Dilon Rader Mrs. Timberlake English 4 Comp 25 March 2017 Senior Project Essay RD Gemology Many things change over time, including the way jewelry is made.The methods used, technology advancements, and the tools all affect how jewelry is made today. There are a vast amount of methods for making jewelry. According to the lushae of jewelry in article “the history of jewelry” materials and techniques used to manufacture jewelry have in many ways evolved; there are also a number of similarities with the very first forms of jewelry worn some 90,000 years ago. (para. 1). The methods for making jewelry include choosing the right material such as gold, silver, or any other precious metals. Once the gemologist has selected the metal that is going …show more content…
Technology is often used in the jewelry making businesses today by helping jewelers design and get precise measurements on jewelry pieces. According to the Gemological Institute of America foundation, in article “How Technology is Changing Jewelry Design, before these technological advances, designers began by sketching a piece of jewelry, and when it was finalized, they used pencil, pen, or watercolor paint to create a rendering of the design (para.4). The Gemological Institute of America foundation explains that Jewelers then used the drawing to either hand-fabricate the piece out of metal or carve it out of wax. The wax model was encased in plaster and placed in an oven (para.4). Once the wax was burned away, molten precious metal, like gold or platinum, was poured into the cavity left by the wax; then, after it cooled, the plaster was broken apart and the piece of jewelry was finished …show more content…
According to “40 amazing facts about jewelry” the oldest piece of Jewelry ever to be found was a hundred thousand year old necklace that was made with nassarius shells (para.1). It's mind boggling to think about an item that is one hundred thousand years old and what it meant to the owner, and to compare how sentimental it was. Another interesting fact according to 40 amazing facts about jewelry is that there are two different spellings for the word jewelry depending on where one lives, for example in America we spell it Jewelry while in other parts of the world they spell it Jewellery (para.1) which is really fascinating in a way. 40 amazing facts about jewelry also states that there are different levels of purity when it comes to talking about gold, It states that 24 karat gold is almost 100% pure gold, making it the most expensive, then there is 22 karat gold which is roughly around 21% gold, 18 karat gold is 75% gold mixed with 25% of other materials for example copper or silver, then there is 14k which is 60% pure, 12 karat at 50% pure, and to the lowest at 10 karat which results into the gold being 41% pure (para.2). Not only is gold a highly used material in making jewelry master pieces, but something that is almost always though of would have to be diamonds. According to the Gemological institute of America the 4Cs of Diamond Quality is the universal method for assessing