It is good to know that there are several places you can go to buy handmade semi precious jewelry or unique beaded bracelets to round out your jewelry collection. The best thing about handmade semi precious jewelry is being able to create something beautiful out of every day, manmade objects. You can take a piece of broken tile and make a pendant, find some sea glass and make a ring or a beautiful bracelet out of shells. Diamonds, precious stones & semi-precious stones come to us at a very high cost both financially and environmentally since many lives are lost in the effort to obtain them.
There is so much corruption, inhumane working conditions in the regions where these minerals are mined that it's hard not to wonder what the story behind every stone is. Big companies profit greatly from the riches they strip away from future generations and little is given back to those communities. Large companies take away the business from the small local miners. Therefore handmade semi precious jewelry is a much better option than expensive pieces.
The desire to profit from the minerals mined in underdeveloped countries sometimes turn neighboring countries against each other - handmade semi precious jewelry just doesn't put so much pressure on these companies. According to WorldPress.org, Sierra Leone's war over conflict diamonds began in March 1991 when a few hundred men crossed over the Liberian border and attacked towns in eastern and southern Sierra Leone. Early in 1992, the Revolutionary United Front, a ruthless rebel group seized Kono, the diamond mining capital of Sierra Leone. In an effort to stabilize the region and restore democratic civilian rule, the National Provisional Ruling Council (N.P.R.C.) became engaged in a war with R.U.F. rebels. The N.P.R.C. initiated "Operation Genesis" to drive out R.U.F. rebels, but was unsuccessful. The rebels, in turn, launched a vicious attack on Sierra Leoneans during the 1996 elections.
To intimidate potential voters and to maintain control of the diamond mines, the rebels chopped off the hands and feet of adults, teens, children and even infants. In spite of these brutal attacks, the R.U.F. was invited to participate in the elections. But the rebels once again reverted to their depraved tactics, amputating civilians' hands and feet. This diamond based war, so much different from the semi precious jewelry industry, lasted until very recently killing an estimated 6,000 civilians and mutilating many more.
Yet, when wearing create your own style Swarovski crystals you get the feel of beautiful sparkly diamonds but at 1/4 the cost and most likely no one's limbs cut off or killed in the process of making these pieces. This has to be the greatest benefit of selecting handmade semi precious jewelry. Daniel Swarovski created a machine to cut crystal to an unsurpassable level of perfection and precision. He and his partners found the ideal location for their company in Wattens, in the Austrian Alps. There were sufficient water resources there to power their machines. They were not stripping someone else's land for their gain. They built a huge family company with many different innovations and brands. Just one part or their corporation, the loose crystal elements, come in so many shapes and colors you are not limited to the typical color pallet or even the typical shape.
