Italian charm bracelet
Encyclopedia
An Italian Charm bracelet is a series of individual modular links hooked together on a stretchy band to form a single Italian charm bracelet
Charm bracelet
A charm bracelet is an item of jewelry worn around the wrist. It carries personal "charms": decorative pendants or trinkets which signify important things in the wearer's life.-History:...

. A typical Italian charm bracelet comprises eighteen Italian charm links. Each link features an Italian charm face (design or image) soldered onto the actual Italian charm link.

History

Designed in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, the Italian charm craze caught on and even soccer players wore these bracelets featuring their country's flag. In the 1990s, American tourists noticed the style and brought it back to the United States where the fashion caught on.

How they work

A starter Italian charm bracelet consists of eighteen blank links. In order to create a personalized Italian charm bracelet, these blank links are replaced with individually designed Italian charms. Italian charms are flat, modular links that hook together. While traditional charms
Charm bracelet
A charm bracelet is an item of jewelry worn around the wrist. It carries personal "charms": decorative pendants or trinkets which signify important things in the wearer's life.-History:...

 dangle, Italian charms feature individual pieces solder
Solder
Solder is a fusible metal alloy used to join together metal workpieces and having a melting point below that of the workpiece.Soft solder is what is most often thought of when solder or soldering are mentioned and it typically has a melting range of . It is commonly used in electronics and...

ed flat onto the surface of the link.

Italian Charms are compatible across brands due to standardized sizing. The modular design means that the charms on an Italian charm bracelet are interchangeable. An individual Italian charm can be switched out for a new look or to better suit the mood or changing interests of an individual.

Styles

An Italian charm bracelet can be assembled in many styles. Italian Charms can be grouped to follow a theme such as family, a specific color, career or hobby. Also, since there are many types of Italian charms, an Italian charm bracelet can feature a combination of styles. This may include laser Italian charms, photo
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...

 Italian charms, hand-painted Italian charms, authentic licensed Italian charms, deluxe-link Italian charms and dangle Italian charms among others.

Materials

Italian charms are most often crafted using stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....

 backing and a gold-plated or 18-karat gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

charm face. The face of the charm (which features the design) is soldered or glued to the stainless steel link. The charm itself may feature synthetic or genuine gemstones as part of its design.
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