What Is a Fanlisting?

"A fanlisting is simply an online list of fans of a subject, such as a TV show, actor, or musician, that is created by an individual and open for fans from around the world to join. There are no costs, and the only requirements to join a fanlisting are your name and country. Fanlistings do not have to be large sites (although some are), they are just a place where you can sign up with other fans. TheFanlistings.org is the original (but not official) web directory for fanlistings, dedicated to uniting the fans." -thefanlistings.org

Jewelry

Jewellery (jewelry in American English) is literally any piece of fine material used to adorn oneself. The word jewellery is derived from the word jewel, which was anglicised from the Old French jouel in around the 13th century. Further tracing leads back to the Latin word jocale, meaning plaything.

Jewellery has probably been around since the dawn of man; indeed, recently found 100,000-year-old Nassarius shells that were made into beads are thought to be the oldest known jewellery. Although in earlier times jewellery was created for more practical uses, such as wealth storage and pinning clothes together, in recent times it has been used almost exclusively for decoration. The first pieces of jewellery were made from natural materials, such as bone and animal teeth, shell, wood and carved stone. Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were buried with it.

Jewellery is made out of almost every material known and has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewellery. While high-quality and artistic pieces are made with gemstones and precious metals, less costly costume jewellery is made from less-valuable materials and is mass-produced.

Form and function

Over time, jewellery has been used for a number of reasons:

Currency, wealth display and storage

Functional use (such as clasps, pins, and buckles)

Symbolism (to show membership or status)

Protection (in the form of amulets and magical wards)

Artistic display

Most cultures have at some point had a practice of keeping large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Numerous cultures move wedding dowries in the form of jewelry, or create jewelry as a means to store or display coins. Alternatively, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good; a particularly poignant example being the use of slave beads.

Functional use dates back to the earliest days of jewellery; indeed, many items of jewellery, such as brooches and buckles originated as purely functional items, but evolved into decorative items as their functional requirement deminished.

Jewellery can also be symbolic of group membership, as in the case of the Christian crucifix or Jewish Star of David, or of status, as in the case of chains of office, or the Western practice of married people wearing a wedding ring.

Wearing of amulets and devotional medals to provide protection or ward off evil is nearly universal; these may take the form of symbols (such as the ankh), stones, plants, animals, body parts (such as the Khamsa), or glyphs (such as stylized versions of the Throne Verse in Islamic art).

Although artistic display has clearly been a function of jewellery from the very beginnings, the other roles described above tended to take primacy. It was only in the late 19th century, with the work of such masters as Peter Carl Fabergé and René Lalique, that art began to take primacy over function and wealth. This trend has continued into modern times, expanded upon by artists such as Robert Lee Morris.

Materials and methods

In creating jewellery, a variety of gemstones, coins, or other precious items can be used, often set into precious metals. Common precious metals used for modern jewellery include gold, platinum or silver, although alloys of nearly every metal known can be encountered in jewellery -- bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Most gold jewellery is made of an alloy of gold, the purity of which is stated in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. For example, ordinary gold jewellery ranges from 10K (41.7% pure gold) to 22K (91.6% pure gold), while 24K (99.9% pure gold) is considered too soft for jewellery use. Platinum alloys range from 900 (90% pure) to 950 (95.0% pure). The silver used in jewellery is usually sterling silver, or 92.5% fine silver.

Other commonly used materials include glass, such as fused glass or enamel; wood, often carved or turned; shells and other natural animal substances such as bone and ivory; natural clay, polymer clay, and even plastics.

Beads are frequently used in jewellery. These may be made of many different substances including glass, gemstones, metal, wood, shells, clay and polymer clay. Beaded jewellery commonly encompasses necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and belts. Beads may be large or small. The smallest type of beads commonly used are known as seed beads; these are the beads used for the "woven" style of beaded jewellery.

Advanced glass and glass beadmaking techniques by Murano and Venetian glassmasters made a significant difference in jewelry designs. These artisans developed and refined many technologies, creating crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo) and imitation gemstones made of glass. As early as the 13th century, Murano glass and Murano beads were extremely popular.

Silversmiths, goldsmiths, and lapidaries use numerous methods to create jewellery, including forging, casting, soldering or welding, cutting, carving, and "cold-joining" (using adhesives, staples, and rivets to assemble parts).

Diamonds

Diamonds, long considered the most prized of gemstones, were first mined in India. Pliny may have mentioned them, although there is some debate as to the exact nature of the stone he referred to as Adamas; Currently, Africa and Canada rank among the primary sources.

The British crown jewels contain the Cullinan Diamond, part of the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found (1905), at 3,106.75 carats. Now popular in engagement rings, this usage dates back to the marriage of Maximilian I to Mary of Burgundy in 1477.

Diamonds have long been associated with social issues; in South Africa, diamonds and gold were factors in the start of the Second Boer War in the 1890s, they later factored in treatment of blacks during the apartheid era, and have since been instrumental in exacerbating and prolonging other African conflicts (see Blood diamonds).

Other gemstones

Although diamonds are considered the most prized of all gemstones, many other precious stones are used frequently by jewellers. Although thought exceptionally rare, some gems (for example, the now common amethyst) have become less valued as methods of extracting and importing them have progressed. Some new gems are cheaper and serve in place of higher quality gems for roughly the same optical value. An example is the frequently used cubic zirconia, used most frequently in place of the diamond.

Jewellery and society

One universal factor is control over who could wear what jewellery, a point which indicates the powerful symbolism the wearing of jewellery evoked. In ancient Rome, for instance, only certain ranks could wear rings; later, sumptuary laws dictated who could wear what type of jewellery; again based on rank. Cultural dictates have also played a significant role; for example, the wearing of earrings by Western men was considered "effeminate" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Conversely, the jewellery industry in the early 20th century launched a campaign to popularize wedding rings for men — which caught on — as well as engagement rings for men (which did not), going so far as to create a false history and claim that the practice had Medieval roots. By the mid 1940s, 85% of weddings in the U.S. featured a double-ring ceremony, up from 15% in the 1920s. Religion has also played a role: Islam, for instance, considers the wearing of gold by men as a social taboo, and many religions have edicts against excessive display.

Source: wikipedia.org

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