Animal Charms, Jewelry and Charity

Murano Glass: Ten Centuries of Art In Glass

2011-09-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Know for its unique glass artwork as far back as the 10^thcentury the island of Murano,off the coast of Italy,is the home of some of the most beautiful glassworks ever created. Muranoartisans craft everything from figurines to art glass, wine stoppers andjewelry. The glassworks produced by Murano artists became so well known thatnearly half of the island's population was involved in glassmaking.

History of MuranoGlass Making

In the late 13^th century the people of Venicefeared that their city would be destroyed by fire from the glass maker'sfurnaces they forced the glassmakers to move to the island of Murano. By the 14^thcentury the glassmakers had become the most prominent citizens of Murano. Theywere treated as royalty, immune to prosecution, allowed to carry swords and theyfound their daughters married to the most important families of the time.

In 1797 Italylost its independence when Napoleon Bonaparte occupied the nation. Theoccupation lead to the break up of the glassmaking guilds and the heavy taxeslevied on Murano glass jewelry to help promote Bohemian glass led to Muranoartisans leaving the island to set up glass foundries across the globe. Some endingup as far away as the Netherlands.This has led to some discussion as to whether glass works made somewhere otherthan Murano can be considered true Murano glass.

How Murano Glass isMade

Traditional Murano glass manufacturing is an art handed downover the centuries and was once such a closely guarded secret that in the1600's glass artisans were forbidden from leaving the Venetian Republic. With glass blowing beinga family tradition passed down through the family, many of the techniques haveremained basically unchanged more than 500 years.

Starting with pure silica the glassmaker heats the silicauntil it achieves a liquid state. As it cools the glass enters a malleablestate where the glass is firm where it can be worked, shaped and colored. Theartist shapes, reheats, shapes again, reheats again, add color and substancessuch as sodium, nitrate or arsenic to achieve the desired final product.

Styles of MuranoGlass

As with most styles of art, glass making contains manydifferent and specific styles. Some of the most popular include:

Murrine Art Glass

Murrine: Murrine glass consists of layers of glass stretchedover canes (long rods). When the glass cools it is then sliced revealing apattern in the cross section. By using this technique the artist can createpictures and patterns in raw glass before melting it all together in to asingle piece.

Filigrana Glass

Filigrana: Also known as reticello or retortoli glass,filigrana glass created when color or white threads of glass are encased inclear glass rods. When the glass threads are woven to create a grid it isreferred to as reticello and when the glass threads are twisted in to a spiralthey are called retortoli. As one of the oldest glass techniques it is probablythe style most identified as Murano glass.

Incalmo Glass

Incalmo: Incalmo is one of the more challenging types ofglasswork done. This glass style is generally assembled from various pieces,often in different colors, blown separately and then joined while still warm. Whenmaking goblets or bowls there is no room for error. Each stage must be blown toexactly the same diameter and thickness, and then placed perfectly on the edgeof the preceding piece to form a single work of art.

Lattimo Glass

Lattimo: Often used for thicker glass and sculptures,Lattimo glass is identifiable by its opaque white color. This white glass oftenserves as a canvas for colored enamels to be applied to create whatever patternor picture the artist desires. Made without blowing, Lattimo glass achieves itsopaque white color from the sodium that is added to the silica as the glass ismade.

Sommerso Glass

Sommerso: Superimposed, or layered, glass, Sommerso glass iscreated by submerging the object multiple times in various colors while it isbeing created. Each submersion lays a new layer of glass and color over the topof the preceding layer. This style of glass is actually quite new, having comein to production in the late thirties and gaining widespread popularity in thefifties.

Inciso Glass

Inciso: Also referred to as cold work, Inciso refers to anyfinishing techniques applied to the surface of the glass with a grinding wheel.Each type of grinding also has its own name. A large flat grinding is calledbattuto while a soft grinding design to give a glazed surface is referred to asvelato.

Glass Jewelry

Glass has been used as jewelry since the earliest days ofglass making. The first glass jewelry techniques date back to as far as 2300 BCand involved a process called core-forming. Using a copper rod a string ofmolten glass would be wrapped around the rod until a bead of glass was created.Color was added either through impurities in the source material orintentionally by adding pigments as the glass making process was improved andclearer forms of glass were created.

Core formed jewelry is also created by pouring molten glassin to a pre made mold. These molds were generally made from clay.

As technology progressed the process of lampworking or, morerecently, torch working where a single direct flame or torch is used to heatthe glass. By using a single flame the glass artist can control both thetemperature at which they work and the layering process much more closely thancould be done using a furnace and molten glass.

Modern Glass JewelryFashion

Glass jewelry has never really fallen out of style in morethan 2,000 years. But recently it has seen a resurgence as bead jewelry hasbecome wildly popular again. Dozens of manufacturers have started making Murano glass beads as a part of their jewelry lines. This has re-opened the oldargument of whether glass beads made outside of Murano can be legitimatelycalled Murano glass beads.

We see mass production, all by hand, in factories around theworld now. Many are based in lower labor cost areas such as Thailandand India andeven the Philippines.Much like Swarovski Crystal, there are a lot of crystal manufacturers in theworld. But only one can call itself Swarovski. The difference being thatSwarovski is a family/company while Murano is a region. I can't tell thedifference between Murano Glass beads made on the Island of Murano and anywhere else in theworld, but I am sure that purists would prefer to have beads and glass madefrom there.

What I do know is that I like it.

Doe Creek Beads is now open!

2011-08-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

We have been working for a while on a new jewelry store, Doe Creek Beads. Doe Creek Beads specializes in silver and gold beads and charms. We are still adding new product nearly every day, but come by the new site and let us know what you think.

Our beads come in all sorts of styles and designs, from the always popular glass beads to stunning silver and enameled fashion beads. Stop by and let us know what you think.

Elephants and Guns and Video

2011-03-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of drama over the last week about Bob Parsons from GoDaddy harvesting a "nuisance" elephant in Zimbabwe and then posting a video of it online. I am by no means anti-hunting or anti-animal management, but I haven't hunted in over 20 years. Fished, you bet, but 98% CPR (Catch Photo Release).

However, I have had a hard time wrapping my head around the killing of this particular elephant. I am aware that a lot of harvested elephants are done to protect crops and provide much needed meat for local villages. I am also aware that this happens all the time and no one cares. So why is this particular instance causing so much drama? Is it because it's someone "famous"? Or is it because this became another "slacktivism" meme running rampant on Facebook?

I love animals. I think they should be protected and I think that they should be managed in a responsible way. I'm not sure how this one event is any different than all of the hunting shows on TV, or the thousands of web sites that discuss hunting, or the the thousands of outfitters that provide these types of 'vacations', but we haven't seen this level of protest over it until one man with a lot of money did it and posted a video of his hunt. And as someone that spends a lot of time, on a daily basis, trying to make the lives of animals in need better in some way, it does strike me in a bad way to see the mobs jump in and out of something we spend so much time involved in.

For the record, estimates put the elephant population in Zimbabwe at 100,000. The environment there can support roughly half that many.

But, since you are all involved let's see if there is something useful you can do while you are here. Try one of these things instead of getting indignant on Facebook.

Donate real money to http://www.savetheelephants.org/

Move your domain name from GoDaddy to NameCheap and they will donate $1 to save the elephants http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/ (way to go Tamar).

It's Cyber Monday All Week!!

2010-11-29T19:00:00.000-08:00

Who thinks that just one day of staggeringly low prices and even lower profit margins is enough?? Not us!! That's right, Cyber Monday is going on all week here at Animal Charms. By using Coupon Code "CYBER" you get an additional 25% off of any order at Animal Charms!

I know what you are thinking, 25% really isn't that much.. But wait, there's more!!

Every day our prices are already 10% below MSRP. Plus instead of our normal 10% donation to animal charities we are doubling that to 20%!! Add in the 25% coupon code and we are a full 55% BELOW MSRP on every piece of animal jewelry on our web site.

So come on over and pick out a great piece of jewelry for someone else, or yourself, and use coupon code CYBER to get your 25% discount.

More Animal Charities Added

2010-10-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

I know that it has been a while since I posted here, sorry about that. Summer brings 4H, critter training, and spending a lot of time getting the place ready for winter. But that doesn't mean we aren't out looking for Animal rescues and Shelters to help support.

I just added three new rescues to our Animal Charity Directory, all in Alabama this time.

Madison A.R.F. is based in Madison, Alabama and they rescue dogs and cats. You can join them on Oct. 23rd on the Bikers for Barkers Poker run.

A.R.K. Inc. is based in Hunstville, Alabama and they also rescue pets and run a no kill shelter. You can read their blog here.

Finally we have TLC Animal Organization. Also based in Madison, TLC rescues household pets.

If you are in the Madison, AL., area, consider giving any of these rescues a hand.

Finally, something that we see all over the place. If you run a rescue, and you are a legitimate 501.c Charity, post it on your web site. Post it everywhere. Make it part of your address in the footer of your site. Many people will not donate if they are not 100% sure that they are donating to a "real" charity. So if you are running a 501.c, make sure you let everyone know.

Help Hanzo Get the Surgery He Needs

2010-08-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hanzo, the adorable 1 year old pit bull puppy who happens to own a person named Corin Sän Inman, is suffering from luxating patellas in both knees. Fortunately for Hanzo his people, also seen around twitter as @plunderpuss, has some talent when it comes to art.

Enter the plunderzoo. Hordes of strange creatures have escaped from the zoo and we can help recapture them by making a small donation to Hanzo and the surgery he needs. Your $10 donation will get you a great little 3x5 art card of the animal you helped capture. Very cool IMO.

If you want to help out and get yourself a cool little piece of art, head over to the plunderzoo and pick out your own animal to capture. Me, I'm going after something mysterious I think. What are you planning to capture?

Color Photo Pet Jewelry

2010-07-13T06:32:00.000-07:00

We finally have a great new product available to our pet loving friends out there.

These photo pendants are made with a heavy pendant made in brass with a rhodium plating, not the cheap aluminum pendants that are so common in the photo jewelry market.

To make these pendants all we need is a good quality photo of your pet and we can transfer it to our of our pendants. Currently we are offering the pendants in three shapes,

Dog Tag about 1" by 2"
Round about 1"
Heart about 1"

We hope to be adding more shapes and sizes soon. These pendants are priced very well at under $40 and we are also giving an extra special price on sterling silver chains when ordered with your new pet photo pendant.

Animal Charms donates $1,000 to charity

2010-06-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

A bit if self serving promotion here, but we have just hit the $1,000 mark in donations to animal charities and rescues for the year. Hooray!!

Our goal since starting Animal charms has always been to help as many animals as possible and we are thrilled to be able to give this much so far this year. If you have a rescue or shelter and want to have us donate to you, head over to the animal charms web site and send us an email through the contact form. You can also add your charity to our animal charity directory.

Thanks to everyone that has purchased animal jewelry from us, we appreciate your support. And for those of you looking for animal themed jewelry, why not buy from someone that is donating to animals?

Animal Rescue : Guardian Angels for Soldier's Pets

2010-06-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

We are always looking for charities and animal rescues to donate to, but this month we decided to go back to an old one that we have supported for years. Guardian Angels for Soldier's Pets. GASP was started back in 2005 to help the pets of our soldiers being deployed over seas. In many cases these animals are left in shelters, occasionally they go to foster homes or other family members, and unfortunately, in a few cases they are euthanized.

With all that our service men and women do for us, it's disheartening to know that many of them will leave and return to never see their loved pets again. This is where GASP steps in. With chapters and partners across the United States, they find foster families, shelters, and places for these pets to live while they wait for their soldier to return home.

With Memorial day recently passing, and several friends preparing for deployment later in June, it's a great time of year to help. Whether you can donate to GASP, or volunteer at a local rescue, or even if you want to foster a pet, you can find GASP on their web site at http://guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org/ or on Facebook.

And just to leave us on a happy note, how about some dogs seeing their returning soldiers for the first time.

Happy Memorial Day

2010-05-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day traditionally marks the beginning of summer for most people. Cookouts, trips to the lake, fighting obscene levels of traffic, everything that you need for a great 3 day weekend.

For many of us though, Memorial Day means a little more. My wife just finished 22 years in both the USAF and the USAF Reserves and retired last February as a Lt. Colonel. My father was a flight mechanic instructor during Vietnam, our grandparents fought in WWII, and generally, we know a lot of great men and women currently serving around the world. This weekend is about them, their families, and the sacrifices that we all made over the years. A lot was sacrificed so that we can have fun at the lake, something that a lot of people around the world will never be able to do.

So while you are out playing this weekend, please, give a thought the people in service who have helped make it possible for us to live the way we do. And if you are looking for a gift for your soldier, airman, marine or sailor, I talked my friend Dave over at ChanizOnline in to giving everyone a 10% off coupon (BlessOurVets2010) for any St. George medal, the patron saint of soldiers, that he has for sale.

Most importantly, take the time to thank a soldier this weekend, thank his or her family, and let them know that you appreciate all that they do.

Animal Charms Coupon Code for 4H

2010-05-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

Diane and I have been 4H parents forever. Our daughter did 10 years and now we have our niece going through 4H goat club. So we've decided to help out a bit.

From now until July 15th every order through Animal Charms that uses the coupon code 4H2010 will get 5% off PLUS 15% will be donated to 4H to help kids learn more about raising and caring for animals.

You know that you are going to be buying jewelry for yourself anyway, so why not buy it where you know that a large portion of the money is being donated to a worthy cause??

:) Steve