Indian Accessories

Platinum is a malleable, ductile, lustrous, silver-white metal that is chemically inactive. The jewelry made out of this metal is long lasting and very precious with its elegance and beautiful design.

Platinum is harder, heavier and costs almost three times more than gold. But the jewelry metal has its own market in view of its purity and rarity. It looks fantastic when polished or matt finished with a solitaire. When scratched the metal loses not even a bit. As platinum does not get tarnished it is an ideal choice to make ever-shining strong ornaments.
The demand for platinum jewelry is growing in Indian cities at the rate of 20 to 30 per cent every day. Indian women are particularly impressed with the high level of purity in platinum—95%. Platinum is also used to make modern jewelry with traditional touches. Though platinum has the desirable features like rarity, purity and eternity its high cost causes a major concern for the average middle class Indian. Their budget may allow them to go for small articles like finger rings, earrings, noserings etc while big trinkets like necklaces, bangles etc are far beyond their reach. But this platinum jewelry has the blessings and admiration of the upper class wealthy lots.
Platinum has a high melting point and this feature causes extra hardships to mold in different beautiful shapes of jewelry articles. This automatically leads to the bigger costs for platinum ornaments.
Rings, pendants, bracelets, chains… the choices ate plenty. Indian platinum is white and both men and women wear platinum accessories. Platinum jewelry inlaid with precious stones is also available. A ring or a pendent with a diamond fixed on it enhances the beauty of the ornament. If you want to buy a platinum ornament you can get it from merchants who sell very attractive and custom designed ones.
This expensive metal plays a significant role in the Indian engagement ceremony in the form of rings. The adjustable rings, available in various forms and designs, can usually be made out of silver, gold or platinum. It you have sufficient money to spend, then an artistic platinum ring is a perfect choice to show your love and affection. The two important virtues, attractiveness and durability, of platinum rings place them in the top most position of engagement rings. Platinum rings are available in the market in lot of styles and designs, to name a few, solitaire diamonds, pearl diamond, diamond platinum, platinum engagement rings, platinum eternity rings, emerald platinum, and aquamarine platinum. You can make a selection that best suited to your spouse.
No doubt, spending money on different classes of platinum jewelry is a big investment. In reality this jewelry imparts an appreciated upper class image on you in the society. This might eat away a good portion of your purse, but when you wear one you will stand out in a gathering,

From the very ancient history Indian women have attached special importance to jewelry. Various types of jewelry give them marital status, as bangles for Punjabi brides, the traditional mangal sutra for Maharashtrians and South Indians or rings for others.

For an Indian woman Jewelry is the most important accessory to beautify her, especially when attending marriages and important religious functions. Therefore jewelry to decorate each part of her body forms an integral part of her wardrobe. Her love for gold ornaments is also not a secret.
India tops in the consumption of gold jewelry in the world. It is true that during an Indian wedding exchanging gold jewelry between both parties has become a formal practice. Since gold is one of the finest metals it is used in designing and manufacturing dazzling trinkets and gold trinkets produce the premium outlooks for ornaments.
Various kinds of necklaces, finger rings, nose rings, pendants and earrings are some of the common ornaments made out of gold kept by Indian families. Due to the increasing popularity of the gold the marker is forced to hike the prices of gold jewelry. This is a major issue with most of Indian families and today’s investors are keen to invest in gold all over the world. Moreover in the times of financial crisis gold comes as a financier and helps to tide over it. Thus gold plays the part of a decorator as well as a supporter.
People like gold jewelry for its unique styles, designs and brightness and are using for long since the ancient traditional times. In those golden days gold was considered as a symbol of royalty and wealth and the richness was measured by the quality and quantity of gold jewelry one used to wear.
Gold is the finest and the most precious metal in this world because gold jewelry with countless unique designs and styles are available in the market. Though you can find the best and the beautiful piece of gold from a large collection of jewelry, better seek the advice of friends or family members to locate the best jewelry stores that will show you some of the attractive designs to make the purchase. Indian jewelers have mastered the technique of making the finest gold trinkets and you can find at their showrooms a very large collection of various dazzling gold ornaments in eye catching designs and styles

As the tendency to wear more and more jewelry increases jewelry designers and producers take this opportunity to make numerous eye catching designs and models of wearable ornaments. Wearing jewelry does not end up with the word fashion, but today it has become an approach to enjoy life with style.

The recent steep rise in the jewelry materials like gold, diamond, platinum etc has forced the jewelry shoppers to find some alternatives to these expensive metals. In this situation silver could be the best option. The comparatively low cost of silver helps people to buy more numbers of silver trinkets with the same amount they will spend on gold, diamond or platinum jewelry. Moreover, the metal silver is so soft that the designers are able to craft various intricate designs that they cannot make with gold or platinum.
Silver ornaments, when polished brightly, get a pleasing shiny, cool look. People prefer to wear silver jewelry at parties since these jewelry articles look exceptionally bright and shining in the moonlight. Silver accessories, at times, are worn to express personal styles where as other times these pieces are loved as fashionable materials of art. The statement “silver is worn to express personal styles” means the look generated when silver trinkets are worn is just as the same looks generated by clothing, hair styles and other jewelry articles.
The ornaments made out of silver are suitable to wear for daylight as well as evening occasions. Jewelers take advantage of this special feature of silver and design and produce silver trinkets for all seasons. Today the production of silver metal ornaments has touched the level of creating silver jewelry to fit every occasion like casual wear, sport wear and stylish wear. If worn with dark clothing the silver will highlight your personal wearing style to the viewers. Silver gives a stunning and very comfortable look against exposed skin areas when light weight or summer clothes are worn.
Just imagine, an ordinary metal like silver possesses many extra ordinary hidden features. No wonder, this low-priced metal capable of producing a number of intricate jewelry has become a trend setter today.

From the very ancient times people in India are in the practice of making and using bead jewelry. Indian jewelry is very famous and Indian jewelry designers are appreciated lavishly for their innovative exquisite designs. Indian bead jewelry is no exception;

it has placed a firm foot in the global market.
Beads are made out of a variety of materials and these beads in turn are used to make fine jewelry. Some popular types of bead jewelry are Glass bead, Shell, Metal bead, Crystal, Ceramic, Wooden bead, Pearl, Clay bead, Paper bead, Gemstone bead, Papier mache bead, Plastic bead, Bone, Horn, Ivory, Coral, Resin bead, Seed bead, Rudraksha bead, Myrrh bead and Coco beads.
These materials are used to make different types of beads and these beads in turn are strung on elastic, natural fiber thread, wire, or nylon to produce various attractive bead jewelry. Or bead ornaments are made by fitting these beads to various surfaces. A great deal of imaginative, creative and dexterous skills is required in the creation of beads. Raw materials could be converted into beads of various shapes and sizes. The popular bead shapes are spherical, tetragonal, oval, cylindrical, diamond shaped, flat, bugle or tubular, charlotte cut.
It is possible to decorate the beads in various methods. It could be made more attractive by painting, varnishing, engraving etc or adorned with glitter. There are transparent, translucent or opaque beads and they are available in almost all shades like watery colors, pastels, bold shades, florescent bright colors, metallic hues etc. To say the least, there is great scope for the manufacture of bead jewelry in unlimited shades, shapes and decorative designs.
Most of the popular ornaments such as necklaces, bracelets, anklets, earrings, bangles, finger rings and armlets could be made out of beads. Articles like belts, brooches and hair jewelry studded with fascinating beads are also available in plenty. Charming jewelry made out of beads was in vogue in India since very early ages. Indian jewelry, consisting of tribal trinkets, fashion jewelry, custom jewelry and even traditional ornaments, has been crafted out of various kinds of beads.

On first thought, the term ‘Jewelry’ is interpreted as trinkets of gold, silver and platinum, inlaid with gemstones or chunky ornaments made of naturally available materials like shells, bones etc. Most Indians are not familiar with the concept of glass jewelry, except glass bangles, a trademark of Indian femininity.
Glass bangles are manufactured almost all over India and are sold out in various colors and designs with beautiful decorations. Glass bangles are available as carved, filigreed, engraved, and studded with gems along with other decorations. In the lengthy Indian history, at one point, these bangles had provided marital status to a Hindu woman.
Glass jewelry also is used to incorporate earrings, pendants, rings and beads that are used in the manufacture of necklaces, bracelets, anklets etc. The glasses that are often used in the making of glass jewelry are cast glass pieces, fused glass, and glass beads. The glass beads could be made in different ways such as may be wound, drawn, molded, lamp-worked or of diachronic glass.
In the fused glass jewelry, glass of various colors is cut to small pieces and glued together and heated in a kiln. The glass pieces melt and fused together and become one. Fused glass could be used to create colored and beautifully shaped jewelry like pendants. Ductile glass is heated and stretched around a solid core like a metal wire to produce wound glass beads. It is given shape by tools or pressing or rolling on a hard surface and then decorated.
Drawn Glass Beads are formed when a hollow tube is inserted into a ball of hot glass and the glass strand is pulled out to form a glass tube that is then chopped to make individual beads. Micro-beads or seed beads are good examples of modern drawn glass beads.
Molded Beads are made by heating glass rods till they are molten and then feeding them into a machine that stamps the glass and creates a hole in it. To make the beads smooth they are rolled in hot sand. Such beads are made in the Czech Republic.
A thin metallic film is fused on the Dichroic Glass so that when you view the glass from different angles you can see different colors.
To make Lamp-worked Beads, soft glass or soda-lime glass is melted and shaped using a torch or flame. The molten glass is merged with other pieces and shaped using tools, followed by annealing, a process by which the glass gets cooled at a controlled rate, thus reducing the stress and preventing the glass from breaking.
Sea-glass jewelry, another type of glass jewelry, has not yet received due recognition. It is made of pieces of glass washed into shore, smoothened and polished naturally. Sea-glass is used for making very pretty jewelry as it is found in many shades.

Rajasthan state could be termed as a Shopper’s Paradise more than any other Indian state because it still continues to use its very old techniques and skills in the traditional craft to create some of the most gorgeous and exciting products in the world, to name some Tie and dye fabrics in radiant colors, fine block printed textiles, beautifully carved wood and ivory items, lacquer and filigree work, precious stones that are delicately cut, exquisitely enameled silver Victorian jewelry etc.

Particularly Rajasthani jewelry is very famous for its craftsmanship and designs. Jaipur meenakari, a very special work done with colored glass has world wide popularity. Rajasthani crafters work on silver skillfully to make enchanting ornaments embellished with various multi-colored stones and beads and women love to wear these beautiful pieces. These are ideal options for affordable gift shoppers.

In the field of sterling silver also, Rajasthanis have established themselves substantially in the manufacturing and exporting of eye-catching jewelry blended with traditional and rich cultural heritage. They offer superior quality products with innovative designs and exquisite craftsmanship.

Thewa Jewelry is a unique type of jewelry originated in the state Rajasthan in 1767 under the patronage of Maharawat Samant Singh. Theva locally means “setting”. Theva is a traditional art that requires great skill. It involves fusion of 24kt gold with multicolored glass. Pure gold sheets are fitted in a bed of resin and then the whole design is pierced on the gold sheet. The finished sheet known as the Theva Ki Patti is slowly and carefully taken out and is placed on the colored glass base. This unit gets fused when heated on in open crucible. Each unit has a flat piece of red, green or blue glass usually depicting ruby, sapphire or emerald. The colored glass is given a special treatment to produce more glitter to highlight the gold jewelry. The Theva jewelry with its breathtaking intricate designs and the raging colors enjoys a worldwide appeal and popularity.

Beaded silver jewelry of Rajasthan can satisfy those who look for something trendy and colorful as various colored gemstone beads are used to embellish this type of jewelry. This beaded jewelry is available in ethnic and traditional designs and also in a variety of shapes and colors. You can design your own beaded jewelry by selecting your favorite beads of gemstones of desired shape and color as semi-precious stones are available in all possible colors.

Silver is found in nature as a crude ore. Can you imagine such crude silver could be refined and used to produce some of the most attractive and intricate ornaments that men and women wear on all occasions? In India, unique and exceptionally beautiful silver ornaments are made in almost all parts of the country. The states Gujarat and Rajasthan craft a special oxidized silver jewelry with a chunky appearance. This popular jewelry is usually studded with various colorful and attractive gemstones. Decorative materials like beads, shells, mirrors, colorful threads, feathers, jute ornamentation, crystals etc are often added to Indian silver jewelry to make it more attractive. Delicate and elegant silver jewelry has also a very significant place among Indian masses.
You can count several reasons for the worldwide popularity of silver jewelry. It has the power to capture the attention of everybody with its lustrous, pristine appearance. Its availability at an affordable price even to an ordinary person is an added attraction. Silver jewelry is much cheaper than gold and platinum jewelry. To sum up, you can see a healthy large customer base for silver with its wide range of gorgeous and intricate ornaments such as necklaces, earrings, pendants, rings, bangles, anklets, hair ornaments, brooches, bracelets etc…etc…
Pure silver is very soft and malleable, but gets damaged very easily. It is approximately 99.9 % silver and is suitable to create only intricate jewelry where its delicate nature is needed. Alloys of silver are used to make much sturdier and stronger jewelry
Important Alloys of Silver
Britannia Silver has 95.84 % silver and 4.16 % copper. Mexican Silver contains 95 % silver and 5 % copper. Sterling Silver consists of 92.5 % silver and 7.5 % copper. Coin Silver is a combination of 90 % silver and 10 % copper and German silver is 80 % silver.
Sterling silver, perhaps, is strong, durable and harder than pure silver and the most suitable silver alloy to make jewelry. It can reflect light very well and it does not wear like silver plating. Silver trinkets can be made either by machine or hand. Machine can make very fine silver jewelry having a better overall finish. It becomes cheaper, as it is produced easily at a very large scale. The advantage with handmade silver jewelry is that it is very unique, and could be customized. Only skilled craftsmen can create silver jewelry with hands and two pieces of jewelry can never be identical.
Keep silver jewelry in a separate pouch or a compartment of the jewelry box to save it from getting scratches and avoid any contact with chemicals like bleach, ammonia and chlorinated water. If got tarnished, silver jewelry could be polished to its original shining.

It is only natural for a girl to dream of a fairytale wedding, perhaps the most memorable and the happiest moment in her life. The wedding day, especially in India, marks the beginning of a new life for the girl. And so she expects that moment to be perfect and grand. In India when a girl child is born her father works hard to earn enough to afford the very best for her wedding and her mother gathers jewelry, vessels and other household articles one by one to gift their daughter. Thus the parents start planning for the auspicious occasion of the girl’s marriage well in advance.

Traditional Jewelry has a very significant place in an Indian girl’s wedding. Wealthy people give very rich attractive ornaments to their daughters as gift while ordinary people give what they can afford to. Moreover the bride will be, from head to toe, adorned with various types of traditional beautiful jewelry. Jewelers, realizing the Indian family’s requirements, employ the most efficient and skilled craftsmen to produce wedding jewelry pieces and sets.

Traditional Indian wedding jewelry is made of first class quality metals. People are mostly inclined to go for gold jewelry since it has a rich and opulent appearance though very costly. However, according to latest trends, silver wedding jewelry as well as copper and white gold ornaments are becoming more and more popular among Indians due to their comparatively lower prices, especially gold-plated silver jewelry, cheaper but having the same looks and attraction of pure gold jewelry, is preferred by a lot of families. Wedding jewelry is often selected only after deciding the wedding dress, so that the jewelry can match and compliment the outfit.
Wedding jewelry embellished with Kundan work is one of the most popular traditional decorative jewelry styles. Ornaments, embedded with beautiful and radiant gemstones, are also loved deeply. Silver as well as gold and copper gemstone wedding jewelry, studded with semi-precious and precious stones are available in various colors and so they are purchased to match and highlight the colors in the wedding outfit. Ornaments, adorned with pearls and jewels having exquisite polki, meenakari work, are some other well-preferred options in wedding jewelry. The diversity in Indian jewelry is well-reflected in India’s wedding jewelry sets and individual ornaments as well.
Wedding jewelry like necklaces, pendants, earrings, bangles, bracelets, anklets, amulets, various rings for finger, nose and toe, hairpins, forehead tikka, girdles and other ornaments are often light weight and not flamboyant. Thin, delicate, light jewelry, in simpler designs and subdued colors are favored by a large section of Indians.

Towards the end of every year the textile shops in India adorn a festive look because the festivals like Diwali, Id and Christmas are celebrated during that time followed by New Year and Harvest festival. You can see a sea of trendy latest arrivals in the showrooms. Indian traditional wear SARI has a tremendous demand during this season and as usual 2007 saw the emergence of colorful saris with innovative designs and motifs.
Semi raw silk sari, a combination of cotton and synthetic material with zari embroidery work draws the attention of many women. Its price, around $13, is an added attraction.
Another latest arrival, Laser chiffon material sari, has fancy coins attached on the border. Slightly above and just like the border the sari has embroidery designs giving the sari a shining look. This type of sari with oil prints all over the body is priced at $48.
Women get thrilled at the sight of a brand new sari, a synthetic plain one having beautiful embroidery work of flowers and leaves. Laces in the shape of flowers and leather in the shape of leaves are stitched into the embroidery giving the sari a unique and enchanting look. These saris costing $70 are available in all colors.
For those who do not like to wear heavy weight silk saris, a new light weight known as Ahimsa Silk Saris have been introduced. In this sari of 80$ silk and 20$ cotton Japanese silk painting is done. So the designs will last longer even if washed with ordinary soap and water. The price starts at $48.
‘Mustrice cotton sari’, another new variety, with border half the size of it also attracts the ladies very much. The major advantage with this type is that it need not be starched and the price is also fairly low at $22.5.
A sizeable crowd is busy in buying a silk-cotton combination with starting price $37.5. The specialty of such sari is that while this is weaved, meenakari embroidery work is added to the border giving the sari a majestic look. Kalyani silk, just like real silk, but having a very low price $11 are semi-silk cotton saris and available in bright contrasting colors.
The new ‘Party Attraction’, in pleasing blue and pink combination, with sequence, kundan and mirror works is so beautiful that the women forget to take their eyes from it. The price is $62.5. ‘Shadow Shaded’ saris in pink, off-white combination, with zari patch and kundan work has a rich look, the price also a bit rich $65.
Designer saris are some of the costlier varieties. A designer sari in blue color with embroidery, georgette border attracts every body. The starting price is $141. Equally attractive is a red designer sari having kundan, beads and embroidery works in the border as well as on all over the body. The sari weighs about 2.5kg and costs $102. Imagine the works like metallic, antique, cut, sequence and stone all in one sari, An exquisite black color with all such works costs $155 and a blue sari termed as ‘Reception Special’ costs $150. The saris with a variety of embroidery works ranging from $12 to $375 are always in great demand.

As the wedding season approaches the textile shops in India compete with each other in the introduction of dazzling wedding saris. These saris are expensive coming in the traditional colors like red, orange, maroon etc with matching blouses and petticoats. These contain no synthetic materials. Here are a few latest arrivals in bridal sari collections.

This bridal wear elegant brocade sari is in beautiful and rare combination and has intricately woven borders. The full body contains designs made up of small motifs. Pallu’s unique design appears like a meenakari style woven in the background with similar borders on its two sides. Price is $ 259.00

A pure georgette bridal sari, in marvelous jacquard maroon, has golden color floral designs, bold eye catching border and a pallu having a bright floral galeecha design. The sari has a rich majestic look. Sari along with matching blouse is priced at $ 215.00.

A bride looks stunning in a very beautiful and rich looking brocade sari that has a golden color pallu having broad borders on both sides with delicate motifs all along. The delicately and intricately woven pallu is enchanting and the blue and golden color combination enhances the look of the bridal sari. The sari with fancy blouse costs $191

Fine crepe brocade sari in dark green makes a bride exquisitely beautiful. The sari has pretty designs all over the body and scalloped borders with intricate designs. Richly created pallu has huge borders with delicate designs and between the borders highly dense floral sequence are arranged. The price of this sari with matching blouse and petticoat is around $278.50.

Yet another latest release is an elegant brocade sari that has thick border on each side with intricate design all along and dots on the background having scalloped type motifs. This sari, in two rare contrasting combinations with a golden touch, has a pallu divided into three sections having bold designs in them and red tassels are attached on it. Sari with blouse is available at $250.

Again here is a superb brocade sari with a brilliant combination of copper and golden colors. The sari has on its each side well- embellished bold borders. Pallu is designed in a unique style called galeecha in which golden dots and golden motifs are arranged alternately allover. Sari together with matching blouse and petticoat costs $270.50

Simplicity is visible in this elegant wedding sari with a green, pinkish maroon and cream combination, the colors being arranged in a very rare manner. Sari has its extreme border on green base with fabulous meenakari work followed by pinkish maroon borders decorated with small motifs and the remaining part of the body is in cream color without any motifs. In the pallu also the green and pinkish maroon combination is done with exquisite motifs. Red tassels on it make it more attractive. Price of sari with blouse and petticoat is $175.
These are only a very few samples from hundreds of dazzling Indian Bridal Saris.