Handmade Ethnic Jewelry From South America

The residents of South America have created some of the most stunning handmade ethnic jewelry in the world. If you have ever explored the art of wire jewelry making, you will greatly appreciate the handmade Peruvian jewelry which I describe as "over the top" as far as design and craftsmanship. I have extensive experience with making wire jewelry, myself, and I cannot begin to touch what they do. For those of you who know nothing about making wire jewelry, it entails taking a piece of wire, twisting it, pounding it, curling into various shapes, and then hooking the various shapes together. The result? A piece of jewelry that is truly handmade from a common spool of wire that anyone can buy from their local hardware store. If you have ever put an ear wire in your ear, you have worn a piece of wire jewelry. And of course, any neck chain begins as a simple piece of wire. But to take it to the extreme, such as the Peruvians have done, is talent taken to the extreme. Their handmade ethnic jewelry is made with natural gemstones, murano glass and other fine quality materials. And the prices are so very reasonable.

The designs are truly unique to their specific culture and that, I so much appreciate. I get many emails from people boasting of the ethnicity of their designs when they have simply strung beads. I can do that easily enough, myself. As you can tell, I truly appreciate their work.

After Peru, Ecuador comes with some nice surprises as they take the tagua rainforest ivory, which comes from nuts they grow, and they hand carve these nuts into jewelry and figurines. This "veggie ivory" is so hard to distinguish from actual elephant ivory, that unscrupulous merchants used to rip people off with it. It's amazing that, even an inexpensive gemstone, such as malachite is duplicated so as to deceive someone! Regardless, the tagua rainforest ivory is now very desirable because we would rather not kill animals today for their ivory. The "veggie" ivory has become a much better choice. The natives of Ecuador do some very fine craftsmanship in their tagua rainforest ivory carvings.

Brazil on target is an organization in Brazil whose members are artists who use various forms of media in their work. Of particular interest are the ceramic artists who make jewelry from clay that has been shaped, formed, fired, hand-painted and then strung into beautiful necklaces and bracelets. This handmade ethnic jewelry has a unique South American look to it.

Many beautiful pieces come from Bolivia and Columbia and consist of massive beads done in bold colors. Their chunky jewelry is quite a contrast to the delicate Peruvian styles.

There are some very interesting cultures in South America and their artistic talent is very much displayed in the jewelry they make. Lots of South American jewelry looks a lot like our Native American jewelry, depending on the region in which they're from. Exploring handmade ethnic jewelry from the various regions help to give clues to the history and ethnicity of the South American culture.

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