A: Orders are shipped via the United States Postal Service (USPS) and UPS. Please allow 1-2 weeks for item delivery. Gold jewelry, 4-6 weeks. We ship in the USA only!
Q: What payment methods are accepted?
A: Payment may be made by check, money order, credit card (Visa/Mastercard), Amazon Payments, Yahoo PayDirect, and PayPal (www.paypal.com).
Q: What is this made of?
A:
Alabastrite
A stone-based material that can be intricately molded and will allow paint to adhere. Cold-cast. Clean by dusting; do not wash with water.
Porcelain
Fine ground white clay, molded and fired in an oven for 8 hours at 1200 degrees. Finished with a glazed, underglazed, or bisque finish. Glazing produces a high gloss; underglaze produces a matte finish; bisque is a matte finish without glaze. After finishing, the item is "cooked" for 6 hours at 800 degrees.
Patchwork Porcelain
European designer fabric is stretched over Ceramic figurines, then coated with 12 layers of lacquer. Each application of lacquer is hand-polished, for a rich shine and an ultra-smooth finished texture. The texture of the fabrics can only be seen in the final pieces, not felt, because of the 12 layers of lacquer covering them.
Hong Tze
To closely emulate a special stone found in China which is known for its deep red color, these items are created using an alabastrite polyresin. Hong Tze pieces are highly polished, further bringing out the intense deep red color.
Frosted Acrylic
Acrylic items are given the French Lilac process, (used on glass), to achieve the distrinctive frosted look. The drama of frosted glass without the weight.
Dolomite
Usually gray, pink, or white mineral, essentially used as a construction and ceramic material, a furnace refractory, and in fertilizer. A magnesia-rich sedimentary rock resembling limestone.
Cubic Zirconia
The most successful simulated diamond. Properties such as refraction, hardness, and specific gravity are remarkably similar to diamonds. Cubic circonia are very hard to distinguish from diamonds; sometimes a jewelers loop will be needed to see the difference.
Diamond
Extremely hard, hightly regractive colorless or white crystalline ofcarbon. Diamonds, like all gemstones, are judged in terms of Carats, or weight (different from Karats, as in gold purity).
Gemstones
Rubies, sapphires, emeralds,amethysts, often treasured as birthstones. Gemstones are priced and graded by Carat weight.
Pearl
Smooth, lustrous, variously colored and round..pearls are formed as deposits around a grain of sand in certain shellfish. They may be formed naturally or "Cultured" through an artificial implanting process.
Gold
The ultimate precious metal. Virtually indestructible, amazingly malleable, doesn't rust or tarnish. Graded by purity; in the U.S. a scale of 24 is used, so 24 Karats (24K) is 100% pure. 18K is 18 parts gold and 6 parts alloy (other metals), and so on. 10K is the legal minimum for Karat-graded gold. The word "Plumb" indicates the exact purity of the piece.
Sterling Silver
To qualify as "sterling" a given piece must be composed of at least 92.5% pure silver.