jewelry arena.
Amzer® TPU Hybrid Case for HTC DROID Incredible!