Gilded Amber Bracelet in Sterling Silver

• Amber - More frequently used to refer to the colour, than the material from which the word is derived, amber is the fossilized resin from ancient forests. It is not produced from tree sap, but rather from plant resin. The resin is aromatic, and can drip from and ooze down trees. In colour, it may be a deep honey colour, (amber), brown, or white. As it oozes out it fills internal fissures in the tree, trapping debris such as seeds, leaves, feathers and insects. The debris trapped within the amber can assist in dating the deposit.
  
  In its natural state it is found in rocks, on the sea floor (from where it may be washed up to the shore) and mined, using both open cut and underground techniques. About 90% of the world's amber comes from Russia. Amber has recently been discovered at Cape York in Northern Australia
  
  Amber is often incorporated in jewellery, and used in pipe stems. The shine on the surface of amber becomes even more intense when it is worn and used regularly. Genuine amber, when rubbed, will release a slightly musky scent.
• Sterling Silver - Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of another metal, usually copper. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is relatively soft and the addition of the very small amount of copper gives the metal enough strength and hardness to be worked into jewellery, decorative and household objects.
• Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.
  
  For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.
  
  Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• bracelets, set with - amber 145