The Top Eight Anniversary Charms

If it's you're married and your anniversary is coming up, why not get your wife
something special that will grow in value and sentimentality, as well as become
a family heirloom. Yes, we're talking about a charm bracelet. They can represent
your wife's individual interests, as well as become a way to represent memorable
times in her life.

The following is a list of the most popular anniversary charms, whether it's
a wedding anniversary, or for any other type of special anniversary you'd like to
remember with a lovely charm.

1) 14K Gold Heart: Happy Anniversary

This 14K gold heart says "Happy (#) Anniversary" on its face, with the (#) replaced
by the number of your choice. It's suitable for use as a pendant necklace.

2) Happy Anniversary Cake Charm

This three-dimensional cake charm can be made in your choice of sterling silver,
gold plate, 10K gold, or 14K gold.

3) Round Happy Anniversary Charm

This disc shaped charm says "Happy Anniversary" in raised script lettering on
a slightly textured surface. It's can be found in several metal choices.

4) Happy Anniversary in Cut Out Letters

A 14K gold charm that spells out Happy Anniversary in cut out letters on two
lines. It's a charm that's large enough to be easily read, but small enough to be
feminine looking.

5) Rembrandt Heart Charm

This slightly elongated heart proclaims Happy Anniversary in raised letters at
its center. You can find this charm in your choice of several metals.

6) Italian Charm - Ringing Bells

It's not exactly an anniversary charm, but 18K gold and stainless steel ringing
bells would be a good choice if the woman you're buying for likes Italian Charm
bracelets.

7) 10K Gold Anniversary Pendant

An open white and yellow gold heart is more of a smallish pendant, not really
a charm, but something that can be customized, with space for three numbers, each
one stretching between its inner and outer veins.

8) 14K Gold Employment Anniversary Charm

Jewelers have recently started producing employment anniversary charms, but it
couldn't be used for other purposes. It's not a heart like so many of the sentimental
charms are, but you can find detailed ones, with 14K gold scrollwork stretching
beyond the central number.

If you're looking for something really unique, Pandora Jewelry invented a new
system for charm bracelets and necklaces, which added a new dimension in collecting
jewelry. This unique jewelry line established a foothold in Northern Europe as one
of the most successful jewelry businesses to date. Since 2002, Pandora Jewelry has
brought hope and opportunity to jewelers across North America.

Each item in our collection is a handmade Danish design in sterling silver and
14K gold. Various pieces of our line are handcrafted with colorful precious stones
and cultured pearls.

Lewis Jewelers is proud to carry the full line of Pandora Jewelry. For more information,
contact Lewis Jewelers at 877-88-LEWIS or visit www.pandorabraceletsusa.com.

Authorized distributed of beautiful
pandora
bracelets and beads

Residential Art Glass Lighting - Design Trends in Chandeliers, Sconces, & Pendants

Much in the way jazz altered our concept of music, glass art has changed our expectations of residential lighting. In fact, glass art lighting is being hailed as one of the hottest new trends to hit luxury home design. According to 25-year Southern California interior designer Greg Griffith, G. Griffith & Co. of Destin, FL, “It’s emerging as a transitional point for a more energetic look. From Asian to 18th Century, every style and design can incorporate glass art lighting. The fact that these are actual sculptured pieces means you’re adding art to the room without cluttering the wall.”

Aside from aesthetics, the benefit to glass art lighting is that it’s so flexible, it ends up resolving many design conflicts. Take, for example, the story of the Wisdom Window. This stained glass piece was created by a California glass artist to create a welcoming light at the end of a dark, New York apartment hallway. The artist created four matching sconces, but wanted the end of the hallway to feel like a window. He innovated a design where a diffuser sheet will be installed underneath the stained glass piece, and lit from behind.

One New York glass artist developed a unique way to illuminate her bathroom. She created her own mosaic glass sink and lit it from underneath to create a warm, amber glow. It also doubles as her nightlight. To underscore the look of an underlit sink, matching sconces are ideal. Some kitchen designers are commissioning glass art sconces and pendants to match underlit glass kitchen countertops. This creates interesting, ambient lighting in a more finished-looking lighting package.

Glass art lighting can be a subtle accent, or a prism through which the light bathes a room in a swatch of exotic colors. “I find many decorators driving décor based on the lighting fixtures,” says Seattle-based glass artist, Suzanne Guttman. “It’s easy to fall in love with a tentacled pendant light or chandelier and make it the centerpiece of a room.”

The Cost of Beautiful

Investing in gorgeous glass art lighting is less daunting than one may assume. A Bellagio budget isn’t necessary to incorporate museum-quality glass lighting into a residential design. Sconces range from $400 to $1,200; small pendant lighting (suspended by one point in the ceiling) ranges from $300 to $600; larger pendants and chandeliers can range from $1,500 to $10,000. Serious collectors consider glass art an investment as well as being an aesthetic piece, just as they would an original painting, or a piece of antique furniture.

Glass Art Lighting 101

Once a homeowner decides on glass art lighting, it’s helpful to know a little about the glass and where it should be used, based on its physical characteristics. Here are some tips:

Blown glass has some limitations to the size and diameter that an artist can create. Some blown glass lighting utilizes many pieces in its design to create a larger, more sculptural effect.

Cast glass is very beautiful, but quite unusual in lighting because it is very heavy to suspend. One glass artist has created a woven glass technique that takes on the look of woven fabric, and results in a glass art lighting fixture that feels like a glass blanket.

Fused & slumped glass is popular for glass art lighting. Through the use of molds, fusing allows the artist to create large diameter canopied type lighting, thus enabling a single shade to be up to 48” in diameter. This creates consistency in shape and wonderful, unusual textures.

Etched glass is another wonderful medium for flat panel lighting. Pieces such as The Three Graces, by glass artist Margaret Oldman, can be lit with plain or multi-colored fiber optics, depending on the look a designer is trying to achieve.

Mosaic and stained glass are similar, in that they’re both ideal for flat panel lighting. Artists will often incorporate Italian smalti glass, blown sheets of transparent glass broken into small pieces, or dichroic glass, which is coated on one side with a metallic-like mirror finish.

Buyer Beware

One thing homeowners should remember, especially with lighting, is to be sure that the glass artist they’ve chosen understands how the electrical specs will dovetail with the piece, and that they know U.L. standards. As founder of Glass Artists Gallery, I estimate that close to 30% of our first-time customers come to us because they had negative experiences commissioning residential glass art lighting on their own. We are very careful about screening the artists we represent to make sure they understand the technical specifications

In short, glass art lighting choices become a very personal way to reveal a homeowner’s fingerprint on the interior design. As George Bernard Shaw once said, “You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.”

For more information or to see thousands of images of art glass lighting, visit Art Lighting Gallery

Jack Healy is part owner of Functional Art Gallery, LLC - Functional Art Gallery - a growing family of online resources for the designer, architect, builder and discerning homeowner. The company focuses on handcrafted functional & architectural works of art for both residential and commercial projects. The Functional Art Gallery family includes Glass Artists Gallery, Sinks Gallery and Art Lighting Gallery. Together these resources provide the largest collection of artisan and designer products available in North America.

Spot Lights and Pendant Lights for Art Galleries

As a budding and yet to be discovered artist of the 21st century, I'm always on the look out for galleries that will house my fine works of art for a reasonable amount of time and for a reasonable housing fee. One of the qualifications that I always look for is whether the gallery has proper lighting. Without the right kind of lighting, patrons wouldn't be able to fully appreciate my works and understand how much blood, sweat and tears I put into each piece.

But back to what I was talking about earlier; lighting is imperative in show casing my works. With that said, I look for galleries that include spot lights and perhaps even some directional pendant lighting. Spot lights are especially important and I'm not talking about the really big ones they use in Hollywood, I'm talking about the ones that use the small LED bulbs or even compact fluorescent bulbs. The spot lights have to be placed at least six inches away from the wall so that they properly light up my work. The six inches will ensure that the patrons will be able to view the finer details in my work without the light burning any holes through them.

Directional pendant lights are superb for lighting up sculptural pieces and installation art and can work just as well if not better than spot lights depending on the scenario. For instance, if an artist decides to showcase an installation art piece in the middle of a gallery, spot lights alongside the walls probably won't be able to illuminate it, unless the gallery has spot lights installed along the middle of the ceiling. Pendant lights with adjustable directional fixtures will easily solve this dilemma, especially if track pendant lighting is used.

When you work as a professional artist, your work is always being scrutinized, top to bottom. Without the proper lighting, you run the risk of getting a bad review (I speak from experience). But as long as you find a gallery that includes all the essentials you require, then every patron will be able to see all the blood, sweat and tears that you've put into your work (or is that just me).

For an excellent selection in outdoor lighting and bathroom lighting, be sure to visit Eco-Lights.com.