Little Chinatown

This delicate little loop pendant has a lovely little cloisonne bead at the center and is surrounded by red, blue and orange beads with little golden accents.
The loop is double-strung with strong nylon coated wire and hanging from a satin cord which closes with a lobster-claw clasp that has a teeny starfish charm accent.

Cloisonne is an enameling technique in which thin wire partitions (called, cloisons) are filled with enamel. This technique is very old, and was practiced in ancient Byzantium and China. First, delicate strips of copper wire are bent to create a design, then are placed and soldered onto the bead's surface. Next, the spaces are filled with different colored enamels. Finally, the bead is fired and polished several times to produce the desired effect.