A Guide to Handmade Jewelry Terminology

by John Brana December 01, 2015

The John S. Brana Handmade Copper Jewelry collection features hundreds of beautiful styles that show off the gorgeous color of genuine copper. As you begin to browse the styles in our collection, you'll be introduced to a whole new set of terminology that is used to describe our various handmade copper jewelry pieces. Here is a quick guide to five of the terms that you'll encounter most frequently.

- Hammering - Hammering is a technique that is just what you might expect from its name. It involves using a special jewelry hammer to pound the surface of a piece of copper or other precious metal. This creates a sort of rippled texture along the metal. In the light, hammered metal seems to shimmer due to the texturing effect. Some striking examples that show off the effects of hammering include out Hammered Copper Cuff Bracelet, and our Hammered Copper Scarf Ring.


 

- Embossing - Embossing is a texturing technique that can create a wide variety of effects on copper jewelry. When metal is embossed, a hand tool is used to stamp various sections of the metal, creating a relief texture. In the design of our Bubble Embossed Copper Disc Earrings, copper sheet is embossed with round shapes for a bubbling effect. On the Feather Embossed Copper Earrings, the embossing takes the shape of wavy lines to mimic the texture of a feather.




- Chasing - Chasing is a type of embossing that involves stamping the metal to create deep, thin grooves in straight lines. Chased copper jewelry is very shiny and can even seem to sparkle in the light. You can see this effect on pieces like our Chased Copper Drop Earrings and our Chased Copper Earrings with Garnets.




- Anticlastic Raising - Anticlastic raising is a technique that involves turning the edges of a piece of metal up and inward. On pieces like our Hammered Anticlastic Copper Cuff and our Anticlastic Copper Earrings, this folding is used to give the metal a curved look with areas of light that show on its surface. By making other modifications to the jewelry, anticlastic folds can be used to create shapes, such as the slender leaf forms of our Anticlastic Leaf Copper Earrings.




- Corrugated Folding - Corrugating is another method of folding that provides a very different look than the anticlastic folding technique. Copper that has been corrugated has a wavy or wrinkled appearance, as you can see on pieces like our Corrugated Copper Bangle and our Corrugated Copper Leaf Earrings. A piece can also be folded in two directions to create a braided texture like that of our Corrugated Copper Cuff.



Now that you know the basic terms used to describe the beautiful copper pieces in the John S. Brana Handmade Copper Jewelry range, you're ready to shop. Browse our entire selection of styles to find more examples of hammered copper jewelry, embossed copper jewelry, chased copper jewelry, anticlastic copper jewelry and corrugated copper jewelry.

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