Souvenirs from India

India is country that appeals to the senses: bright colors, exotic scents and a rich cultural experience. Richly pigmented saris, Nehru jackets for men, clattering bangles, and handmade shoes are excellent for adding a touch of vacation to your everyday life. Lacquered decorative items, inset with mirrors and jewels, are incredibly popular and distinctive, as well as 22k gold jewelry, ornately detailed with traditional symbols. Other souvenirs from India are brass and wood carvings in the shape of animals and buildings and statues of Ganesha, an elephant idol believed to remove obstacles from your path. Are you culinary inclined? Spices like Cardamom, cinnamon and saffron are excellent Indian souvenirs, and a way to share your memories with friends and family. The Republic of India is made up of a wild diversity of religions, histories and traditions, and each region has a slightly different twist on memorabilia.

Indian Celebration of Diwali

For many centuries, India was a collection of kingdoms, each with their own traditions, art forms, and culinary methods. You can see this reflected in the different foods served in each region, using local ingredients to their best advantage, and in the celebration of Diwali. Called the festival of lights, every religion and town has their own way of marking the occasion. In Goa, families clean their homes and light lamps to welcome the goddess Lakshmi. Andrha Pradesh celebrates by purchasing new homes and cars during the festival, and wearing new clothes. The town of Karnataka calls its festivities Deepavali, meaning “light and abundance.” 3 days of feasting are marked with firecrackers in the early morning and evening, as well as decorating homes with highly scented flowers. Tourists to India during the Diwali festival will be delighted by the melas, or local fairs. Acrobats, carnival rides, food booths and local vendors provide a uniquely Indian atmosphere.

Souvenirs from Indonesia

Souvenirs from Indonesia are a fantastic way to memorialize your vacation in this tropical getaway. You are spoiled for choice in the variety of arts and crafts created by the citizens. An intricate kite, made from paper, silk and light wood, can be found representing mythological figures or animals, and make a fantastic memento for the young at heart. Batik printed fabric is made into sarongs, house linens, and hammocks that will add a tropical touch to a home, or a carving of a local god or goddess could bring good luck to the recipient. Baskets and mats are woven from grasses, roots and leaves that grow in the Republic of Indonesia, and are available in a plethora of colors and styles. Wooden bowls and tableware are useful Indonesian souvenirs, but nothing could compete with brightly printed postcards, lovely beaded key chains, and refrigerator magnets for being ideal trip memorabilia.

Visiting Indonesia

There are many reasons that visitors choose Indonesia for their vacations, including magnificent natural sights, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and cultural attractions that have existed for thousands of years.

Home to some of the largest tropical forests still in existence, you will beautiful tigers, Javan rhinos, Komodo Dragons and Orangutans, as well as a diverse bird population. There are 167 volcanoes within the borders of Indonesia, with many that are easy for vacationers to access by walking and hiking. As befits the world’s largest nation of islands, surfing and diving are popular pursuits, with coral reefs, shipwrecks and many fish and sharks to explore. Beaches are a natural counterpart to all these watersports. There are many Buddhist and Hindu monuments to visit in the islands, especially in Central Java. Bali is associated with many colorful religious parades and temples. No matter where you visit in Indonesia, you will find something truly remarkable.

about SILVER and sterling silver

WHAT IS SILVER?

Overview

Silver is one of the elements (something that does not break down into other chemical components).  It is represented with the symbol "Ag," which stands for "argentum" -- the Latin word for both money and silver. Silver is valued in jewelry because it is very shiny when polished, reflecting all but 5% of light, and easily shaped (malleable).

Uses of Silver

Silver has many uses beyond jewelry.  Did you know that less than 30 percent of silver is used in jewelry? About one-half of all silver produced is used for industrial purposes.  No metal conducts electricity better than silver, which is why it is used in electronic devices (your cell phone, for example), solar panels, and many other gadgets. Silver is also used in photographic film, some medical products, dentistry, adhesives, and other things.

Silver Mining

Silver is found throughout the world. It is mined in the U.S. and Canada, South and Central America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and other locales. Most of the silver produced is a byproduct of copper and lead mining operations in North American, Russia and Australia. At the same time, silver is very rare and precious.  Only 0.0001 percent of the earth's crust is silver.  Silver is most likely to be found in the mineral argentite.

WHAT IS STERLING SILVER?

Composition of Sterling Silver

Sterling silver is an alloy consisting of not less than 92.5% silver and 7.5% of some other metal, usually copper.  Copper, nickel or other metals are added to make the alloy less prone to breakage and scratching.  Sterling silver made of silver and copper is about twice as strong as pure silver.

The 92.5% silver content standard for "sterling" originates in 14th Century England, where King Edward I decreed that silver coins must be stamped with its silver content.  In time, the 92.5 stamp came to be known as "sterling" and the rest is history.

Perhaps as a result of this successful effort to control the quality of silver items, the term "sterling" itself has come to mean "of the highest quality" (for example, "She has a sterling reputation.")

History

Sterling silver has been around for nearly as long as silver - at least 60 centuries.  Over the centuries silver has been combined with other metals to make it stronger.  Eventually, it was concluded that copper is the preferred mate for silver.  While jewelry styles may come and go, sterling silver has always been an alloy of choice to jewelry makers, and probably always well be.

Over the years, sterling silver has also been valued for reasons beyond its beauty.  Some cultures have attributed healing properties to it, while others have believed that it could bring good luck or thwart the efforts of evil spirits.

Throughout Asia, silver has long been equated with status and wealth.  In ancient Egypt silver was more valuable than even gold.  Over time, silver became an alloy that even those without great wealth could afford, usually as jewelry. One did not need to be born with the proverbial "silver spoon" in his or her mouth to have a sterling silver adornment.

Sterling silver is also equated in some cultures with certain ceremonials or milestones.  For example, Germany is generally credited with treating the 25th wedding anniversary as the "silver anniversary."

A Brief History of Bali Silver and Gold Work

The people of Bali and the rest of Indonesia have been engaged in metal work for several thousand years.  Here is a brief chronology of how they got to where they are today.

As humanity moved from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, knowledge of metallurgy spread slowly across Eurasia, Africa and Southeast Asia. Since the Bronze Age is a prehistoric period, much of what we know about it comes from archealogical finds.

The Bronze Age is typically defined as that period of time between 3500 BC and 1200 BC.  It is characterized by the mastery of bronze making, an alloy typically made of copper and tin. Eventually, these bronze working skills became more sophisticated, leading to iron working and the Iron Age.

The Bronze Age began 5500 years ago in the region we now know as Turkey, Iraq and Iran -- the cradle of civilization. It took nearly 2000 years for the techniques of bronze work to make it to the Indian continent. Scholars generally date the beginning of the Indian Bronze Age to about 3300 BC. It took another 1200 years for Bronze Age knowledge to make it to China and the rest of Southeast Asia, including the islands that now collectively make up Indonesia (which did not become a sovereign nation until 1949).

We can say with some certainty that the people of Bali and Indonesia have had metal working skills for at least 2600 years. It is not secret how they developed these skills. Trade with China, India, the Middle East and other regions has been established for several thousand years. Through these encounters and exchanges the skills of Southeast Asians advanced, including their abilities to work with silver and gold. The discovery of gold within the borders of what is now Indonesia fueled the advancement of these skills further. Many gold and silver jewelry artifacts have been found, for example.

By the 16th century AD Bali became known as for the exceptional quality of its silver and gold work. The traditons of the Balinese people inform them that their advanced skills were learned directly from the gods. Today many bead store owners and jewelry designers make regular pilgrimages to Bali to stock up on Balinese sterling silver beads, findings and jewelry.

One interesting development is that the Bali people themselves are traveling more and more and incorporating what they learn about their fellow Indonesians in their designs.  The item to the left in inspired by the art of Borneo and was created by our nephew Ming.