Pearls are tiny sturdy precious object, roundish in shape, formed within the aquatic Mollusca known as the oysters. Oysters that are able to produce pearl belongs from a different family tree known as feathered oysters or The Pteriidae. Both cultured pearls as well as natural pearls can be found from this variation of oysters. Natural pearls are produced in wild places, without any human intervention whereas cultured pearls are produced in a pearl farm under certain conditions. The two types of pearls are considered to be of equally good quality, natural pearls are more precious than cultured pearls, as they are very hard to find.
Different from the common credence that pearls are perfectly round shiny objects, not all pearls, are so well-formed. Some pearls are formed in an uneven shape, owing to the shape of the irritant embedded between the mantle and the shell. These pearls are commonly the famous baroque pearls. Pearls come in different colors, and are found all over the Earth. Black pearls, which are very rare in nature, only exist in South Pacific. Though all types of oysters produce pearls, those created by some varieties are not attractive and with low commercial value and hence, aren’t used to produce pearl jewelry.
It is very important to know the anatomy of an oyster, and its body mechanisms to understand how oysters make pearls. The shell of the oyster is composed of two parts, which are connected by an elastic ligament. The ligament helps opening of the shell so that the oyster can eat. As the oysters start to grow, its the shell increasing in size. The increase of the oyster shell is facilitated by an organ known as the mantle. The mantle uses the some minerals in the oyster’s food to form this shell. The inner part of the shell is lined by nacre, a organic-inorganic substance produced by the mantle. Sometimes when the shell opens, a strange substance manages to slip into the inside of the shell and then resides between the shell and the mantle. As a protection reaction to this, the oyster covers this strange substance as a part of its self-defense mechanism. The same nacre that is used to form the shell is used to cover this substance by forming many layers over it. This eventually leads to formation of a small object which is referred to as a pearl.
Cultured pearls are produced with manual assistance. The farmer opens the shell of the oyster, cuts a small slit in the mantle and inserts a small piece of irritant, such as a sand. The oyster treats it as strange object and covers it with a lot of layers of nacre to create a pearl. Oysters can create pearls in freshwater as well as saltwater. To form cultured pearls in freshwater, only cutting a slit in the mantle is required, eventually nacre is secreted because of this strange object, and a pearl is created.
Natural pearls are very rare in nature, as not all oysters necessarily produce pearls, and the creation of a single pearl takes a lot of years. On an average any oyster takes 3 to 6 years to create a a pearl of the desired size. Though pearl diving has become an important commercial activity at the present time, tons of of oysters are killed just to get a single pearl.
Felipe has been writing articles for about 3 years. Come visit his newest articles at Mother of Pearl Jewelry which helps people find the best Mother of Pearl Necklace, including reviews and ideas of what people are looking when shopping.

The Art Institute of Chicago is a top destination for fine art experts, fine art lovers, and travelers from all over the world. It contains one of the largest collections of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in North America. Its diverse collection also includes significant displays of American art, American and foreign contemporary art, Asian art, and modern art. The Art Institute was founded in 1866 by a group of local artists with the vision of running an art school with its own art gallery. Today, the permanent collection encompasses over 5000 years of American and foreign art with over 260,000 art objects in its possession.
Five of the Art Institute’s famous paintings include:
1. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – One of Georges Seurat’s most famous works and an example of pointillism, the art technique of using miniature dots of different colors that form a single hue of color. It depicts a scene of people enjoying a leisurely day on the island of la Grande Jatte, located on the Seine River in Paris and serving as a retreat for a nearby housing development.
2. American Gothic – A very well-known painting by Grant Wood from 1930 of a farmer standing beside his unmarried daughter. It represents 19th century Midwestern Americana with men and women fulfilling traditional roles of the era. Wood’s inspiration came from a cottage designed in the Gothic Revival style with a distinctive upper window and a decision to paint the house along with “the kind of people I fancied should live in that house.
3. Nighthawks – A 1942 painting by Edward Hopper that portrays people sitting in a downtown diner late at night. It is considered Hopper’s most famous painting, as well as one of the most recognizable in American art. It was painted after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942 and is said to represent the widespread feeling of depression and gloominess during that time.
4. Bedroom at Arles – A title given to each of three similar paintings by 19th-century Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. The paintings depict Van Gogh’s bedroom in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhone, France, known as his Yellow House. Each of the three versions of the painting has its own improvements and idiosyncrasies with the third version being a reduction of the originals.
5. The Old Guitarist – A painting by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1903, just after the suicide death of Picasso’s close friend, Casagemas. It depicts an older man playing a guitar and seated in disturbed position. A feeling of melancholy is felt through the shades of blue color exhibited throughout the painting. It is also notable for the apparent pentimento involving an image painted underneath where Picasso originally began a woman’s portrait.

For more information and visiting tips, consult a Art Institute of Chicago Visitors Guide or visit Art-Museum-Guide.com.

The Panasonic Lumix LX5 is an awesome picture making machine. And while the Panasonic folks have not been able budge Canon and Nikon off the mountaintop in the digital SLR market, they sure have a huge slice of the market in compact cameras.
The LX5 could be their very best camera in that market.
Just what is it that makes this digital compact so special?
To answer that, you must look at more than one element of the camera.
Beginning with the lens, there is a wide aperture f/2.0 Leica lens in front of the 10.1-megapixel CCD image sensor. That sounds somewhat techy, but photographers know the value of Leica. That company has a respected name in the industry.
Speaking of “only” 10.1 megapixels, Panasonic has been a leader with regard to adding quality rather than quantity to the pixels in their sensors. We are finally getting the message that the number of pixels is not as important as the quality of those pixels. And experts have been proclaiming the excellence of this Panasonic sensor since the LX3 made its mark with pro photo shooters.
Also adding to the quality package is the ability to take those low-light shots without all the noise that is a common mark of compact digitals.
Compacts have been moving toward jpeg processing in the form of shooting modes that can be easily programmed with a button or dial, and, yes, the Panasonic LX5 has those, but for the pros, there is the ability to process RAW images so that post processing is so much more powerful.
Video has been taken up another notch, too, with a handy button that changes to video mode without having to interrupt the work flow of the photographer.
There is just so much control and power that has been built into this little pocket camera, that you owe it to yourself to check out the full review and comparison at www.digital-photographic-resources.com.
Panasonic is a recognized leader in the digital compact camera category. When it comes to “prosumer”, or high quality, compacts, the Panasonic Lumix LX5 is the choice of many pros.
See more at www.digital-photographic-resources.com.

You can find handbells for sale at several nautical decor retailers both online and offline. The historical significance of ship and handbells is what drives many nautical decor sites to produce quality bells for sale. Handbells are typically brass made, and can come with an engraving of the ship’s name on it.
When searching for handbells for sale it is important that you know a little bit about the history behind them. The chef of the ship was usually the one who had to look after and maintain the shine of the ship’s bells. In order to keep the sailors on time for their tasks, the ship’s bell and handbell were used to indicate the time. The four hour watch of each sailor was kept by ringing the eight bells of the ship, which signified half hour intervals. The time was kept easily due to the ship’s bell being struck in pairs at every half hour. Keeping in tune with tradition, many nautical retailers offer ship and handbells for sale that are made as authentically as possible.
The traditional uses of the ship and handbell are numerous. Baptisms of children aboard ships are sometimes done with ship or handbells. Following the baptism, the children then have their names engraved on the bell. The ship and handbell’s importance is still seen to this day. Whenever a ship is decommissioned its ship bells become souvenirs. Furthermore, the ship’s bell is used as a tool for identification if a ship is wrecked at sea.
Many nautical home decor retailers make it their priority to craft the finest authentic replicas of handbells possible. These ship and handbells are made to be shining examples of their real life counterparts. As such these bells are great for nautical decorations. Nautical decorations of a decent quality should be manufactured to be authentic. For this reason, there are many handbells for sale with solid polished brass for an exuberant finish. Most of these handbells for sale are fairly priced.
Many model ship retailers make beautiful handbells for sale of high quality solid brass. This should make the hand and ship bells feel heavy. An authentic handbell’s handle should be composed of a solid hardwood, such as shisham. The best handbells for sale come carefully crafted from master artisans with years of experience.
The tradition of these nautical handbells attract many customers. Many nautically themed rooms are decorated with ship bells and handbells. Model ship bells and handbells come in many types as well. For instance, there are brass anchor bells, brass hand bells, bracket bells, aluminum ship’s bells, chrome bells, and many more.