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Eye Keep Garnet & Sterling Silver Collection Eye Keep – Gemstone Garnet & Sterling Silver Our Eye Keep is made from the finest gemstones of Garnet and an Irish Sterling Silver ring to keep and hold your glasses.  The ring has been stamped by the Dublin Assay Office and this hallmark is your guarantee of quality craftsmanship and quality materials. A little piece of history… Garnet dates back to the Bronze Age.  The name Garnet was derived from the Latin word granatium which means pomegranate. This was because the small, red crystals were thought to look like pomegranate seeds! Garnet has been a popular gemstone throughout history. The Egyptians used Garnet as inlays in their jewellery and carvings.  The ancient Romans used it to make signet rings and the nobility favoured Garnets in the Middle Ages.  It was the Victorians who fashioned clusters of the tiny red gems into larger statement pieces making the Garnet gemstone very popular during that era. Garnets are mostly associated with the colour red but can also be orange, pink, green, black and honey brown. Sterling Silver Silver has a long history.  The first evidence of silver mining dates back to 3000 BC to Turkey and Greece.  Today most of the world’s supplies of silver comes from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia. In Ireland, The Silvermines in Co. Tipperary is unique amongst Irish mines for two reasons.  Firstly, it contains sulphur.  Secondly, for its longevity. Mining at Silvermines dates back as far as 1298 when Italian miners came in search of silver.  The last working mine was closed in 1993. Size: 65cm Colour: Garnet Red Please note: All beads in the Garnet Collection are handmade so there are variations in sizes between each piece.  Each Garnet Eye Keep is made as an individual piece of jewellery. If you are interested in a piece and it is out of stock on the website please contact us and we can make one to order.

Eye Keep Garnet Sterling Silver Collection

Eye Keep Marble & Pearl Our Eye Keep is made from the finest gemstones of Connemara Kilkenny Cork or Ulster Marble and Cultured Pearls and an Irish Sterling Silver ring to keep and hold your glasses.  The ring has been stamped by the Dublin Assay Office and this hallmark is your guarantee of quality craftsmanship and quality materials. A little piece of history… Connemara Marble (Green ) is recognised as the iconic gemstone of Ireland.  It is found in Connemara which is in the western part of County Galway, Ireland.  Its use in jewellery is considered an indigenous industry and the quarrying of Connemara marble is a centuries-old initiative.  The marble is rare and beautiful and is found on the wild Atlantic coastline.  This Irish marble is as unique and as spectacular as the Irish coastline itself with colours of greens, lights and darks, sepias blacks and whites swirling through it.  No two pieces are the same, and have been formed by sediment deposit in the shallow primal sea over 600 million years ago. As well as being hugely popular in Celtic jewellery, Connemara marble has been used to adorn many buildings, especially churches and cathedrals namely Galway Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral in London and the Senate Chamber and Senate Post Office in the State Capital Building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America. Kilkenny Marble (Black) is a beautiful dark fine-grained carboniferous limestone found in County Kilkenny in the south-east of Ireland.  It is black in colour and speckled with light-coloured fossilised remains of sea creatures that became compressed into the seabed over 350 million years ago.  It has been quarried just south of Kilkenny since the 17th Century and has been used to adorn buildings of note as well as pave the city with highly polished flagstones which would glisten when wet, giving Kilkenny the name of the Marble City. As well as being used in buildings around Kilkenny, Kilkenny marble has been used to make the headstone of Daniel O’Connell in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, the altar of St. Patrick’s Church, Belfast and the plinth of the 2015 tomb of Richard III of England in Leicester Cathedral. Cork Marble (Red) comes from County Cork in the south of Ireland.  It dates back to the Carboniferous period, 350 million years ago and is described as a rare limestone with pebbles and the remains of fossilised sea creatures running through it.  Its colour ranges from grey, stained with varying shades of red from iron oxide, set in a deep red matrix. Cork Marble got its colour when the grey limestone reef beneath the warm shallow sea covering the region was buried beneath red sediment carried to the area by currents. Examples of Cork Red Marble can be found in the Museum Building at Trinity College, Dublin and Cobh Cathedral, County Cork. Ulster Marble (White) is a chalky white marble from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.  The marble is described as white but is more like an off white or deep cream colour.  This marble is so coloured due to the heavy deposits of chalk created by the shells of tiny sea creatures called coccolithophores laid down during the Cretaceous period (66-145 million years ago) and through a process of volcanic activity, the chalk-white limestone has been metamorphosed by heat to form marble. Examples of Ulster marble can be found in the Museum Building at Trinity College Dublin and in the Rotunda of the National Museum of Ireland.  It is also much in demand in fine jewellery making. Cultured Pearl A Pearl is a hard-glistening iridescent object formed within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusc and has been highly valued as a gemstone and object of beauty for centuries.  The most valuable pearls are natural pearls and they form spontaneously in the wild, are extremely expensive and rare.  The development of cultured pearls which are human creations made these beautiful gemstones more widely available and now 99% of all pearls sold today are cultured pearls.
Sterling Silver
Silver has a long history.  The first evidence of silver mining dates back to 3000 BC to Turkey and Greece.  Today most of the world’s supplies of silver comes from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia. In Ireland, the Silvermines in Co. Tipperary is unique amongst Irish mines for two reasons.  Firstly, it contains argentiferous lead and commercial amounts of copper, zinc, barytes and sulphur.  Secondly, for its longevity. Mining at Silvermines dates back as far as 1298 when Italian miners came in search of silver.  The last working mine was closed in 1993. Size: 61 – 64cm (24 – 25in) sizes vary, see below 25mm Sterling Silver Teardrop Ring Colour: Green and White Please note: All beads in the Marble & Pearl Collection are handmade so there are variations in sizes between each piece.  Each Marble & Pearl Eye Keep is made as an individual piece of jewellery. If you are interested in a piece and it is out of stock on the website please contact us and we can make one to order.

Eye Keep Marbles of Ireland and Pearl, Sterling Silver Collection

Eye Keep Murano Glass Sterling Silver Collection Our Eye Keep Murano Glass styles are made from Murano Glass Silver Foil Beads and are fitted with sterling silver wire, chain and findings with a sterling silver ring to keep and hold your glasses. These pieces are handmade in our workshop in Dublin. They are Approx 64cm (25 in) long and all are hand made to order
A little piece of history
Venetian glass has been made for over 1500 years. It has a long history of innovations in glassmaking in addition to its artistic fame. Its production has been mainly concentrated on the island of Murano off the coast of Venice since the 13th century. Most of the buildings were made of wood and the furnaces were a fire-hazard. As a result glass making was moved to the island of Murano to prevent Venice from burning down, the industry and the glassmakers were moved to the island of Murano. However, another reason the glass industry was moved off the mainland was to keep the secrets of glassblowing safe. The Venetian Government did not want any of their expertise leaking out to any potential competitor. This was an extremely profitable business. Glassmakers were highly skilled individuals and enjoyed a heightened social status. They were however, not allowed to leave the island without permission from the Government. Leaving the island without permission or revealing trade secrets to competitors was punishable by death. Art glass is what Murano is best known for today.  It is made up of rich colours and often has silver or gold leaf inside
Sterling Silver
Silver has a long history.  The first evidence of silver mining dates back to 3000 BC to Turkey and Greece.  Today most of the world’s supplies of silver comes from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia. In Ireland, the Silvermines in Co. Tipperary is unique amongst Irish mines for two reasons.  Firstly, it contains argentiferous lead and commercial amounts of copper, zinc, barytes and sulphur.  Secondly, for its longevity. Mining at Silvermines dates back as far as 1298 when Italian miners came in search of silver.  The last working mine was closed in 1993. Size:  64cm (25in) sizes vary, see below 25mm Sterling Silver Round Loop Colours: Pink and Blue

Eye Keep Murano Glass & Sterling Silver Collection

Eye Keep Sterling Silver Collection  At Woods & Byrne we use Sterling Silver in our Sterling Silver Eye Keeps. Each handcrafted piece features the stamp of the Dublin Assay Office. This is your guarantee of quality craftsmanship and quality materials. Our handmade eyeglass holders known as Eye Keeps, address the problem of where to keep your glasses when not on your face. The Eye Keep is a piece of functional jewellery worn around the neck like a necklace with a ring for your glasses to sit safely through so that they are close to hand at all times. In reality, it is a necklace for eyewear. The Eye Keep is ideal for anyone who wears reading or occupational glasses and perfect for your sunglasses. Our Eye Keeps come in everyday casual wear where we have cord eyeglass holders, to high-end jewellery pieces to include beaded eyeglass holders and pearl eyeglass holders, so there is one to suit all occasions. They come in a wide range of colours too. The Eye Keep comes with a velvet pouch.

Eye Keep Sterling Silver Collection

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