An amulet's material is frequently the whole of its claimed power, rather than an engraving or a spoken blessing added afterward, blue faience and turquoise carried across the Mediterranean and Middle East specifically as wards against the evil eye, red coral given to children in Italy, and the hamsa hand shape rendered in metal across both Jewish and Islamic folk practice.
Makers and specific uses
Jewelers, folk healers and, in some cultures, specific religious specialists produce amulets, and inscribed versions, carrying a Quranic verse, a Psalm, or an apotropaic symbol, require a literate specialist rather than a general craftsman. Infants and young children are a major and specific use case across many cultures, since they were widely considered especially vulnerable to harm, which is why so many surviving amulet traditions include a distinct smaller form made specifically for a child rather than scaled down adult jewelry.
What happens to a worn or broken one
Because a protective amulet is often believed to have absorbed harm on the wearer's behalf over time, several folk traditions treat a worn out or broken one as unsuitable for the household rubbish, instead burying it, returning it to a folk healer, or otherwise disposing of it deliberately rather than discarding it the way an ordinary broken ornament would be.