There are certain things in life that are better bigger.  Houses.  Diamonds. And salaries, to name but three.

And right now, fashion dictates that jewellery also falls into this category.

Ever mindful of what’s en vogue, MAJ brings you bold bangles, ravishing rings and rhinestone necklaces, drop-dead dazzling earrings and  big, bold, beautiful brooches that take you right back to the Court of Queen Elizabeth I where the ladies of the day were decidedly  “living it large” jewellery-wise before the phrase was even invented!

Sadly, our big beauties don’t contain diamonds, rubies, sapphires and the like but hey, look on the bright side, you can wear them with jackets, jeans, crops and tops.  You don’t have to squeeze into a crinoline!

It’s that time of year again when, as buyer, I’m looking for stocking fillers and novelty products.  It’s not normally a problem because I usually restrict myself to jewellery items.  But this year, I’ve stepped outside the box and it’s caused shock and dissension in the ranks.  The purists feel I should stick to what we do best – jewellery.  But I’ve taken a bit of a shine to some rather cute money boxes, mugs and oil burners – incense not paraffin, I hasten to add!  So I’m out on the proverbial limb!

Having examined my motives for going against the grain, I think my attraction to the money boxes was down to the fact that throughout the year, there’s been a relentless barrage of talk about recession. Since the banks and bankers are largely to blame for the crisis and since Gordon’s adamant that we all need to be doing a little more saving and a lot less spending next year, the idea of giving a gift that encouraged both, seemed a no-brainer!

So for richer or poorer, the website now has a Novelty section with three Love Pigs, three Cash Cows, Lady Marmalade and Spot the Dog money boxes.

It also has four fab VW Camper Van Mugs and a Psychedelic Flower Power version.  There was no deep or meaningful reason behind this choice, I just loved them and thought the public would, too!

As for the Angel Oil Burners, of which there are three designs, each with three angels standing around a T-light, supporting the glass dish containing the oil, I just couldn’t stop thinking that “Hark The Herald Angels Sing”, rhymed rather well with, “Love the perfume on this Ring”.   Probably too sacrilegious for public consumption, but hey, it made the purists smile and they OK’d the novelty budget!

If, like me, you’re truly, madly, deeply mad about jewellery you’ll adore www.madaboutjewellery.com because it really is all things to all people.

We focus on fashion First and foremost, we’re a high fashion website and to this end, we never take our eye off the runways, fashion mags, films and TV.  Adept at recognising trends we can source, photograph, name and write about products and ranges and get them on the website overnight, if necessary.  A facility that’s proved invaluable after events such as the Oscars, Fashion Shows, film premieres and when a celebrity wears something that sparks a new trend!

We cultivate the classics As well as the fashion side, we’re aware that there are times and people who are looking for the more conventional types of jewellery. A simple string of pearls.  A Jet crystal rope.  A classic silver bracelet or cross.  Plain pearl studs – clips even.  In short, the type of jewellery that’s disappeared from the High Street, as more and more high fashion chains dominate the scene.

We’re wild about weddings Staying on the more traditional theme, we also boast a more than adequate wedding jewellery section, complete with everything from the more conventional crystal and pearl necklaces, bracelets and tiaras to radical diamante items like the Sideshows – side hair decorations similar to that worn by Cheryl Cole on the X-Factor.

We’re barmy about brooches We’re definitely numero uno when it comes to brooches.  Indeed the Brooches section is packed the diamante flowers, bows, trailing ribbons, as well as Swarovski Crystal masterpieces inspired by the Duchess of Windsor’s Art Deco Collection.  We’ve even got a large Swarovski Crystal Sash Pin, based on the 1940’s Hollywood pieces and named accordingly – High Society.

We max out on men’s jewellery Although our database is predominantly women, we’re also attracting significant numbers of men, who appreciate the keen prices and quality products in our Designer and Urban Steel ranges.  And, of course, we should mention that most popular of men’s products this year – the earstud.

Our children’s section is charming We also have a delightful section for little girls who just wanna be big girls!

Love her or hate her, you’ve got to admit there was something rather magnificent about Cheryl Cole’s appearance on last Saturday’s X-Factor. Classically dressed in a simple, white, one-shoulder gown, the style was pure Greek Goddess. In keeping with this theme, her hairdresser had chosen to crown the gown with a hairstyle normally reserved for balls, weddings and red carpet dos. To this effect, all but one tendril of the nomally-flowing locks had been teased into a lavish Hollywood epic hairstyle and embellished on just one side by a glittering band of dazzling diamante. I just had to get that look!

We already had traditional tiaras, whole sections of combs and slides, but nothing resembling “a bit on the side”! Time to source a few products, set up a brand new section. Seize the moment, so to speak.
I wasn’t the only one to spot a potential trend. By mid-morning on Monday, several mags and countless customers had called in to see if we had anything similar, at a price to suit the ordinary Geordie in the street and not just their celebrity songbird.. Working against the clock (and postal workers!) we managed to create a range of products – which we’ve called “Sideshows” – phototograph them, write about them and send out a missive to the database.

Of course, whether they catch on – or not – is in the lap of the Gods! The Greek Gods! Yassus Zeus!

Like most people you probably don’t give a second thought to Halloween? You probably think it’s just for kids.  Big in America.  Of little consequence here.  But there’s some serious background to this ancient Festival.  Once you’re clued up as to why it’s cool to be a ghoul, you can forget your age and act your shoe size, as you dress up as witch, devil, angel or demon, carve a candlelit head from a bright orange pumpkin and fill every kid that comes to your door with treats galore!

CELTIC CULTURE

Halloween dates back 2,000 years to the ancient Celtic Festival of Samhain, which marked the end of Summer, the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter.  The Celts believed that on this one night, for a few hours before their new year began on November 1st, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth, wreaking mayhem and damaging crops.  The presence of these other-worldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to prophesy the future. During the long, dark winter months that followed, such prophesies were an important source of comfort and direction.
To commemorate Samhain, the Celts dressed up in costumes made of animal heads and skins and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes and the Druids built huge sacred bonfires where the people gathered to burn crops and offer animal sacrifices to their Celtic deities.  When the celebrations were over, the Celts re-lit their hearth fires, which they had dutifully extinguished earlier, from the sacred bonfire, igniting the flames that would protect them during the coming winter.

THE ROMANS GET IN ON THE ACT

By A.D. 43, the Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory and in the course of the 400 years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two Roman festivals were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honour Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Since the symbol of Pomona was the apple, this probably explains the Halloween tradition of “bobbing” for apples.

ALL SAINTS, SOULS AND HALLOWMAS

By the 800s,  Christianity had spread into the Celtic lands and in the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 to be All Saints’ Day, the day the Church would honour saints and martyrs. This celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day).  It was not long before the night of 31st October, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
Even later, in A.D. 1000, the Church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honour the dead. Like Samhain, this was celebrated  with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in saint, angel and devil costumes. Together, these three celebrations, the eve of All Saints, All Saints, and All Souls, were called Hallowmas.

As our blog name implies and to support our hard-working copywriter, over the next weeks and months I will be choosing a selection of blogs, mostly, but not exclusively, from the fashion world, and presenting them here for your interest.   Your comments on these would be welcome as you are our real barometer for what’s appealing and what is not.  Here are the first 7.  New discoveries will be added to the top of the list as we go.

The Cut – New York Magazine’s Fashion Blog.   I like the idea of keeping in touch with fashion life in New York.  It has a sense of vibrancy that no other city in the world has.  Brash and punchy, unfettered by inhibition there is a sense that anything can happen and nothing stands still or remains unchanged for long.

Shoe Blog – If shoes are your thing this blog is not to be missed.  London based, there is not much about shoes that isn’t here.

Fashion Pulse Daily – Caught this American blog with a pair of riding boots at the top of the posts, so being a dead keen horse rider myself I just had to link to it. Nice clean looking blog, lots of interesting stuff.  Shoes, bags, maekup, catwalk fashion etc.

That’s a Fabulous Handbag – Similarly, this blog is all things handbag!  Some seriously nice images and a huge number of posts that contain hours of facination for any enthusiast.  I won’t even try to single out any examples here.  Just see for yourself.

Jak & Jill Blog – Another American Blog but this time lots of eye candy.  Great photos of the names and faces and what they’re wearing.   Hours of eyes-wide-open visual entertainment.

Brook&Lyn – Not a lot of info about this site.  American jewellery plus other stuff.  Chose to share it with you because of their long list “Blogger Friends”.

Beauty and Fashion at StyleList – This is a British blog.  Lots of interesting stuff including a post about the overnight success Susan Boyle.  Nice to see Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls again too.

Apparently, this term comes from the Sermon on the Mount, the famous speech given by Jesus to his disciples. In a nutshell – and in Aramaic – Jesus is explaining to the disciples that they should not waste good things on people who will not appreciate them.

Apparently,  there is much discussion in theological circles that “pearls” in this instance may have been mistranslated, but given that people have been talking about casting pearls before swine for two thousand years, a new translation is definitely a no-go area.

In the time of Christ, pigs were regarded as unclean animals in the Jewish faith, so in a sense, the term applies to not giving great things to those who are unworthy. To be frank, the fact that pearls would be completely useless to pigs didn’t go unnoticed, but I guess the term does illustrate that it is rather foolish to waste things on people who cannot use them or appreciate their value.

PEARLS OF WISDOM
From the beginning of time, pearls have figured in religions and mythology. The ancient Egyptians were buried with them. The Romans saw them as the ultimate symbol of status and wealth. The Greeks associated them with beauty, love and marriage.  And Cleopatra supposedly dissolved a single pearl in a glass of wine and drank it, to win a wager with Mark Anthony that she could consume the wealth of an entire nation in just one meal.

In later years, the lust for these sea-grown gems grew and grew. During the Dark Ages, whilst noble maidens cherished their delicate pearl necklaces, their gallant knights wore pearls into battle to protect them from harm. During The Renaissance the Royal Courts of Europe were awash with pearls which became so coveted that a number of European countries passed laws forbidding anyone but the nobility to wear them. And as Europe expanded into the New World, the discovery of pearls in Central American waters added greatly to the wealth of Europe.

Sadly, by the 17th Century, greed and lust for the pearl had resulted in the loss of virtually all the American pearl oyster population and until the early 1900s, natural pearls were accessible only to the rich and famous. Indeed, such was the extraordinary value of the pearl, that in 1916 the famous French Jeweller, Jacques Cartier was able to buy his valuable retail store on New York’s Fifth Avenue for the price of just two pearl necklaces!

Happily today, with the advent of pearl cultivation and the manufacture of costume jewellery “pearls” in glass and acrylics, pearls are available and affordable to everyone.

A PEARL IS BORN
Unlike gemstones, which must be mined from the earth and cut and polished to bring out their beauty, pearls are grown by live oysters on the sea bed.  What’s more, each individual pearl is born complete, with a shimmering iridescence, lustre and inner glow that is unlike any other gem on earth.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATURAL PEARLS AND CULTURED PEARLS?
A natural pearl begins life as a foreign object, usually a parasite or piece of shell, that accidentally lodges itself in an oyster’s soft inner body.  To defend its body, the oyster begins to secrete a smooth, hard crystalline substance, called “nacre” which wraps around the irritant.  The oyster continues to secrete layer upon layer of nacre until the irritant is completely encased and a beautiful, totally individual pearl is created.  The reason each pearl is so wonderfully lustrous and iridescent is because the nacre isn’t just soothing, it’s composed of microscopic crystals of calcium carbonate, each one so perfectly aligned with the next that light passes along the axis of one crystal and is reflected and refracted by another, producing a pale rainbow of light and colour.

Cultured pearls are created in that same way as natural pearls, but rather than leaving it to chance, a person carefully implants the irritant in the oyster.

THE KEY TO SUPERIOR PEARLS
Initially, pearl cultivation depended entirely on wild oysters. Then scientists discovered strains of oyster that possessed superior pearl-producing qualities, and cultivation became much more selective, thanks to a process known as “nucleation,”  “grafting” or “seeding”.  In this process, highly skilled technicians carefully open live pearl oysters and with surgical precision make an incision in the oyster’s body. They then place a tiny piece of “mantle tissue” from another oyster into the body, followed by a small round piece of shell, or “nucleus”. This nucleus is a mother-of-pearl bead made from an American freshwater mussel. The cells from the mantle tissue develop around the nucleus, forming a sac, which closes and starts to secrete nacre, the crystalline substance that forms the pearl.

The nucleated oysters are then returned to the sea suspended from rafts in the sheltered bays where they feed and grow, depositing layer after layer of lustrous nacre around the nuclei implanted within them.

HANDLE WITH CARE
The oysters are given the utmost care. Technicians check water temperatures and feeding conditions daily at various depths, moving the oysters up or down accordingly. From time to time, the oysters are also lifted from the sea for cleaning and health treatments and all seaweed, barnacles and organisms that might interfere with their feeding are removed from the oysters’ shells. The shells are also treated with medicinal compounds to ward off parasites.

After many months of growth and care, the oysters are ready for harvest. Those that have survived the many perils of the sea are brought ashore, opened and the beautiful, lustrous and very valuable cultured pearls are revealed.

THE QUEST FOR PERFECT PEARLS
Saltwater cultured pearls can never be mass-produced. Millions of oysters are nucleated every year, but only a very small proportion live to produce fine-quality cultured pearls.  This is due entirely to the whims of Mother Nature. Many oysters die during the nucleating process. Others are weak and fall prey to disease. Heavy rains often flood the bays with fresh water, reducing their salt content and killing the oysters. Sometimes, species of phytoplankton grow out of control, creating the dreaded “red tide,” which exhausts the oxygen in the water and suffocates the oysters.  And on top of all that, there are threats from typhoons, predators, parasites and lack of sufficient nutrients in the water.

In reality, only 50% of nucleated oysters survive to bear pearls. Only 20% of those pearls are perfect enough to be marketable. And less than 5% are of the perfect shape, lustre and colour to be considered fine gem quality.  In short, the perfect pearl is truly a rare event, blessed by Nature.

GETTING SORTED IS A NIGHTMARE
As no two pearls are ever exactly the same, sorting pearls is extremely difficult, time-consuming and skilled. Each pearl must be sorted by size, shape, colour and lustre, therefore it is handled hundreds of times.
Once sorted, the pearls must also be drilled with care and precision. An inexperienced operator can split or ruin pearls in an instant.  After all, a hole drilled even slightly off-centre will spoil the symmetry of the jewellery.

HIGHLY STRUNG OR WHAT?
Matching and stringing pearls requires even more skill than sorting, since each  highly-trained expert will need to compare literally thousands of pearls of similar size, shape, lustre and colour to find the closest matches.  Indeed, to find 47 perfectly-matched pearls for a 16-inch necklace, a pearl processor must work through in excess of 10,000 pearls!

SPOILED FOR CHOICE
madaboutjewellery.com offers a variety of pearls to suit all tastes and budgets.  Our top of the range Collection -  Posh Pearls – come all the way from exotic places such as Tahiti, the South Sea islands and Akoya.  These iridescent individual pearl masterpieces have been used in a range of styles, some with sparkling Swarovski crystals, some with an unexpected dash of colour, some exactly like the classical pearls worn by Princess Grace and Audrey Hepburn.  And for those on a smaller budget, we also offer a classic range of glass “pearls” (glass beads covered in pearl essence) which have been designed to look and feel exactly like the real thing.

I never really thought about it.  Just assumed that somewhere in Kenya a herd of rhinos were scampering over the plains, happy as Larry – whoever he is.  So I must say I was both rivetted and shocked to see the Stephen Fry /Mark Carwardine TV programme documenting the real plight of the white and black rhinos in Kenya.  Down to just four white rhinos in the wild and not many black ones either.  When I discussed it with the Sales Team the next day we all agreed we’d like to do something – anything - to help.    A check in the warehouse revealed a supply of vintage Rhinestone Rhino brooches. The Rhinos, which measure 7 x 3.5cm, have mobile legs and tails and were part of a collection I bought some time ago.  They were discovered in an exclusive jewellery warehouse in Prague where they had been stored and forgotten for three decades.

I’m happy to say, madaboutjewellery.com is now offering these limited edition Rhinestone Rhinos at £29.99, with 50% of the sale donated to the World Wildlife Fund Charity.  It may not raise a fortune, but every little helps in the on-going fight to save the world’s many animals on the edge of extinction.

It’s the most famous symbol of love.  The outward sign that a man and woman have been joined together in “holy wedlock” often in the sight of God as well as man!  And even today, with the divorce rate at a staggering 1 in 4, the wedding ring is the starry-eyed, must-have trophy of every little girl who dreamed of a Prince Charming and a fairytale white wedding.  These days wedding rings are usually a “band of gold”,  but what did people use before gold? Where did the custom of giving rings originate?  And why the third finger on the left hand?

THE ORIGINS OF THE WEDDING RING
The origins of the wedding ring date back some 4,800 years, to the deserts of North Africa and the ancient Egyptians who lived along the fertile flood plains of the river Nile. It soon became a common practice for Pharoah’s people to collect sedges, rushes and reeds from the river banks and twist and braid them into rings and bracelets.
Being a circle, with no beginning and no end, the ring symbolised eternity to the Egyptians. They worshipped its shape in the form of the Sun and Moon and believed that the hole in the centre of the ring symbolised the gateway to everything known and unknown.

Given this background,  it was not long before the exchanging of rings became associated with love, in the hope that love would take on the characteristics of the circle and last forever.

BUILT-IN OBSOLESCENCE

The early Egyptian rings usually lasted about a year before wear and tear took their inevitable toll, so as time passed  hemp, leather, bone or ivory were used to craft these all-important tokens of love.

THE EGYPTIANS MOVE TO METALS
As the art of metallurgy developed, rings began to be fashioned out of metal.  However,  the early metal rings were both clumsy and uneven, so wedding designs often had precious and semi-precious stones set into them, which also signified wealth.  These can be seen in the hieroglyphs on Egyptian tombs.

THE ROMANS CHOOSE IRON
In early Rome, iron was adopted as the metal of choice.  Iron symbolized the strength of love a man felt for his chosen woman -  though it has to be said that rust was a major problem.

By now, the act of giving and accepting a ring was also considered to be legally binding and enforceable.  On the one hand, this made the woman the property of the man, but on the other hand, it protected her rights and prevented her from losing her primary position to rivals.

THE RICH CHOOSE PRECIOUS METALS
In the 3rd Century, gold or silver rings began to be given to show that the bridegroom trusted his betrothed with his valuable property.  In addition, the ring was sometimes key-shaped rather than circular. Unlike today, the ring was not presented at the wedding ceremony, but when the groom carried his bride across the threshold of their new home.
By medieval times, with coins firmly established as currency, gold became the number one choice for wedding rings and frequently gemstones were added.   Rubies were popular because they were red, like a heart,  Sapphires, because they were blue like the sky, but by far the most valued and sought-after gemstone was the indestructible diamond.

THE FIRST ENGAGEMENT RINGS
The first engagement or betrothal rings became popular in Renaissance Italy.  They were made in silver and were often highly ornate and inlaid with enamel.

Silver became even more fashionable in 17th Century England and France when it was widely used for Poesy (love poem) wedding rings.   These were sentimentally inscribed with verses including the words “hope” and “faith” and were extremely popular, as cited in the works of Shakespeare.

Gold took over again in later years, relegating silver once again to the Italian idea of an engagement rings, with a golden duplicate replacing it on the wedding day.

IF IT’S NOT GOLD – IT’S BAD LUCK!
In Irish folklore, it was said to be bad luck, or even illegal,  to be married with a ring made of anything but gold.   This was mere superstition, nevertheless throughout Europe, a gold ring was often provided at weddings for those who could not afford one.  Needless to say, this was swiftly reclaimed after the ceremony!

IF IT DOESN’T FIT IT’S BAD LUCK!
Superstition also surrounds the fit of a wedding ring.  It had to be perfect, or the future of the marriage might be in jeopardy!   A too-tight ring could signify painful jealousy, or the stifling of one  party by the other. Too loose, could signify a parting of the ways through careless acts or forgetfulness.

WHY THE THIRD FINGER OF THE LEFT HAND?
The ancient Egyptians wore their wedding rings like we do today, on the third finger of the left hand.  The reason for this was a belief that the vein of that finger directly traveled from the heart. This legend was later taken up by the Greeks, when they conquered Egypt under the general-ship of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. and  passed onto the Romans, who called this the ‘vena amoris’, which is Latin for ‘the vein of love’.

As for English people, in the Middle Ages, it was common practice for a bridegroom to slip the ring part way up and then down his bride’s thumb, then first and middle finger, reciting: ‘In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost’ as he touched each one before fixing it firmly in place on the next finger in line, the third finger of the left hand. This practice was finally formalized in the 1500’s when Henry VIII’s son wrote The Book of Common Prayer, which sets out English Modern Protestant wedding vows and decrees on which finger our wedding rings should go.
In some parts of continental Europe, however, it is and always has been the third finger on the right hand that bears the wedding ring.

WHEN DID MEN START WEARING RINGS?
Until the middle of the twentieth century, it was only women who wore wedding rings, however, when World War Two broke out and many young men faced lengthy separations from their wives, men began wearing wedding bands as a symbol of their marriages and a reminder of their wives.  This was pure romance, a gesture of love and affection that has survived into modern times. These days the vast majority of men wear wedding bands.