• Our Process
Seana, owner of Amano Studio, in her workshop designing jewelry

Our Process

It often begins with a drawing which is made into a model by our model maker. We also reclaim vintage designs that have come back into fashion from the New England archives of molds of American jewelry making history. Before the rise of outsourcing, New England was a manufacturing powerhouse of jewelry (fine and fashion). As a history lover and amateur anthropologist, this is Seana's favorite part of the job. So we hunt and gather components (chain, stampings, castings, stones, beads) and assemble/make them into a piece of jewelry. We partner with other US craftspeople and manufacturers to do the heavy lifting of casting, stamping and plating. We are only a small group of people and we can not do it alone!

MATERIALS

  • Our Materials

    There is so much attention on materials from the consumer and there is also a lot of misunderstanding. So here is a little bit of information about materials we use...

  • Brass

    We love brass here. It's an alloy made of copper and zinc. It is lead and nickel free and it's made of recycled metals (especially copper). Everyone loves the warm, earthy, bohemian look of brass and it is also affordable! Brass does have its challenges though. It will oxidize with time. However, unlike plated jewelry, brass can be polished up again and again to look like new.

  • E-Coat

    A relatively recent development in fashion jewelry is ecoat which is a protective film (basically plastic) that resists tarnish and creates a piece that is hypoallergenic, great for sensitive skin. We coat all of our plated silver and rose gold and some gold pieces.

  • Stack of gold bangle bracelets sitting on a piece of rose quartz

    Gold Plating

    Electroplating is a process by which a very thin layer of genuine fine gold (24k) is applied to a base metal (for us that is always brass).  The gold is measured in micro inches or microns. When people label plating as 24k or 14k that only refers to the color of the gold and does not mean that the plating is of higher quality or a higher fine gold content. Gold plating is a good, economical way of creating high quality costume jewelry. Most of our jewelry is plated with 7-10 mil (micro inches) of 24k gold so it is a very high quality.

  • Gold Fill

    (from Wikipedia) Gold filled jewelry is jewelry composed of a solid layer of gold (typically constituting at least 5% of the item's total weight) mechanically bonded to a base of either base metal. The related terms "rolled gold plate" and "gold overlay" may legally be used in some contexts if the layer of gold constitutes less than 5% of the item's weight. Gold-filled items, even with daily wear, can last many years though the layer of gold will eventually wear off exposing the metal underneath. The layer of gold on gold-filled items is 5 to 10 times thicker than that produced by regular gold plating.

  • STERLING SILVER

    Sterling silver is a precious metal that is good for sensitive ears. It will tarnish but you can always clean it right up with silver polish.

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