Heard about Kate Bosworth's jewelry line?

Baguette - A rectangular faceted shape, typically applied to rhinestones but also to precious/semi-precious stones cut in the same shape.

Basse-taille - An enameling technique where a transparent or translucent enamel is applied over a raised design. The earrings shown below illustrate this technique.



Cab, cabachon - Refers to a piece, usually semi-precious stone but may be lucite or glass, with a flat back, designed to be mounted, set or wire-wrapped. They may be used in pendants, bracelets or brooches, or glued on a 'pad' for earrings. The shape may be regular (round, oval, square or rectangular) or not - many 'cabs' used for wire-wrapping are irregular in shape. The photo below shows an assortment of shapes and sizes.



Chaton - The standard, round-cut rhinestone with a pointed back. The AB crystals shown above are typical chatons.

Color-lined - Typically refers to seed beads that have a transparent outer layer, clear or colored, with a contrasting or complimentery color lining; variations include silver-lined and gilt-lined.

Damascene - A finish with blackened enamel and goldtone - perhaps better illustrated than described. Many of these pieces originate in Spain, and may include colored enamel and inlay, like the bracelet below which has mother-of-pearl inlays and yellow enamel on the birds.



Demi, Demi-Parure - refers to a partial set of jewelry. A 'Full Parure' should consist of necklace, bracelet, earrings, and brooch. Often three pieces are referred to as a 'full' parure, while two pieces are referred to as a 'demi-parure'.

Givre - refers to a glass bead that has two or more colors combined; they may be swirled, or a subtle shading from one end to the other.

Guilloche - An enameling technique in which a continuous pattern is etched into the underlying metal, and then a transparent/translucent enamel is applied, leaving the underlying pattern visible. The pin below shows a fairly common guilloche pattern in jewelry, although it's difficult to see the pattern underlying the white areas of the pin in this photo.



Intaglio - Refers to a reverse-carved figure in glass, most commonly found in pendants. The carving is usually from the back, but may be from the front, and gives a wonderful three-dimensional look to the piece.

Montees - Full term is Rose Montees. Rose has nothing to do with color or shape! These are beads/buttons with two perpendicular 'holes' on the back. You may also find sliders referred to as montees - but these typically have two holes on opposite sides. The classic Rose Montee is a round larger rhinestone, but they can also be found in a variety of other shapes. The photo below shows a variety of 2-hole beads: the classic montee, in two shapes, is on the left; the blue rose is a 2-hole variety which may be used either like a montee, or with parallel strands; the pink butterfly is a typical 'slider' bead; and the tiny crystal on the right is a variation of the montee, typically used for buttons - in this case, doll buttons.



Moonglow - Applied to both lucite and glass - lucite moonglow beads appear to be lit from within, a beautiful effect; moonglow glass normally has colored glass, possibly with designs impressed, with a layer of clear glass over the top. I've come across the moonglow glass most commonly with buttons.

Navette - Refers to an elongated oval shape with pointed ends; usually with rhinestones, but may also be applied to precious and semi-precious stones with a similar cut.

Niello - A style of finish found in sterling jewelry and some other silver pieces; a matt black background enhances a polished silver design. These often show up in pieces labeled from Siam - which formally became Thailand in May of 1949 (so, any pieces that are stamped Siam may date back at least 50+ years!). The dancer shown on the brooch below is typical of Siam pieces.



Plique-au-Jour - Refers to pieces created by enameling without a backing; not unlike cloisonne', but typically the supporting metal borders around the enamel are heavier, and because there is no backing the translucent enamels allow light to show through. This brooch is a lovely example.



Repousse' - Applied to raised silverwork designs created by hammering the piece from the back to create the raised areas, then detailing it from the front.

Vitrail - An effect created by adding something to the base glass mix before the crystals are formed which alters the reflectivity of the crystal - as compared to a coating like aurora borealis. The photo on the left shows a Vitrail Light large crystal and Vitrail Medium beads; the one on the right shows the beads in comparison with the AB crystals described above..



I hope you've picked up at least one new term for your jewelry vocabulary! I don't consider this guide completed, but don't yet have photos to illustrate some of the terms listed. However, I hope the information provided will be helpful on your next 'shopping trip'!