I have a good excuse!

Ok. So I havent posted for a very long time.... but I do have a good excuse. I got married!
Weddings are crazy things. Really had no idea what I was in for but it was so nice to have all our family and friends together in the one place.
Now. To get back into things!

Design Process

After attending yesterdays course at Northcity4 (Which was fantastic by the way!) I have been thinking about how I approach the design aspect of jewellery making.
Previously I get out what ever stone it is I want to use. Sit down with it, and what silver I have to work with, and draw a few ideas from there.
This method works fine when thinking of the pieces as individuals but the course I attended was titled: Produce: Present: Sell
This has prompted me to look at the whole process very differently.
In a gallery environment (which is my ultimate goal) your pieces are grouped together as a range.
This means I need to stop thinking of each piece as a separate form from the others and somehow make them gel as a group.
The plan?
Go through all my sketch books. Photocopy the completed designs so I can lay them all out on the coffee table and view them all together for the first time ever!
At the moment the designs are scattered throughout 6 or 7 sketch books so I have never consciously looked for similarities. It should be an interesting exercise.

Art Exhibition Opening Tonight!

If you happen to be in the Melbourne city area you might want to swing by the city library on Flinders Lane tonight.

16 New Zealand artists featuring paintings, sculptures, photography, jewellery and more! 

Opening night tonight (sorry for the short notice!) with drinks, food and entertainment. What more could you want for a Thursday?! :-)

 

Agate

Jewellery Photography

Last night I was lucky enough to attend a lecture on jewellery photography by Rick Merrie. It was hosted by the NJCV (National Council of Jewellery Valuers) and was held at Leonard Joels, a local auction house.
Rick has been a photographer for over 40 years and is the man responsible for producing the catalogues for the auctions - I think he said they process up to 400 jewellery items per WEEK!! Yikes!

At the front of the room he had a camera set up along with some perspex accessories and free standing studio lights hooked up to a remote on the camera.
A power point slide show was used to show the difference between various lighting options - Standard camera flash, defused light, indirect light, back lit along with studio light....... It was pretty amazing the difference between the various shots.

His tip was to be consistent with your set up. This way you can calibrate the camera to your lighting insuring predictable results. Avoid using the flash on the camera unless necessary as it produces strong shadows and glare on the polished surfaces. Defused lighting is best - bounce the flash off a wall or shield the jewellery with some tissue like paper to soften the light.

One hot topic was on what to use to stand the rings up with out a giant hunk of bluetac. The answer? Wax. We use it at work and it is fantastic. There is currently some listed in ebay (try search words: Jewellery holding wax - some times it is listed as pressure wax) and it isnt too expensive. Sadly no one seems to know anywhere in Australia that stocks it so buying online is the only option for the time being.
This is what to expect

I was hoping to find out some tips for getting various gemstones to show correct colour - The answer is there are no hard and fast rules/set ups to achieve this! Trial and error sadly but the discussion on colour was very interesting.
Everyone's eyes are different as to how we perceive colour - one person to the next will see the same image completely different and apparently this can even vary eye to eye! I am going to try this next time at work to see if my eyes differ!
TEST YOU ABILITY TO DETERMINE COLOUR

Depth of field was covered and he explained the strange way that cameras focus works. I hope I am remembering this correctly as my notes are at work....
The area in focus is: from the point focused on, back half the distance (between the focus point/camera) behind that point, back to the camera and two thirds in front of the focus point.
Ok. Worded that terribly. Wish I could draw a picture of what I mean!
Anyway the point is that even though it seems wrong, focus the camera one third down the ring rather than on the top of the setting. This will increase the chance of the entire ring being in focus instead of the back band being fuzzy with a shallow depth of field.

Ok. So writing this while tired was probably a bad idea. I hope I havent confused anyone with that ramble!

Essentially I left feeling more confidant that I was on the right track with what I had been doing at work regarding photos and to not be too hard on myself!
Rick with all his experience confessed to having a few years of hating jewellery photography! Apparently it is one of the hardest things to photograph as with polished surfaces reflections are always an issue and faceted stones (whose prime viewing is in motion not static)cause grief never quite looking as nice as they do in real life.

All up it was a very informative night and a lovely surprise that drinks and nibbles were provided! Yay!
A great turn out and a great night :)

Oh. I have just realised.... I didnt mention why I was at this lecture!
My work is designing an online shop and I have been taking the photos! I dont have any training and have been learning as I go. I have always been interested in photography so happy to give it a shot but stressed as I dont want to let work down with inferior pictures. Learning how to use photoshop to delete the wax and dust from pictures and feel miles out of my league at times. Will post a link when the shop goes live so you can check out the results.

If you made it to the end of this ramble.... Well Done!

My first commissioned lapidary piece - a pictorial

Last year I was given the opportunity to cut a cabochon to order for Belinda Newick. She was producing some beautiful forms for the up coming celebration of The Jam Factory turning 40 and wanted a piece of nephrite jade to be included.
The exhibition, Designing Craft/Crafting Design has had such a positive response that it will be touring Australia! They have also constructed a separate website for the occasion. I am pretty excited about this as I will actually get to see the exhibition in person when if eventually comes to Victoria (Yay!).

I must admit to having some nerves along with the excitement starting out on this adventure having never cut anything to order before.
I LOVE cutting cabochons as I find it SO relaxing. It is noisy, messy and thoroughly satisfying! You start out with a hunk of rock or stone and finish with something that can be set into jewellery or simply be displayed and admired. Cutting to order was very different than cutting for myself. I noticed that I took more time on each stage and checked the progress a lot more frequently! lol

Belinda need the nephrite to be a specific shape and size so we met to discuss the brief and for me to collect the piece she had selected to be cut. I got to handle one of her silver forms and the shape was ridiculously tactile. It seemed to nestle into the palm of your hand and warmed to the touch beautifully.

I took many photos during the cutting (but still somehow missed a few stages) so here are the phases of cutting a double sided free from cab:

First step is to mark out the outline of your shape onto the slab. This is done with a sharpened 'stick' of aluminium then sprayed with hairspray to fix it in place. Due to the dark green of this piece I instead used a fine tip permanent marker. A diamond saw is then used to trim off any excess.

Next onto the grinding wheels

From here you need to be able to manipulate the stone on the grinding wheel on various angles so to achieve this it must be mounted onto a dop stick. I marked out some general guide lines and proceeded to warm the piece of nephrite to help the wax adhere to it. At this stage it is very chunky and took a very long time to warm up!

To remove the nephrite from the dop stick you simply cool it making the wax brittle and 'snap' it off. Some times it simply falls off in the cold. I repeated the cutting and re doping of each side a few times as I wanted them to be nice and even.

In the background you can see the various grinders of different grades along with the mess you make!

At the clubs rooms the lights are long fluorescents. One of the other members taught me to use the reflection of the lights on the piece you are working on as a guide to see if there are any flat spots/if your curve is even. In this photo you can see where I need to do some more work.

I missed photos of the sanding phase but in the above two photos you can see on the left the sanding wheels. They are wheels that spin clockwise or anti-clockwise and have various grades of wet/dry sandpaper mounted on them.

This is the stage I handed the nephrite over to Belinda - though I admit I miss handling this lovely piece! The shape she chose is so lovely I am sure who ever becomes the lucky owner will constantly be holding it.
She then engraved it giving it its finishing touch.

The above photo is taken from the Jam Factory's website showing it along with Belindas other forms made from; pine, yellow gold, copper and silver. I think they look fantastic together and I am so thankful to have been given the chance to play a small part in this.
Thank you Belinda for the opportunity and also for the permission to post photos! It was a really enjoyable experience :)

If anyone has seen this exhibition or has any questions on cutting/lapidary please fire away. Comments and questions welcome!

Spoilt!

Look what one of my work mates bought me as a surprise random gift! Have already got a few new ideas from the mounting & setting stones book just from flipping through it. Thank you Sue! 

Falling into place

So it seems like the universe is nudging me in the right direction.
About a week ago I came up with an idea for a bracelet using black tourmaline crystals (side drilled) which I had seen sold in strands a few years ago. The only place I have seen them in Melbourne is hard for me to get too so I have only been there twice.
Anyway..... Yesterday I received a flyer for them in the mail.
They are relocating (to an even harder to get to place *sad face*) but having a massive sale before they move! Will be making the effort to get there for the sale and crossing my fingers they still stock the tourmaline! Feeling very positive they will have them and if not I am sure I will find something equally inspiring :)

This is what I am hunting

Another awesome coincidence is this:

For the last few days that topic is pretty much all I have been researching online trying to get a solid plan in place. As well as this lecture/talk being exactly what I need right now I also have a day in lieu I need to use at work - so I can take the day off to attend it!! Saturdays off for me are extremely rare so this is extra special.

The people running the above lecture are Northcity4 and they run many workshops and rent out bench/studio space. Check them out!

Now....to make the ring I have dreamed up to take along to the class....

Minor Gemstone rant.....

I used to LOVE scrolling through the loose gemstone category on a popular online auction site but tonight I found it more disheartening than fun.
It has been awhile since I have looked and was surprised (though I guess I shouldn't have been) to see misleading names and descriptions that were more confusing than enlightening. I have nothing against man made gems or natural ones that have been treated but I DO BELIEVE IN FULL DISCLOSURE!
Titles like: Tourmaline quartz druzy, Natural reddish pink labradorite - treated ultra rare, 'Designer' Turquoise....

These are the three stones fitting those descriptions and the only redeeming factor is that anyone duped is only going to loose a couple of dollars not hundreds.

The reason it prompted me to post? It is SO frustrating that these people doing what they are doing they are simply making the gemstone/jewellery trade look bad which hurts EVERYONE.

Countless times I have had customers come in to work thinking that they have bought one thing (usually while on an overseas holiday or online) when it is in fact something completely different. I hate being the one to break the bad news when they ask me about the stone. Sadly it only takes for someone to be burned once by misleading sales tactics to be wary of ALL sales people in the future.

I myself have experienced how easily it could happen. While overseas I went into a wholesale and retail gem merchant. I had a look around and asked if they had any tourmaline cabs. The man working there proceeded to show me fluorite cabs! I said as much and he insisted that they were tourmaline. Needless to say I left without buying a thing!
I still dont know if it was an honest mistake or he was intentionally being misleading but either way if I hadnt of known the difference.....

The below images have been taken from google images:
Fluorite

Tourmaline

Anyway. I would prefer to leave on a happy note.
True and correct listings far out weighed the misleading ones and if you use a little common sense you should be able to avoid getting burned. A super rare stone of massive size is not going to be for sale for a couple of dollars...it would be in a museum!
If you do want to take a chance on something that you are unsure about check their return policies and decide: if it turns out the stone is in fact either man made or a different gemstone - Would you still like it and pay the amount listed?

Michael Boyd

Michael Boyd is by far one of my favourite jewellers and his pieces never fail to draw your eye in.
I especially love his use of lesser know gems and they way he brings them together creating little works of art.

This is a quote I have come across on countless websites so I dont think it will break any rules to copy and paste it here:

Michael talks about his work:
"My jewelry is a compilation of standard materials and processes aimed at a progressive and innovative use of unusual, rare, and traditional materials. In the collecting and choosing of stones, I am a colorist, and while cutting the stones, I define the form and structure. Using stone as a medium my goal is to blend and integrate these materials with the metal."

Michael runs workshops and writes tutorial articles so even those of us living on the other side of the world can learn from this skilled artisan.
I hope one day to see one of his creations in person (or even to own a piece if I am lucky!) to fully appreciate its construction and check it out from all angles - Photos never do justice to pieces of jewellery so imagine how cool these would be in real life!

Garnet and Sapphire musings

Having always been a total rock geek I forget that it is not common knowledge that some gemstones come in more colours than what you see in large chain stores.

Take garnet for example: For most people garnet summons up images of red. What a lot of people don't realise is that it also comes in bright orange (Spessartite), bright green (Tsavorite), apple green (Demantoid), and a grape purpley red (Rhodolite). Colour change garnet is a wonderful alternative if you have a thing for Alexandrite but not the budget for one!
*Please note that garnet comes in many more varieties than what I have listed here. Click this link for a brief overview of the garnet family.

What summoned this speculation was stumbling across yet another photo. This time is a selection of star sapphires in various shades of colour.

Sadly none of the above stones belong to me but they are definitely on my hit list of things to buy!
My favourite is the one on the left though I have seen a large collection of the grey ones all together and the impact they have is fantastic.

If you could have anyone of these which one would you choose?

Trip down memory lane

I have been going though all my old sketchbooks and came across this:



These scribbles were my ideas for my first ever carving! I am from Greymouth, New Zealand and I grew up looking for 'Greenstone' (Nephrite/Jade/Pounamu) on the beach.
It is incredibly hard to find and pieces are usually small. One year while on a holiday home I decided that I HAD to find a piece for my Aussie boyfriend (soon to be husband in a short 6 months from now!)



To date the piece I found that day is by far the biggest and nicest piece I have ever seen found on the beach. It took me 3 hours to find and I got sunburnt all down my left side - a small price to pay for such an awesome piece!
I cant seem to find any photo of it in its raw state but the shape is drawn at the top of my terrible sketches and it had a fracture line running through it which I had to work around.

At that point I didnt have any diamond burs but had access to the cab room out at Nunawading Lapidary Club.

This was the result which I am still really happy with all these years later.



Sadly I havent done much cutting lately but last year I was lucky enough to shape a piece for Belinda Newick for the 40 year Jam Factory celebrations but that is another story...........

Todays Google Adventure

We have all done it.
Started out researching one topic and ending up somewhere completely unexpected. Today a trail of links and key words lead me here: Jewelry Making Journal.
Pouring over other peoples questions, tips and tricks I strangely feel like I have achieved something more than just eating breakfast and sitting on the couch in my slippers and hoodie.
My favourite tip of the day from this site? Portable solar lights with clips.
So many times I have been to markets, gem shows and even exhibitions where poor lighting has left me frustrated at not being able to see the display clearly.
If your customers can't see your work with all its finer details clearly how can you expect them to fall in love with a piece and buy it?!

The year of 'getting stuff done'

I have excitedly designed a logo which will be made into a makers mark!

I have been playing around with ideas for a while and found a few shapes reoccurring over time. Not wanting to use my initials a simple uncluttered design was my goal.
I liked the equilateral triangle for a few reasons:
I grew up on the West coast of the South Island - New Zealand. Having a triangle to represent the mountains seemed a natural simplification. I did try a few ways of adding the sea to this but wasn't happy with the results. I had also read that triangles represent Past, Present and Future. I truly believe that you eventually end up where you are ment to be (sometimes it may take a while to get there though!) so it seemed fitting.
The quartz crystal in the centre pays homage to my love of gems that led me to jewellery making.

The logo below I made on Paint and needs tidying up before it can be made into a stamp but I will leave that to the professionals!