Oriental Princess

Description

The deep red, intricately carved focal bead in this necklace reminded me of cinnabar. Cinnabar is mercury sulphide, one of nature's rare lipstick colored minerals! It is also the commonly used name for a Chinese handicraft where a desired shape was painted with multiple layers of lacquer into which the red mineral Cinnabar was mixed. Once a certain thickness was achieved, the lacquer was then carved intricately to create patterns on its own surface! The result was stunning but since the mineral Cinnabar is toxic, it was also deadly! The 'Cinnabar' of today is therefore a completely harmless, non-toxic resin dyed red to look like the real thing. Now enough of the science class... :-)

The Forbidden City in China, beautiful, regal women in yards of deep jewel colored silks, gold drapes, intricate carved décor... images floating around in my head when I saw this bead! As the design formed in my mind, I pictured it worn by an Oriental Princess, hence the name.

Oriental Princess has a large cinnabar look alike resin focal bead. This is framed by gorgeous metal castings that I was desperate to use in a piece of jewelry for ages! In my signature asymmetric style, one side of the necklace picks up the color of the focal bead and mirrors it while the other side is a double strand of gold tone chain. More gold tone chain drips in layers from he necklace to create a sumptuous yet delicate feel. Oriental Princess is a mid-length necklace.

Added on Aug 22, 2009

Shipping

Item ships from: Australia

ship to:	cost:	with another item:
Australia	$5.00 USD	$2.50 USD
Canada	$8.30 USD	$4.15 USD
Hong Kong	$7.00 USD	$3.50 USD
New Zealand	$6.30 USD	$3.15 USD
United Kingdom	$9.70 USD	$4.35 USD
United States	$8.30 USD	$4.15 USD
Everywhere Else	$9.40 USD	$4.70 USD