Kathy's Ring

I can thing of anything to say except 'Wow, this was fun'. Kathy doesn't live in the Lower Mainland, I have yet to meet her, it made this ring a challenge - couldn't have done it without the Internet! First we talked about what jewellery she already wears and why she likes it. Then about her finger shape and what would work best for her. Then we doodled, and counter doodled and the doodled some more until I felt it was time to go 3-D and I mailed her some wax versions of her ring to her to try. She mailed me back the one she liked and then using it as a guide I handmade her ring in 18k yellow and white gold.

Something that bugs me....

How come we can call 10k metal 10k gold?
I mean its less than 1/2 gold...if I bought peanut butter that had less than 50% peanuts in it I would worry about what that other stuff was.....and should i really be eating it.

Special Commissions

I really enjoy working with someone else, it forces me to stretch my imagination and incorporate someone else's ideas into my plans..... This piece was designed with Robert Chaplin, he carved the black moon and supplied the coin. 18k Yellow gold and tourmalines.

Natural, Synthetic and Imitation

A Natural gemstone was dug out of the earth, panned out of a river or vacuumed from the ocean's floor. They were created by cataclysmic explosions, the perfect combination of heat, time, and chemicals. Orange Sapphires! Green and yellow Garnets! Rhutilated Quartz! Watermelon Tourmaline! Cats Eye Chrysoberyl! They are the coolest! And since we had no control over their creation we have some neato stuff that some people like and others view as flawed - colour banding, misty veils, and inclusions. Its like Grandma's baking, she didn't need a cookie recipe anymore, she just chucks a bunch of Good stuff in a bowl and stirs. Sometimes they turn out sweeter, other times nuttier or crunchier but always great.
A Synthetic Gemstone is man made in a lab. It has exactly the same formula as a Natural stone but it was formed by humans who follow the recipe of heat, time and chemicals and come up with the perfect rough stone each time. Imagine someone wrote down Grandma's recipe when she wasn't looking and sold it to Nabisco. Still nice cookies, but they all taste exactly the same, look exactly the same, the thrill is gone.
An Imitation Stone is a fake something. Like a fake Sapphire or fake diamond. It was created to imitate something - maybe both are blue - but that's where the similarities end. Now a picture of Grandma's cookies has been shipped overseas to a country that has never eaten cookies. So the only thing that matters is replicating the look, so the butter is now axle grease, the flour was replaced with drywall dust, worst of all the chocolate chips are painted on... you get the idea.
Now here is the confusing part, sometimes a stone can be synthetic AND imitation. Before Cubic Zirconias, man made sapphire was being used to imitate diamonds.
On the same principle, a stone can be natural AND imitation - The Prince's Ruby in the British Crown Jewels is actually a natural red Spinel!
Hedda's Natural Emerald and 18k yellow gold ring.

The trouble with Thailand

We have all bought cheap shoes and expensive shoes, while we aren't surprised when the cheap shoes start to fall apart before the end of summer, we do expect the expensive shoes to last for years - same with your jewellery. When you buy a $20.00 turquoise and silver ring from a street vendor don't expect too much, you get what you pay for. I realize you really like that ring, but please understand why your local jeweller isn't thrilled to have to fix it anymore than the cobbler wants to work on your Walmart sneakers, they were not made to be fixed, they were not made to last 50 years.
So imagine you want me to size your new ring up a little...
- The first thing I must do is clean your jewellery before I work on it, that involves getting it wet and now my simple sizing just got harder because to save time the Child Labourer who made the ring put something weird under the stone to raise it to the correct height for setting. The ring on the left was packed with something organic that swelled and pushed the stone right out of the ring! From the smell and texture I am guessing it was a mixture of cow dung and sawdust. The ring on the right was scarier, the stone was already loose so I decided to pull it out before working on the ring, glad i did because it was resting on 2 hunks of what looked like ceiling tile/fiber material, if it didn't have a fire retardant in it, than it probably had some asbestos in it. So after cleaning out the gunk I made a seat in the rings with shellac, at least is wont seep out and smell and then I reset the stone - Wow there is an extra 45 minutes I hadn't budgeted for, so much for any profit margin...
- My silver is different than their silver, my silver is 92.5% Fine Silver and 7.5% copper, theirs is 92.5% silver and 7.5% UNKNOWN stuff. That means that I will probably have compatibility problems - the colour wont match, there will be pitting, and after polishing there may be a noticeable 'step' at my inserted piece because of a hardness difference between the metals. You will be unhappy with the job and blame me.
- To keep the silver shiny, many pieces are now coated with nickel, maybe that's why you are having an allergic reaction to it. I can try to remove it for you, but its hard stuff and is very hard to get out of grooves in the design - if I try your jewellery may have a weird 2-tone look - part grey shine, other parts tarnished white. The nickel also causes problems if I have to solder on the ring, it may be fuzzy and pink before I am finished....really!
- if the Child Labourer soldered a dome onto your ring and there isn't an air hole it may explode when I reheat it. This makes me unhappy. If I predrill holes in your ring so I don't have to worry about flying shards of hot metal you will probably be unhappy too.
- There has been many times when I have gently pulled apart a ring shank to fit in a sizing piece and ripped the darn thing in half. You can tell that the Child labourer didn't quality check his work to make sure that the solder flowed properly. Darn kid, you would think a tired 8 year old would do a better job.
- My repair is going to cost more than the original purchase price of your jewellery. Its amazing how mad people can get - "But its only a $20 ring, why is the repair going to be $35!?" Well I am not a Child living in a sweatshop. I live in North America and have bills the same as yours, my cat's food costs more than what that kid makes daily. Fixing a poorly made silver ring takes more time than fixing a well made gold ring, and time is money.
Support the poor kid and buy his ring, just dont ask me to fix it!

Vacation Gemstone purchases

Coloured gemstones, sometimes called semi-precious stones add life to your wardrobe.
Since they are less expensive than diamonds and the big three, sapphire, ruby and emerald, they can come in large but affordable sizes and interesting shapes.
If you shop for stones while on vacation please remember that you are not guaranteed genuine stones when purchasing in a foreign country, especially from a mat in a market - no matter what the nice person selling says! So please ask yourself these simple question:
Do you like it?
Can you afford it?
Is it a great souvenir?
Is it alright if its not genuine?
If you answer yes to all the questions then buy, you will have a great story to tell when you get home. Happy Holidays!
14k yellow gold and sterling silver earrings with Carnelian

Enamelling...

...is a skill separate from making jewellery, it is the colorful result of fusing powdered glass to metal. Its an art I have been interested in but never found my style - but I think I have finally figured out En Grisaille and you can expect more of it in the future!
enamelled brooch 3 x 3.5 cm