FAQ about Baltic Amber
What is Amber?
Amber is a fossilized resin originating from pine trees. It was formed approximately 45 million years ago.
In terms of health benefits, the most effective Amber comes from the Baltic Sea region. This variety of amber contains between 3-8% of succinic acid that influences healing properties of this natural gem. It is possible to get amber in other parts of the world as well. For example, Amber is frequently found in countries like Mexico. Although amber from this location has lower amounts of succinic acid, which results in fewer healing features. In Amber & Gemstones shop we sell only natural Baltic Amber that originates from Lithuania.
Baltic Amber has been used in folk medicine for thousands of years. It is believed that amber has healing and positive properties in the emotional, spiritual, mental and physical range. Amber is natural and warm stone, which it is pleasant to wear or have it around.
How to Care for Amber Jewelry?
Since Amber is organic resin it can be quite fragile and sensitive to our surroundings. Hence when cleaning Amber jewelry it is important to do that carefully. It is recommended to wash it with warm water (not too hot) and by using a soft cloth. After washing it, allow it to dry in the air. In case you are cleaning a polished Amber piece, you can use a bit of olive oil for polishing and making a piece more shining. Use a soft cloth in order to eliminate all the excess oil afterwards.
When cleaning Amber jewelry avoid using detergents or cleaners with chemicals as they can damage a piece. Also, it is recommended to use hairsprays or other perfumes before putting your amber jewelry on.
The other thing to keep in mind about Amber is that it is quite sensitive to temperature fluctuations. So, whenever you are in a very high or low temperature, it is best not to have your Amber jewelry with you. Take it off before beginning to cook, entering sauna or going for skiing & running in the winter season. It is also important to mention that Amber should not be left in direct sunlight for a long period of time. Sunlight can damage Amber and its appearance; hence don’t wear it while going for sunbathing.
Many wearers of Amber jewelry also frequently ask if they can wear it in the water. Amber itself can be in water and it won’t get damaged. However, many Amber jewelry pieces are made with a string, clasps from other materials or it contains other gemstones. Prolonged periods in water might weaken a cord or damage other jewelry components. Due to this our recommendation would be to wear it only when necessary.
We recommend keeping your Amber jewelry piece in a soft pouch or separate tiny box. It will help to prevent other sharp objects from scratching or damaging Amber. This way your Amber jewelry will always shine and look like new.
Are Amber Teething Necklaces, Bracelets or Anklets Safe?
When making Amber teething jewelry, manufacturers of these products make them with safety in mind. This is very important, because they are worn by different age children.
One of safety precautions in this kind of jewelry are individually knotted beads. In a matter that one of the beads in the necklace or bracelet would ever break, knots from both sides would allow only one bead to fall. This greatly reduces the possibility of all beads falling and creating chocking hazard for a child. Hence when buying Amber teething jewelry, make sure that a piece has this safety feature.
The other safety precaution in Amber teething jewelry is clasps and there are two types of them. Due to safety regulations, in Europe Amber teething necklaces are mostly sold with pop type of clasps. They are made so that a necklace would become undone in a matter of a stronger pressure. These types of clasps can help to avoid possible strangulation hazard in a matter that a child would get caught on something. However, the obvious downside of pop clasps is that a child can take off jewelry piece by himself or herself easier. Screw type of clasps are more frequently used in Amber teething necklaces that are sold outside of Europe. The main advantage of them is that a child won’t take a bracelet or necklace with them so easily.
Another thing to check when buying Amber teething jewelry is the type of cord used. During manufacturing Amber & Gemstones only uses reliable and certified 100% polyester string. This cord is very strong. Hence even after wearing Amber necklaces and bracelets for a long time, the jewelry doesn’t break easily.
We also highly recommend measuring neck, arm or ankle before selecting the correct size for Amber jewelry. Wearing necklace or bracelet that is too loose or too tight can cause additional safety risks. Wrong size anklet or bracelet can fall, and too loose necklace can allow a child to put it in the mouth. After some time, it is also important to remeasure. It is possible that your child has overgrown the jewelry and it is no longer suitable for his / her current age.
Despite these mentioned precautions, we should point out that Amber Jewelry shouldn’t be worn by children without adult supervision. Whenever a child is unsupervised (even during the night), we highly recommend removing all jewelry.
What are the Colors of Amber?
In Amber & Gemstones website we offer jewelry with the most popular Amber Colors. You can find pieces made of cherry, cognac, lemon, milky, green, honey color beads. While we categorize our jewelry based on these mentioned colors, it happens that due to naturality beads are either lighter or darker. Also some Baltic Amber beads have tiny imperfections or bubbles that makes each piece look unique and one of the kind.
From all colors of Amber, milky color tends to be valued the highest buy Amber jewelry lovers. This is because it tends to be quite rare and also not artistically changed or enhanced in any way. Availability of green Amber is also a bit lower, hence you might need to pay a little more for green Amber jewelry. The most popular color of Amber is cognac. For some reason most buyers associate Amber with this color so they request this color in particular.
Raw and Polished Amber. Which One to Choose?
Whenever reading information articles on the internet about Amber it is quite common to come across an argument that raw Amber jewelry is more useful for human health. It is suggested that for some reason raw amber can have more Succinic Acid content. In reality this argument doesn’t have much logic in it. Both polished and raw Amber beads are made from the same material so succinic acid can’t differ. The only difference is that polished Amber undergoes more manufacturing processes so that each piece would become pretty and shining. However, polishing is done on the surface of each Amber piece and the inside stays untouched.
Hence when choosing between raw and polished Amber jewelry, your choice should be based on your personal preference. In Amber & Gemstones website we offer a few designs that feature both polished and raw beads. So if you want to try both, this can be a possible solution for you.
What are The Shapes of Amber?
If you are not new to Amber Jewelry, you have probably already come across terms like baroque, bean or chips. So what does these terms actually mean? The answer is quite simple. Manufacturers of Amber jewelry quite commonly use these terms to describe the shape of Amber beads. The most popular beads used in jewelry making are baroque. These beads are almost round hence they are preferred by customers who want to wear Amber Jewelry conveniently around their skin. Almost round shape ensures that there are no sharp edges on jewelry piece. Making each Amber bead in this shape requires top quality Amber and also a lot of material is being lost during manufacturing process. Due to these reasons Baroque Amber Jewelry tends to be priced higher.
Bean or Olive shape is also quite popular in Amber jewelry. As the name suggest, the shape is oval and quite similar to beans in appearance. Jewelry made from these beads are similarly priced as baroque, although due to lighter weight it is possible to get them slightly cheaper.
Chips or nugget term is used to describe Amber beads that are irregular in shape. They are made from the lowest quality Amber, hence they are priced significantly lower. The obvious disadvantage of Chips jewelry is that some beads might have sharp edges or parts.
Ambergemstones.com assortment for Amber beads and jewelry consists of two main shapes - baroque and bean (olive). Due to lower popularity, we rarely make jewelry from round or chips (nuggets) beads. Although if you have larger wholesale order request for them, we can produce it too.