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Part 2: I kept the jade bangle on that I was going to trade, and wanted to wear it out to dinner and a nightclub with friends because it is so pretty and needed showing off. I had worn it all day and for some reason it was bothering me, although it wasn't uncomfortable. By the time we went out, I had a low grade headache and was feeling irritable, and I continued to feel strange all evening, even got a sore throat. I took the bangle off and replaced it with my regular "calm spirit" soft color jadeite and woke up the next morning feeling good. Then I changed bangles again to wear the high energy one for the day. I got the headache, irritability and realized that the jade was too "high energy" for me, and what was bothering me was that it was too yang, and causing yang symptoms. The temperature has been in the high 90's here in central Florida, and I always wear a cooling, "yin" soft jadeite in the summer for balance. As a qi healer and Reiki master, I'm very sensitive to qi energy, but was still surprised at how the jade was affecting me. So it's back to my "calm spirit" jadeite for the summer. If you wear jade as "medicine" for balancing, keep that in mind during the summer. Wear your soft color when it's hot, and save your pretty high energy jade for cooler weather. If you have a similar experience to share, I'd love to hear from you. June 30

Part 1: I went to a trade show this past weekend, and there is a Chinese vendor I "trade" with. His family is from the northern provences in China and he gets me the colorful natural "river jade" bangle bracelets, and I usually trade him for one of my good quality jadeite bangles which his wife and daughter love because they can't this kind of quality in the northern China. They wear small Chinese size, so I put on a jadeite bangle that had some deep green pattern on it, like calligraphy writing, that is very cherished pattern in China. It's a "high energy" jadeite his daughter would like similar to BB1011 (click to view) Unfortunately he was unable to trade because he told me his business has been so low this year, he is just hanging in hoping the economy will get better. He sells mostly semi- precious gemstone beads on strands. So I purchased what he had brought especially for me. There were perhaps 25% of the usual vendors, and there were few buyers. It's disturbing to see that these kind of specialty, natural items are getting higher in price, and with the poor economy, buyers aren't buying. In fact today I received an email from a customer who told me she has been unable to find these natural stone that aren't overly dyed, and in her price range. We small businesses are struggling with increased costs of not only merchandise, but also costs to accept your credit cards and Paypal payments, web hosting, advertising and internet fees. If you really want to purchase a jade bangle bracelet, and need a discount and are willing to send a money order so I can pass along what I don't have to pay for credit card/paypal fees as your discount, contact me and we'll work something out for both of our benefits. Part 2 of the story tomorrow, about jade energy. Our Century Link DSL internet is still not working right, so if you don't get a response right away, it's because I can't get online. What a situation for an internet business! June 29

Readers have asked for photos about the jade cubes needed to make beads or balls. You can see how much must be lost to making the ball shape, making them costly. June 28

I saw an article in the newspaper about a jadeite necklace brought $5.4 million at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 35 translucent vivid emerald green fine texture (old mine "lao pit"). The beads ranged in size 12.5-15mm, the clasp was diamond and platinum signed Cartier, and 20 inches long. Sounds fabulous! Beads are cherished, and rarest form of jade jewelry because of the wastage in carving. I have a video of the carving process of jade ben wa balls, and first a cube is cut, then the bead carved from the cube, so lots of waste. While I'm waiting for Century Link to get our internet up and running, I've been cleaning and sorting my inventory, and found a few 14mm jade bead bracelets on elastic. I stuck them out of the way so I could give them as special gifts, and forgot about them, so they are on the Special page. I kept one for myself, might take another one, because they are truly beautiful and have a good energy feel to them. But they are not $1 million :) June 27

I apologize for not keeping up on the blog, and the reason is Century Link internet service provider is failing us miserably. We started having problems Wednesday, and you know how it goes, they blame everything inside the house, not their service, but neighbors on both sides also have Century Link and have intermittent service. So when the tech came Friday, I invited both neighbors over to let them know the problem is extensive. The tech acknowledged the problem, but wasn't able to fix it, so he left, leaving us without the service all weekend. Big grade of F to Century Link for poor customer service and no follow up. So no new products, no blogs, and maybe no response to emails until we get our service restored, or I take the laptop to a hotspot to upload. Anyone have good service from Brighthouse, and get a bonus for a referral? Let me know! June 26

Several readers have written that they have the OPI nail polish shade "Jade is the New Black" and love the way it looks with their jade jeweler. Some of us wear it only on our toe nails, but it still makes those jade bangles stand out! Whether your jade is soft, translucent and pale green, or deeper green, that OPI "Jade" color looks great, and the jade and polish enhance each other. It's a fun color for summer, too. Looks great with all my outfits, which surprised me because it didn't seem that neutral in the bottle. I wore it out to dinner with a ruffle top print blouse, yellow, brown, olives shades and got lots of compliments. So have fun with your jade this summer. Wear a different color nail polish, enjoy your jade and your life! June 24

I have always had a selection of jade bangle bracelets that are value priced so there will be prices for every budget. If you have a good eye for jade, you will find them, the low prices that should be double the price. On the Jade Bangle Bracelets web site, you can find them in the $100-250 category. Sometimes customers ask me to put one of these jade bangles as a Daily Special, but they are already priced so low I can't discount them further. Sorry about that, as some of you do ask. Today's Daily Special is $25 off jade bangles $325+ on the Jade Bangle Bracelets web site when you pay with Paypal. You don't need a Paypal account, you pay with your credit card as you normally would, and then click the "continue" button after you make your payment to return to the JBB web site to get your itemized receipt. You need to click back to the web site for your order to be completed. Your $25 qualifying discount will be refunded when your order is processed. June 23

China has been under world, mostly USA, pressure to stop pegging its renmenbi to the US dollar and let it float and this weekend they announced they would do so. One of their finance ministers also cautioned "be careful what you ask for". When the news was announced, the Dow Jones rose, until Walmart announced that their prices would increase because they bought so much from China, and now would have to pay more for it, and pass that on to the consumer. Then the market DJ dropped again. So that's the double edged sword. What does that mean for YYJ? Since we buy everything from China, it means our dollar buys less and we will have to pay more, like WalMart. Also, Chinese workers now have freedom to strike for better wages, and the Chinese workers want to make more money. So do the jade carvers. When we get our next shipment, the costs of the jades will be higher. Whether you buy at YYJ or Walmart, or any store that gets products from China, buy now, because prices are only going to go up. June 21

The Monday Daily Special is a stunning jadeite pendant with bagua and floating yin yang, symbols of Daoism. My working definition of Daoism is "living in harmony with nature". It's also the source of Chinese medicine, feng shiu, the I Ching Book of Changes, and tai chi. And nature always changes, so if I keep that in mind, when I deal with everyday frustrations I can take them in stride. Changing over to a new PC computer with Windows 7 has the potential to make me crazy, so I've been wearing one of these pendants to help keep me balanced. One of the things that's making me the most crazy is my digital camera and photo editing software isn't compatible with Windows 7 and I can't get the jade photos to look as good as they should (in other words, accurate photos!). So the Weekly Specials will be very low priced until I figure out what I need to do to get back on track with our usual high quality photos. Many of you know the "real thing" is always nicer than the photo, so now is your chance to snap up a jade bangle that I will price higher when I get a better photo! The learning curve here is steep, and you are in luck with great prices this week. June 20

A reader writes:"I have been reading your article on Jade Care.You suggested using car wax. Would the chemicals in the car wax affect the jade in a negative way?
I recently took out an antique jade piece and am cocerned to see blotches that have lost the shine.
What is your remedy"
Response: Natural and untreated jade stone won't be damaged by surface chemicals it comes in contact with. I have noticed some jade sellers warning about not letting jade come in contact with perfumes, lotions, etc, and indeed these will harm color treated jade. So if you jade is A quality and natural color, the wax is a good way to polish it. I use Pledge for a quick polish up (although the jade I wear is A and good polish, so doesn't need it but sometimes it gets a lot of sunscreen on it). When jade gets old and scratched, the car wax has fillers that help make your jade look better.For an antique piece of jade that you want to polish, I would clean it really good, then use melted beeswax to spread lightly on it, let it dry, then polish with soft cloth.
Thanks for your questions, as other readers enjoy reading about them, too. June 18

A customer wrote about the order she received, which was an exchange of an item. She complained that I used the same bubble wrap that she used to return the item, and that I "should" use new material. Actually, I'm proud that I go to great lengths to recycle packing material. When I receive a package, I pull out and set aside any packing material I can reuse. There are two businesses that save their bubble wrap and small boxes for me, and I pick them up as soon as they call because I truly appreciate that they saved it for me and we can recycle together. Working with jade for so long has helped me to respect nature more, and recycling is extra work, but our planet needs all the help it can get. We can't do anything about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, but we can do our part in our own lives to help save the planet from tons of waste. It seems like so little in comparison to the horrendous oil disaster, but it's being part of the solution instead of part of the problem. So please be tolerant of the recycled bubble wrap that protects your precious Ying Yu Jade order. June 17

I got another box of jade bangles out of storage today, and was surprised to see how "old" they are. I purchased them several years ago when jadeite was much less expensive and there were more good green jade bangles available. I decided to offer them at the 2005 prices for awhile so you jade lovers can stock up on some jade bangles priced under $300 (watch for these in Daily and Weekly Specials). It's fun to get these out of storage, because its like getting something new. When jade prices started increasing I bought every jade bangle I could get my hands on, not knowing that there would be a jadeite embargo in 2008 and then the closing of the main jadeite mine, followed by shortage of good green color jade bangles. A friend sent me an article about jadeite becoming more rare and if you love it, having some in your investment "portfolio". Jadeite is certainly precious, but with low YYJ prices you can also enjoy wearing jade every day. June 16

You can have a fabulous inventory of unique and high quality jade, but if you don't have a place to sell it, it doesn't do you much good. These days, you need an e-commerce web site to sell online if you hope to make a living in the jade business. YYJ web site started out small in 1999, learning as we went, until we have a considerable web site and web presence today. I had decided to make the change from PC to Mac systems at the end of last year, and purchased a Powermac laptop to start getting new software and learning how to use it, and have it to take when I travel so I could keep up business. However, when I started buying the software, I realized it was going to cost several thousand dollars to make the change. Macs are excellent for their programs, back up programs, as well as for fun with iPods, iPhones, iTunes, and photo management. So it breaks my heart to decide to sell the Powermac without ever using it, and taking a loss now to avoid spending the thousands of dollars needed to keep the YYJ, JadeBangleBracelets and Calm Spirit web sites the quality they are now. As a small business, I can't get the more sophisticated shopping cart systems that give multi views of merchandise like major stores have, but ours does the job. It's costly for web hosting, e-commerce shopping cart, making changes and listing new products in the web design program, advertising, and keep a web site business going. So if you want to get a good deal on a factory new Macbook Pro, she's up for sale on the web site. I hope she gets a good home. And by the way, wearing a jade bangle working on your Macbook laptop is a very classy look! June 15

It's been hot, hot, hot in central Florida, mid nineties the past few days. Mid afternoon is my favorite time to float around in the pool with a "noodle" and visit with friends. I notice I'm getting a white line where my jade bangle falls halfway up my arm. But the important thing is not let my bangle be in the hot sun. I keep it under the water or at the bottom of the noodle. Genuine natural jade is not harmed by either bromine or chlorine in pools, or sunscreen,but it can be harmed by the sun, as heat is a color enhancing method for jade. So enjoy wearing your jade bangle in the summer, but keep it out of direct sunlight. Then wear it in the shower and clean it up, polish it with a soft cloth, and it will look great. June 14

During a visit to a Buddhist temple in China, I noticed a young woman wearing a jade pendant that looked like a "comma", holding in her hand while burning incense and offerings to Buddha. Her face was filled with emotion and her eyes moist. A Chinese companion explained that the jade pendant was called an "embryo" and was worn by women who wanted to get pregnant. There is great pressure from families for women to become pregnant with the one child they are allowed. This shape is very sacred in Asia and goes back more than 3000 years. In Japan it's called magatama and is considered a visual representation of the human spirit. "Atama" means head, and "hara" refers to the stomach. In China, the embryo dates to the Shang Dynasty, approximately 1600-1100 BC. It has been found in artifacts during that time. Daily Special, interesting unique jade pendant, and a great gift for a mother-to-be. June 13

When "foreigners" go to China to adopt a Chinese child, they are usually there for several weeks to learn about Chinese culture, then get their child, then spend a few days getting familiar as a new family before they return to their country. This is the Chinese adoption tourism standard procedure. The first stop is usually Beijing. The most famous Buddhist temple in Beijing, the Lama Temple, is often on the tour route, and these embryo pendants are sold there. These were blessed by Buddhist monks, and are worn not only by women hoping to conceive, but also by women hoping to adopt a child.

We're almost up and running again, still need to fine tune.It's been very stressful and my jade bangle even looked dull while I was trying unsuccessfully to install my programs that don't run in Windows7. Your jade that you wear all the time really does reflect your overall wellness. When I was distressed, which was most of the time this weekend, I rubbed it, and relied on the jade's peaceful nature to calm me. Back to business as usual tomorrow. June 12

When you own a computer, the question is not "will my hard drive fail", but rather "when will my hard drive fail". The answer is: at the most inconvenient time. My hard drive is failing, and I'm doing everything I can to avoid opening any programs until my new computer arrives Friday. Usually if a program freezes everything up, I restart, but the last couple of days I've spent a lot of time getting my computer to boot up. I've always backed up on an external hard drive, but I discovered my external hard drive is corrupted also. Bad news! I recently purchased a new laptop computer which I've moved some of my programs over to so I would have what I need when I travel. Some programs cannot be moved, though. So I'm not going to update products that have sold, or other information that I usually update until I get set up on the new computer over the weekend. If you click something and it doesn't work right, let me know because "things" don't always copy the way I hope they would. I'll probably have coupons instead of actual products for the Daily Specials, so watch for savings so you can make your own daily specials starting tomorrow. June 9

Today's Special is a Dao jadeite pendant. People who wear jade for symbolism will appreciate this one. There are books, journals, and lots of information about Daoism, but the Calm Spirit simple definition is "living in harmony with nature". And don't we need that today! Chinese medicine, taiqi, qigong all come from Daoism. The symbol of the bagua is the essence of the I Ching. The yin yang is balance. And all this symbolism in jade! This necklace was made in China by a Daoist practitioner exclusively for YYJ, and is infused with healing, balancing qi. June 8

I often receive emails with photos attached of jade, asking me to tell if it is "real" jade. The only way to know for sure what it is, is through gemological testing. I use refraction which is accurate for jadeite. I can "guess" by appearance, but you don't really know unless you test. I wonder why these people who send me the emails "need to know". Perhaps they didn't buy from a trusted seller, or paid a very low price, or a very high price and are having some doubts. And with all the information and mis-information about jade on the internet, what's a person to do? A very high percentage of jade I see for sale may be "real", but not natural color. I have seen some web sites with the exact same photo for all the sizes. I often get comments that YYJ is so different, because each jade piece is different. Well, that's what jade is supposed to look like. If you wonder if jade is natural color, the first thing to beware of is all or much of the jade looking the same. Like in department and jewelry stores selling commercial jade in gold or silver settings, it all looks the same because it's dyed, usually a deep green. Also look at return and exchange policies. If a seller offers full refunds, chances are they don't sell precious jade, because gem quality one-of-a-kind pieces are very time consuming and expensive to sell, and that's another tip off of the quality of jade. If you read YYJ blogs and information, you will see photos of genuine natural jade, and get information you need to make a good choice. June 7

My heart just breaks when I get an email from someone who tells me they broke their jade bangle. Especially if it's a jade bangle you wear all the time, because the jade is so personal and it becomes a part of you, part of your energetic space. I walk 1-2 miles at sunset, and a few weeks ago I was walking my "route" and saw one of my girfriends working in her yard, and when she saw me, she started crying. She had a very difficult time telling me that she broke the jade bangle I gave her that she wore all the time. It was a "sister" to mine, so a very high quality. She didn't show it to me, so I didn't know how badly it was broken. I offered her another one, which she declined. Tonight when I walked, I noticed she had the broken one on her wrist. Her husband glued the pieces together, did a very good job, and you could only feel a line where it was glued together. She has really good qi energy and by wearing it, the good color and brightness was coming back. She still didn't want a replacement, and loved her now repaired and imperfect jadeite bangle, because it was very Dao, like life. We get ill, we have problems and extreme difficulties, sometimes we break under all the stress. But we heal, and get on with our lives. And she has been through a lot, and felt at one with her repaired jade bangle. There is a Chinese belief that when your jade bangle breaks, the luck goes out of it, but with my friend wearing her broken and repaired bangle, I am sure hers hasn't lost its luck and it will serve her well and look beautiful for a long time. June 4

There's an OPI nail polish color called "Jade is the New Black", and I can't get it locally, so I went to the OPI web site to "try it on" using a hand you can make to look like yours, including nail length, skin color. It's part of the Hong Kong collection. So when I checked it out on the nails, there's a little inset that says "see how it looks on a Dell" and you can actually buy a Dell laptop in an OPI nail color. The next day Staples had these on sale for $150 off. I love the "Jade is the New Black", but Staples had my favorite color "I'm Not Really A Waitress" and there was a matching wireless mini-mouse. Oh, decisions, decisions! I would have had to order the "Jade" shade and pay more, it was a tough choice. So I have the red "Waitress" Dell, and it is a beauty. But I still don't have the "Jade" nail polish. Let me know if you have tried the "Jade" shade and how you like it, AND if you think it looks good with your jade :) June 3

Yesterday when I wrote about classic rounded jadeite bangles, I mentioned about clarification lines being more visible in rounded style. For some reason they show more because of the shape. You can refer to this information page about "is it a crack or a natural jade line". If you want a perfect piece of jewelry, it's NOT a jade bangle, because jade is stone and stone is nature, and nature is not perfect. If you look at your jade with strong light and magnification, you will always see "something", because you are supposed to! The final polishing of jade is followed by waxing which fills in anything that's not smooth. There's a Chinese saying "the jade carver always leaves something behind", because jade is hand carved and polished, not machine made synthetic material. So if imperfections bother you, don't look for them in your jade. If you find your jade endlessly fascinating, then enjoy looking because you'll find something interesting every time! It's part of owning natural jade. June 2

A blog reader and jade lover writes: "I ask you this question because I just finished reading your jade blog about the trade story on the train in China. The Chinese woman traded you a classic round jade bangle bracelet. I was just wondering if in your travels, have you noticed more women using classic round ones or flat inside?"
The classic rounded jade bangle changed to the flat inside style when "modern" women who wanted to wear a jade bangle all the time started working for a living. Peasant farm women didn't wear jade bangles, and usually wealthy or royalty were the only women who wore jade bangle bracelets until the end of the dynasties. However, men who wore jade bangles usually wore the flat inside style because they were more active than women. The rounded inside style makes the jade bangle stick out more and therefore is more prone to hitting something. But the flat inside fits closer to the wrist, and the better ones have a lot of jade inside to outside and are wider to keep them sturdy. So Chinese women, who wear the same jade bangle all the time, and who are 50+ usually wear the classic rounded style because they have probably been wearing it for years. Also, since the beginning of the 21st century, more Chinese women have the the income to be able to purchase a jade bangle for themselves, and I see the flat inside being worn a lot in China. In fact, jade carvers rarely make the rounded inside. They use more jade, and the carver often loses more to breaking as they are made, so it's not profitable for jade carvers to make rounded. Over the past several years, I rarely saw classic rounded jade bangles in the jade markets, and the ones I did see were either cracked or damaged in some way, or too expensive, and the ones available in my price range had a lot of visible clarification lines which Chinese women cherish but western women perceive as "damage" and then are unhappy with their jade bangle. Personally, I used to wear the classic rounded style until two years ago when I put on a flat inside fabulous quality jade bangle, and now it's "the one" for me. June 1

The Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade complete June newsletter is available online now, click here. This month features Chinese medicine wellness information for June regarding balance of body, mind and spirit. There is information about what kind of jade to wear this month if you wear jade for your health, and more

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