How Jewelry Feels: Buying Jewelry By Touch

We often forget, when looking at beautiful jewelry, that appearance is not all that matters. Beauty, even in jewelry, is more than just skin-deep; it has to do with weight and texture and how cold something is when you wear it. In short, jewelry that looks beautiful and appeals to your sense of touch has an added appeal.

This can be critical if you're buying jewelry for someone who is blind or visually impaired in some way. What jewelry can you get for your mother if she's losing her sight? Or for your sister who is color-blind and does not appreciate jewelry in the same way you do?

Look for tactile qualities in your jewelry as well as visual ones. Specifically, think about the following qualities:

Texture. This is the first, most critical tactile judgment. Jewelry is traditionally metal and stone – but what about the new trends in jewelry today, especially in necklaces, for using crocheted beads, leather, feathers, plastic, glass? Blending a variety of unique textures can add tactile pleasure to your fashion accessories.

Weight. We don't often think about this, especially when buying jewelry online, but if you have a plastic gemstone and a lead crystal gemstone, you can tell instantly. Light, airy necklaces give you a different feel from heavy pendants, and different drape as well. Heavy dangling earrings add a sensuous brush to your neck, and light studs let you forget about them. I still remember the shock when I first picked up an amber necklace and realized how light its heavy-looking beads were.

Material. Related to texture, the material your jewelry is composed of changes its nature. Nylon feels different from silk; leather is very different from even the best synthetic copycat materials. With more and more jewelry being made from nontraditional material, this is a growing consideration. The best rule of thumb is that natural materials wear better, look better, feel better, and clean better.

Sharp edges v. rounded edges. This is not about safety or comfort. Rather, it is about your tactile experience with your jewelry. Do you prefer smooth round pieces, or do you like some edges to your beads and pendants? Your own answer may surprise you.

If You're Buying Jewelry For A Person Who's Blind

There are three more things you need to consider if the actual wearer of your jewelry is blind.

Neutrality. A blind person or one who is visually impaired has trouble matching jewelry to clothes. If you purchase a simple piece that matches many things, or if you make sure that jewelry is tactilely very different from other pieces your blind friend owns, they can easily match jewelry to outfits. Multicolored jewelry is a good choice, like cloisonné. Neutrals, like jewelry based around gold, silver, and white, also work well.

Practicality. You have trouble with some lobster claw clasps – why torment your visually-impaired friends with them? If it's hard for you to put on, it's hard for them to put on. Instead of buying jewelry that requires complex fasteners, opt for bangles and stretchy bracelets, rings, long necklaces that just slip over the head, or even jewelry that uses magnets to fasten.

Safety. This sounds like a no-brainer -- but it's probably a bad idea to purchase pins for blind friends. Before buying something, close your eyes and imagine trying to put on that necklace, pin, or bracelet if you could not see what you were doing. You might be surprised.