Quality Differences of body jewelry explained
In the world of body jewelry same like for any other products there exist huge quality differences in the materials used as well as in the design and production methods. Considering that there are very big price differences between them it is important to know exactly the differences and advantages and disadvantages of each of them. Even good websites from serious suppliers will specify clear in the item description the details of this item is rather difficult to find accurate information regarding these terms used. So in order to help our customer understand the differences we have created this section. Should you be interested in another comparison please let us know and we will upload it to this section as soon as possible.
Glue Set versus Bezel Set Jewel balls
Jewel balls are found as component of many body jewelry items. They can either be glue set or bezel set.
In the glue set method a cone shaped hole is drilled on the top of the ball. Than the crystal is glued inside the cone using normally a two components epoxy based glue. This method of gluing is very fast and can be done without machinery and by unskilled employees therefore jewel balls produced with this method are very cheap when compared to bezel set jewels ball however they have three main disadvantages.
1. Any glue will sooner or later degrade leading to the crystal falling out. Since glued jewel balls are the cheapest type of jewel balls price and not quality is the mayor selling point so most suppliers will use cheap glues which result in crystals falling out after just a very short time.
2. When the glue dries it will dry on one side of the crystal faster than on the other which leads many times to a tilted crystal which ruins the visual appearance of the body jewelry
3. In glue set jewel balls the upper edge of cone shape hole for the crystal often has sharp edges which are higher than the side of the crystal leading a an ugly appearance that the crystal is sitting to deep in the hole.
In the bezel set method the initial process is very similar in that at the start of the process a cone shaped cavity is drilled on the top of the ball. However this cavity will have the exact width of the crystal being just a little bit deeper. Than a crystal is placed inside the cone shaped cavity and after that the future jewel balls is put inside a hydraulic press which pressing down and slightly inward on the outer reshapes the outer raised rim to be bend slightly over the edges of the crystal ensuring that the crystal cannot falloff anymore. The machinery required for this is rather expensive and need to be handles by skilled operator since the amount of pressure need
Skilled employees therefore jewel balls produced with this method are more expensive than the glue set variant. But the following advantage justify the higher cost..
1. When done correctly the crystal will never fall out since the size of the crystal is bigger than the opening left on the top of the jewel ball. This allows customer to enjoy their piece of jewelry for a much longer period of time.
2. The crystal is always in exactly he correct position and not tilted to one side which result in a perfect apereance of the jewel ball.
3. Body jewelry users have become more and more knowledge lately and now demand high quality products and are willing to pay a higher price if the quality of the piercing justifies it. Due to this bezel setting is becoming the minimum quality standard of jewel balls used in body jewelry products.