I love to work with copper. Maybe it's the earthiness..... It's also a thrill to add natural gemstones to my copper wire wrapping.
Innovative Copper Jewelry - Trends and Popularity
Author: Dale Arnold
Copper jewelry has been around for a long time! Copper was discovered by ancient Egyptians sometime between 2500 and 4000 BC. Soon after its discovery, copper became a valuable commodity, and one’s status in society was often related to the amount of copper you owned and wore. As time passed, the uses of copper grew tremendously, and the demand for copper skyrocketed. However, discoveries of large deposits of copper ore coupled with the improvement in extraction technology and efficiency significantly increased the amount of copper in the market. So ironically, as the number of uses of copper grew, the price of copper actually started to drop rapidly, and today a pound of copper costs less than US$2! Today, it is mined extensively in North and South America, and Australia. Within the US, the largest mines are located in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. However, the world's largest mine is located in the Atacama Desert of Chile.
Over the centuries, man has learned to harness the medicinal benefits of copper. While there are several legitimate applications of copper in the medical field, the most widely-held belief that copper helps relieve pain, is actually a myth! There have been claims of pain relief and arthritis control using bracelets and other copper items. Most of these claims are anecdotal, and have not withstood the scrutiny of scientific and medical experts. In fact, the current scientific and medical opinion is that the improvement seen in patients using copper as part of their pain and arthritis pain treatment is most likely due to the "placebo effect". Various preparations containing copper are used as fungicides, antimicrobial medicines, and hygienic medical devices, and these are legitimate medicinal benefits of copper.
Relative to precious metals like gold and platinum, copper today is relatively inexpensive. The warm, rustic rose color of natural copper makes it an attractive metal for use in the field of fashion jewelry. In addition, artisans find it easy to work with copper, given that it can be made into foil, plates, and wire quite easily. The copper color is more or less neutral, making it a perfect match with semi-precious gemstones such as onyx, ruby, quartz, and peridot. Copper bracelets have been around for a long time, the questionable medical benefits notwithstanding! As fashion jewelry, copper bracelets can be obtained in both bangle and cuff styles with embossed or painted designs of varying complexity and detail. In these tough economic times, innovative use of copper makes good fashion and fiscal sense!
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