Month: October 2023 | Jewel Envy

Transforming Old into New

October 28, 2023October 28, 2023Jewel EnvyGeneral

We all have pieces that we like some aspect of, but often wish for something new, right? We love working with clients to re-invigorate their jewellery, whether to restore it to its original (or close to original!) glory, or to re-imagine it into a new piece altogether. One recent project is this brooch:

gold brooch, with sapphire and diamond halo.

It has pretty big sentimental value, but the client wasn’t happy with the yellow gold, and decided she wanted to split it into two pieces. She loves white gold, and was enamored with the echo of the “Princess Diana” ring, so wanted to try for a modern take that fit with her personal style. So, we removed the sapphire (which is a spectacular colour!) and the diamonds, and made a new, truly unique ring.

14kt palladium white gold, central sapphire, with a “broken” halo on different levels.

We’re not stopping there! The original brooch will get a bit of a makeover too, but that’s something for the future.

Have something lurking around your jewellery box that you wish you would wear more often? Bring it in, and we’ll help you figure out how to make it your own again!

Enjoy the weather, and we hope to see you soon in the studio!

Do your settings need repair?

October 22, 2023October 22, 2023Jewel EnvyGeneral

Over time settings can wear away. Rubbing occurs with normal wear and if you are not careful you can lose a stone when a claw setting has worn thin or completely worn off.

If you have expensive stones or lots of little stones you need to pay attention to your settings.

The first thing you can do is learn to hear a loose stone by tapping the stone with your nail and listening for clicking or jingling sounds. If the stone is loose you will be able to hear it move when you tap it.

This is a good first line of defense for checking your stones and their settings.

Next, look at the metal holding the stones in place in your jewellery. If it is a claw setting look at the balls on top of the claws holding the stone. There should be at lease .5mm thickness of metal on each claw. If the claws look completely flat or if the ball is missing, it needs to be re-tipped.

If your stone is set in a bezel, (a rim of metal around the top of the stone) look for racks in the metal around the stone. A bezel setting is the strongest setting and will show less wear than other types of settings.

Finally, make sure all your settings are fully touching your stones and have no sharp edges. A good rule is the nylon test. Run a nylon stocking across the setting and if it snags anywhere, it needs some work by your local goldsmith.

’20 Tips on maintaining our Jewellery’, Gillian E. Batcher, 2013

Contemporania High Craftsmanship Barcelona

October 21, 2023October 21, 2023Jewel EnvyGeneral

Recently I was able to attend and exhibit at Contemporania in Barcelona. Here are some highlights from my time there! The event took place at the extravagant Palau Reial de Pedralbes.

Join us for a Meet and Greet with Shafiq Sarwari on Friday October 20th, 2023.

October 19, 2023October 19, 2023GillianGeneral

We are collaborating with Kerry Flowwa to bring her arts and culture meet up group to Jewel Envy for a jewellery arts discussion combined with the social cause of fundraising to help bring Shafiq’s family to safety.

Kerry organizes group events through Meet Up to discover local gems in her current city. As a world traveller she finds joy in making new discoveries and connections with locals and transplants wherever she goes. But her events aren’t just about making new friends she always chooses a way to give back to people through the charitable organization she founded called Flowwa. She registered her charity to help people “replace fear with joy, in the trauma-recovery journey” which she experienced first hand but that is a story for her to share.

Our event will be centered around Jewel Envy’s support for resident Shafiq Sarwari and helping bring his family to safety in Canada. Shafiq will be sharing his story of jewellery making, his flight from Afghanistan, and how a simple request for help turned into years of working on fundraising to bring his family to Canada.

Please RSVP here.

The event is free and people are welcome to donate on the spot with a chance to win a genuine diamond!

This game was inspired by a game I played as a child at the Exhibition in the summer. My grandfather used to take all of the grand-kids each year to the Ex but this trip was difference since it was with my dad and brother. My dad loved the vendor buildings and one person, whose booth I still remember, must have been selling jewellery, but also had this gemstone tray set up. You paid a fee and then got to guess which stone was a genuine diamond. They were all .10ct stones and I did not win….but that game has always stuck with me and as a professional goldsmith I have been able to run it a couple times at my studio over the years. I last time was in 2016 and we’re bringing it back for tomorrow nights event. Out of these 50 stones 47 of them are cubic zirconia, 2 are moissanite, and one is a genuine .16ct G/H I2 diamond. Donate money to the fundraising and have your chance to guess the correct stone. If you guess correct you will be notified after the event and the stone will be yours!

*if multiple people guess correctly there will be a draw for the winner as we only have one diamond to give away. The diamond has a retail value of $500.

Pickle me this

October 15, 2023October 15, 2023Jewel EnvyGeneral

It is time to pull the golden pickle out from my drawer and finish it into a necklace that I can wear to attend Picklefest 2023

I made the pickle for myself quite a while ago when I was creating my first set of food charms and wanted to wear my favourite – I think it’s about time I finished it!

Even my sharks love pickles, I gotta get on it! – Alexis

Tinker, Teacher, Goldsmith, Hi!

October 1, 2023Jewel EnvyGeneral

What word sums up the daily life of a Goldsmith at Jewel Envy? Inventive.

When jewellery is handmade, creativity in the design in expected, BUT that is not all. The “how” and the “with what” is at least as creative. It can mean learning a new skill, or buying a new tool, which we love, and then what? What if there is no book, no commercial tool available for the brilliantly beautiful creation keeping us up at night? We hypothesize, we experiment, we create a process to form our creation. Many times, we modify or create new tools, which means we need to know how to work steel, or rework electronics, or read and enter new code.

The next time you visit us at Jewel Envy, and you see an interesting piece, ask us how it was made. The answer might surprise you.