Child Safety

As of February 2009, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission put into effect their Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Among other requirements, the CPSIA now requires all manufacturers of children's jewelry, regardless of size, to submit every product item to be tested for lead content. The tests would run approximately $6,000 for each item, and since almost every one of our pieces are custom, that would require us to charge an additional $6,000 per children's jewelry piece.

Historically, the laws set forth by the CPSIA include exemptions for small businesses that acknowledge the impossibility of small businesses affording the required testing. Howver, those exemptions are missing in the latest Act.

Lawmakers are attempting to rectify the situation, but until such time as an exemption is put into effect, by law, we are required to state that none of our jewelry is not intended to be used by any child ages 12 and under.

Rest assured, we take great care to ensure all of our jewelry is safe. We only use lead-free materials in our smaller pieces, including sterling silver findings and acrylic bicones instead of genuine Swarovski crystals to emulate the look of our larger pieces without the lead content. We use only either non-reactive hemp or jewelry wire, both of which thick enough to withstand up to 20 pounds of force, so a child cannot break it by pulling on it. As a result, there is no way that our pieces could actually contain any lead, but the testing is still required by the new Act.

Please note that there is nothing preventing any customer from using our jewelry any way they see fit. However, until the exemptions are enacted, we are still required to state that our pieces are not meant to be worn by children.

More information about the Consumer Product Safety Improvment Act can be found here: http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html