Jet Set Restaurant Reading, Pennsylvania Menus!: Come to the Largest Mardi Gras Party in Town! This Thursday @ Jet Set Restaurant. 118 South 9th St. Reading For Info: 215-650-3587 --------------------- Essential Wardrobe Accessories: Lampwork Bead Necklaces No outfit is complete without essential jewelry accessories that finish and define it. As every woman knows, the simple black dress can be transformed from casual to work to evening with a quick change of jewelry to expand even the most basic clothing wardrobe to be suitable for any occasion. Today's trends in jewelry include a focus on beautiful beaded necklaces, bracelets, and earrings that bring color and movement into uniquely styled pieces. Inexpensively priced, any woman can collect a wide variety of exquisite handmade glass jewelry to define every outfit in her wardrobe. Handcrafted lampwork beads are among the most distinctive and popular choices in fine beaded jewelry. Each bead is unique with multiple colors and designs, offering depth, interest, and beauty reflecting the great skill and expertise from the artisan in each individual bead. Well designed lampwork bead necklaces, bracelets, and earrings are true works of attention-grabbing art that are affordable to be worn every day. Lampworking is a specialized skill that requires considerable patience and practice. Using a torch, the tips of narrow, colorful glass rods are melted in the flame and wound around a thin length of stainless steel, called a mandrel. The mandrel creates a space when it is later removed to create a hole in the bead through which the bead can be strung onto a cord or wire to make jewelry. Additional colors and decorative elements are introduced as the bead is turned and manipulated. Lampwork beads are then cooled in a kiln to ensure a constant heat throughout the bead to prevent cracks that result from a bead that is too quickly cooled from the outside in to the center. The process is known as kiln annealing in which the beads are slowly brought down to room temperature over a period of hours. This process results in strong, resilient glass bead that resists cracking and breaking. Handcrafted glass beads can be quite simple or quite decorative depending on the goal and skill of the artist. Multiple layers of glass may be used to create stripes, free form, or floral designs in beads of any shape desired. When purchasing fine lampwork bead necklaces, bracelets, earrings, or sets, look for beads that are well shaped and smooth, including the edges of the opening. Ask if the beads were annealed rather than insulation cooled since this process is essential for jewelry that will last beautifully for many years of enjoyment. Firefishbeads (http://ift.tt/1iaKKHX) offer some of the finest in handmade lampwork borosilicate beads and Swarovski necklaces.