Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist May - June 2015

“DON’T YOU HAVE A TOP DRAWER?” My sister-in-law keeps a very neat house, so I was surprised to hear this not-so-subtle suggestion from her when, a long time ago, I complained that I could never keep the surface of my dresser clean. Lo these many years later, dresser-top neatness is still a struggle for me, and at least one drawer has long been filled with clutter from earlier attempts. On occasion, I do clear closets, drawers, shelves, and tabletops of things I haven’t touched in years, but I never manage to ditch it all, and more has an uncanny way of sprouting up whenever I’m not looking. I like having that unremarkable seashell and tattered ticket stub around to remind me of a wonderful beach week or amazing concert, though…

NEXT TIME: Kate Furman’s Growth Rings Wooden Brooch, COVER Ring on a design feature of this piece such as color, texture, form, value, line, space, repetition, balance, contrast, unity, or variety for your sketch. Sketch a setting for this ESOTERIC Oro Verde quartz, cut by Jim Perkins, page 80. DEADLINES: JUNE 30, 2015 Email digital scans at 300 DPI or send photocopies of no more than three sketches per challenge, indicating the design factor that is your starting point. Sketches will not be returned. WRITE TO US ANYTIME: What do you think about what you’ve seen and read in Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist? SEND SKETCHES & LETTERS for possible print or online publication to: KRosenbusch@interweave.com; or Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, 88 Glocker Way, #299, Pottstown, PA 19465. Include your name,…

BEATRIZ FORTES’S Cracked Metal Pendant Sterling silver, pink tourmaline “Big Bezel Pendant” Page 28 NOËL YOVOVICH’S House in the Woods Teapot Sterling silver; 14K, 18K, & 22K gold; anodized titanium, copper, sunstone, tigereye, fossil coral “Memento Jewelry” Page 20 MICHAEL HEZAR’S Bracelet 18K black rhodiumed gold, 0.48ct round brilliant cut diamonds, 5.12ct rose cut diamonds Trends Page 46 SUZANNE KALANDJIAN’S Earrings 1.15ct white diamonds, 10mm baguette cluster Trends Page 46 KATE FURMAN’S Gravity Necklace Found wood, steel, brass, silk, epoxy “Wonders of Wood Jewelry” Page 50 “Growth Rings Wooden Brooch” Page 56 MEGAN AUMAN’S Maya Necklace Steel, silver “Starting Your Jewelry Business” Page 34 RON RIZZO’S Flame Collection Pendant Plevé mosaics, natural and color-treated diamonds Trends Page 46 ANTHONY ROUSSEL’S Barley Ring Birch Wood “Wonders of Wood Jewelry” Page 50…

You may start your jewelry business selling locally, but you can build a brand nationally or even internationally using online marketing. Joanne Teichman built a global brand online from one small store in Dallas. She and her husband opened Ylang 23 (then Ylang-Ylang) in a mall in 1986, building a local reputation for hip designer jewelry. But the business really took off after they launched an ecommerce site in 2000. Full-fledged websites, let alone ecommerce, were expensive then and rare even for chain jewelers. But Teichman insisted on it. Her instinct for online marketing put Ylang 23 on the international jewelry map over the next decade. Now many people in the industry look to her as a model. “Online marketing can get very expensive,” Teichman says. She and her husband…

New Tools for 2015 A SUPER-FUN RITUAL OF MY JOB INCLUDES the annual mid-winter rush to Tucson, where I hunt down and hand-choose new tools and materials for you to discover too. If it weren’t for 2-day shipping, you’d have to wait for the next issue to read about these, so I shipped quick, flew the red-eye, stayed up late, stepped up to the plate, and did my best to get these beauties in print and to you, fast. Check them out . . . Hand Tools Galore! Sweet! The bend in these new 90 degree chain nose pliers (Model #486) is a chain or maillemakers dream. Why? Because they allow you to pick up rings in the proper position for joining, as well as keeping your wrist in a…

IF YOU’RE LIKE ME, you’re genetically pre-disposed to pick up rocks wherever you go. I tend to come home from a simple trip to the beach with pockets dragging. I’ve picked up stones in Japan, Greece, Turkey, England, Michigan, Brazil, and on the top of Mt. Vesuvius. They fill bowls and line window sills. However, you may have the desire to make something of your finds: drill them, tumble them, have them cut into a cab or carving, and set them. But how do you know what might make a good jewelry stone? First, it should be hard, higher than 5 on the Mohs Hardness Scale. If it scratches a knife blade (5.5), it is hard enough to cut and take a good polish. (Scratch your stone across the blade.…