The History of Swarovski Crystals

Handmade jewelry receives added dimension and style when crystals are added to the design. With nearly all Crystal Allure Beaded Jewelry Designs incorporating Swarovski Crystals, we wanted to put together this handy guide to assist you with a better understanding and appreciation for the beauty that only Swarovski Crystals offer.

The History of Swarovski Crystals

Swarovski (Swore-off-ski), founded by Daniel Swarovski in 1895, is the luxury brand name for the range of precision-cut lead crystal glass and related products. Crystallized - Swarovski Elements is the branch of the Swarovski company that offers crystal beads and rhinestones for use by manufacturers, artists and consumers in their designs.

Swarovski crystal sets itself apart from the competition by offering an exceptionally exquisite, quality crystal with incredible brilliance. As well, the delicate color palette is another quality that sets Swarovski crystal components apart from others. For these reasons, virtually all beaded jewelry by Crystal Allure uses genuine Daniel Swarovski crystal -either exclusively or in combination with other stones.

The Swarovski Company uses only high lead content crystal glass. Typically, a full thirty-two percent of the glass is lead and lead oxide. The presence of lead increases the glasses refractive index, bringing it closer to the same sparkle that a diamond has. By cutting the glass in just the right way, internal reflection from inside the shiny surfaces of the glass cause the light to reflect internally. This internal reflection results in sparkle as the glass is tilted, adding to its beauty and to the beauty of our jewelry.

The demand for Swarovski crystal unfortunately can create a host of imitators. So how can you ensure you are getting the real thing?

How to Identify Genuine Swarovski Crystals

For starters, Swarovski crystals are perfectly uniform. Since they are machine cut, each crystal is the same. This means that the height, width and slope are consistent. A hand polished imitator bead will not have as uniform a cut.

Swarovski uses machinery that precisely cuts each crystal. According to Swarovski, "cutting hard materials such as crystal and gems, in such a way that they have a hundred identical facets in several directions, is a very complicated task; each direction of the reflected light must first be calculated by computer, then this has to be simulated in 3D, optimized and finally converted into control programs for complex machinery." This is just part of the technology that gives Swarovski crystals their unbelievable sparkle.

The precision cutting of Swarovski machinery allows each crystal to have its facet juncture "pointing up". This means the facet junctures all meet at precisely the same point. This is a similar aspect of diamond faceting.

For Swarovski crystals with the AB (aurora borealis) finish, these will have a uniform surface luster. There are no swirling marks from the vacuum process that produces the AB finish, and generally there are no scratches. The "imitations" often have scratches, swirl marks ("oily" looking surface). Some of these imperfections, in the "imposters", have to do with the lower quality of the finish.

Other helpful tips include:
~When you look inside the crystal, you will see no bubbles. If you see any bubbles, you know immediately that it is a fake.
~Because of its special glass compounds, Swarovski crystal will out-sparkle a bead of lesser quality when placed in a side-by-side comparison.

Other crystals on the market:
Celestial Crystals are hand-cut, hand-polished lead crystal glass. Celestial crystal beads are highly reflective and offer a cascade of sparkling color in jewelry designs.

Preciosa Crystals are machine cut crystals referred to as the "cadillac of czech glass beads". Preciosa crystal beads and pendants are characterized by their sheer variety and versatility of cuts, colors, and coatings. Preciosa crystals follow centuries old Bohemian glass traditions to ensure vibrant quality and incredible value in every genuine crystal produced.

Swarovski Elements Innovations Fall/Winter 2011-2012

Swarovski has introduced some fabulous new colors and shapes to their line of crystal beads. Who could possibly resist them?

Now, I admit, I (personally) am not a huge fan of wearing yellow, I must say I'm still draw to the new Sunflower color. For the simple reason yellow reminds me of summertime and sunshine. It makes me feel good. So there is definately a design coming using this new color!

Other shapes you can expect to see coming to Crystal Allure Jewelry include the Lucerna, Mini Pear, Helios and Wild Heart beads and pendants. The Lucerna crystal is a reflection of a chinese lantern and I had used a lantern shaped gemstone in a past design, so I'm really looking forward to testing out this new shape. There are already some new designs ready to be pictured using the Mini Pear and Wild Heart pendants. As well, the Helios will make for a fantastic shimmering contemporary jewelry design.

Swarovski also introduced large hole crystals and two new colored protective coatings for the starfish crystal. With all these new innovations here and the existing irresistible shapes and colors already available from Swarovski -I'm in heaven!!

Don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed (or sign up to receive the feed by email) to receive notification when these new designs roll out.

Genuine Crystal By Daniel Swarovski

Swarovski Crystal is The World’s Finest.
Of the entire world’s crystal, Swarovski has the most sparkle and clarity.

Virtually all Crystal Allure Beaded Jewelry uses genuine Daniel Swarovski crystal -either exclusively or in combination with other stones. Swarovski makes the world’s finest lead glass crystal and is a leader in jewelry component manufacturing as well as industrial glass and precision optics.

The Swarovski Company uses only high lead content crystal glass. Typically, a full thirty-two percent of the glass is lead and lead oxide. The presence of lead increases the glass’s refractive index, bringing it closer to the same sparkle that a diamond has.

By cutting the glass in just the right way, internal reflection from inside the shiny surfaces of the glass cause the light to reflect internally. This internal reflection results in sparkle as the glass is tilted, adding to its beauty and to the beauty of jewelry made with Crystals by Swarovski.

Aurora Borealis Effect (AB) on Swarovski Crystals

Jewelry made with aurora borealis (AB) crystals displays more colors. This shimmering prism effect is caused by the reflections of light from surrounding colors in the environment. Think of the extra sparkle your jewelry would have if it was coated in millions of microscopic mirrors. This is the jewelry effect you get with Austrian Swarovski crystals coated in Aurora Borealis.

During the 1950’s the Daniel Swarovski company made important advances in the development of its crystal production. It experimented with manufacturing processes in which the stones were coated with wafer thin metal particles in order to increase their sparkle. This process required the material to be steamed in a vacuum. In 1956 Manfred Swarovski, the grandson of the company’s founder, created the Aurora Borealis effect which shimmers in every color of the rainbow.

To this day, Swarovski continues to demand the highest possible quality of their products to distinguish themselves from the rest of the market. They are incredibly secretive about their processes. Even their workers in the factories do not see what other workers are doing so that they cannot share any secrets with others.

So when you are ordering crystal jewelry, and you want that extra shimmer, ask for the Austrian Swarovski Aurora Borealis crystal.

The Glittering Facts About Swarovski Crystals

pronounced: Swore-off-ski

Swarovski crystals are glitzy yet affordable and currently Swarovski offers more than 100,000 different shapes, colors, sizes, and facet styles, and their collection now includes more than 50,000 different articles.

~ The word crystal is based on the Greek word krystallos, derived from kryosk, meaning icy cold.

~ Performer Liberace had a piano encrusted with Swarovski crystals.

~ Marilyn Monroe wore a skin-tight evening gown dripping with 6,000 Swarovski crystals while singing "Happy Birthday" to John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in 1962. This dress fetched $1.2 million at a Christie's auction in 1999.

~The replicas of the British Crown Jewels are made with Swarovski crystals.

~ Swarovski was also a sponsor for The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film), in which the "standing model" of the chandelier was composed of Swarovski crystals. A Swarovski shop window is also visible later in the film.

I honestly don't know if I could even make a guess at my current Swarovski inventory -that's how big it is! Although I will admit I do remember most of the items listed above that used Swarovski crystals -guess that is what made them so memorable in the first place. Which is why virtually all my jewelry designs incorporate Swarovski crystals in some way, or are entirely made using them.