Why BDSM Jewelry?
Our love of jewelry is ancient.
Primitive human beings adorned themselves with jewelry made of feathers, bones, shells, coloured pebbles, and other "found" materials. Items of jewelry often had religious or spiritual meaning. People believed they had magical properties, wearing or carrying amulets or talismans that would ward off evil or illness, or simply as good-luck charms.
They used jewelry as offerings to the gods and as burial ornaments.
These shells made into a necklace date from somewhere between 5,000 and 1,0000 years old.
Some jewelry pieces have even been used as weapons. A hat or hair pin came in handy as a stabbing weapon, and "gadget" rings and pendants could contain a hidden compartment that contained poison or some other small weapon. Larger and more obvious weapons could be decorated with precious metals and stones.
A jeweled sword.
A broach with a hidden dagger.
Many types of jewelry items still made today began as functional objects. Pins and brooches, for example, originated from the clasps that held clothing together. Rings and pendants evolved, at least in part, from early seals used as signs of identification, rank, and authority.
A 2000 year old ring of a high ranking official.
This ancient ring was used as a seal.
Now used almost exclusively for decoration, jewelry is a pillar of the fashion industry.
It has become an integral part of the self-adornment of people all over the world.
While the underlying attraction has always been personal adornment, the value of jewelry for symbolic purposes cannot be denied. Throughout the ages, jewelry has been designed to be symbolic of such attributes as wealth, rank, status, power, and authority. It has been symbolic of group membership or status, identifying the wearer in some way either to his/her community at large or to others in a select, sometimes secret, organization. Some types of jewelry - especially rings - have come to be associated with romance and sentiment. Jewelry is now greatly prized as a gift or inheritance, because people can attach their own personal significance and memories to it.
For many of the above reasons, then, quality jewelry that is associated with BDSM is in great demand.
Whether its purpose is for adornment, symbolism, or a combination of both, you are guaranteed to find among these pages a variety of high-quality jewelry items to suit your needs. Wearing BDSM jewelry that has a quiet symbolic meaning will mean that, when in the company of others with a like mind, the jewelry has a BDSM lifestyle significance. However, when worn 24/7 this jewelry is acceptable in public and can be worn when in the company of "vanilla folk".
Examples of the BDSM Jewelry that I make.
In a similar fashion to that seen in the designs used for the Story of O Slave rings, the Story of O slave jewelry has the shackle incorporated into it. The Story of O shackled heart pictured here makes a subtle statement. It can be worn every day as just a lovely piece of jewelry. To those who recognize the significance of the shackle, this heart shows that the wearer has a BDSM aspect to their life.
