This past August Jewel Envy had the pleasure of holding a team building fun day for City Orthodontics. Eleven people working in all areas of the clinic came in to learn how to make a piece of jewellery.

Jewellery and dentistry have quite a lot in common and many of the skills are transferable. We use many of the same tools and both fields have a passion for tiny but important details.

When the City Orthodontics group showed up you could see their eye light up with recognition the moment they saw the display of tools for their class were in fact common items in a clinic. The dentists drill is called a flexshaft in the jewellery studio and we use re-purposed dental tools for carving tools.

Kathryn Rebecca and I taught the group how to carve cuttlefish, which is the bone of a sea animal, and cast precious metal into the cavity created. Everyone had the option of making either a pendant or key-chain and the group came up with a variety of designs.

A lot more goes into making jewellery than is generally expected without any experience so I think after a few hours the group had a new found appreciation for hand made work!

Below are finished pieces. They are all turned out exceptionally well and we hope the group had as much fun in the class as we had teaching them.

If you would like more information about special classes for your group please let us know and we can design an event just for you!

Happy jewellery making!

Gillian

Happy Saturday friends!!  For my Very First Blog ever, I thought I would share with you the most recent addition to my bracelet family.  This golden beauty was born just this past Wednesday, and I have documented her arrival into this jewelled world for you.  Enjoy!

This is the prep stage.  I start by tracing the shape onto the wax, and then cut around it with my jeweller’s saw.  I then use various tools, such as wax files and burs, to gradually carve out the final shape of the bracelet:

Once I am satisfied with the final product, I attach the wax sprues around the piece in order to prepare for casting.

As the final step, I electroplated this bracelet with 14karat gold-plating solution, to achieve the final golden glow.  And voila! 

As a jewelry designer there is nothing I love more than a cocktail ring. I came up with this sample spontaneously but I think it has potential. The ring shown is fabricated from sterling silver with a synthetic amethyst. I am not usually drawn to synthetic stones, but this one changes colour from deep purple to fuchsia pink – fun and cost effective!

Iona Alexandra Jewellery

A couple weeks ago, I finished up teaching my first 8 week Intro to Fabrication class. I must say, I was terribly nervous but excited at the same time. I had taught people how to do things before, as I’m sure everyone has, but I had never been in an actual teacher-student position. Lucky for me, my class was great. It was a pleasure helping them bring their visions to life.
Here are some pictures of the final projects!
Be sure to check back for Jewel Envy’s latest class posting here, or sign up for our news letter and we’ll notify you of the newest classes (and when we’re set up in our new location!).
-L

This is what I have been working on in studio recently. The pendant is a redesign from a ring. Even though it’s not done yet, I will let you guys have a peek. Hopefully, I will have it done soon by the end of the week!

Jewel Envy has been open for almost six years at our Spadina location. This space was perfect when we opened up and allowed us through trial and error to go through some of the natural growing pains of a new business. We have enjoyed the community in our building and the easy access to everything but after all this time we have outgrown the space. This is a wonderful thing for a small business to be able to say!

We have found we need more room for our classes, our jewellers and our work! Although moving may seem out of the blue I have been on the hunt for the perfect location since last fall. There were some close contenders for new spaces but something always came up that made me realize it was just not for us. I am thankful I was able to hold strong and keep looking as I finally found the space that we can take the next step in. Our new location will be a ground floor on the vibrant Roncesvalles strip in the west end of downtown.

The space will need some renovations to customize it to our needs but I am looking forward to the process. Our current location will stay fully operational until we make the move west in the fall. We look forward to this expansion and next step!

Gillian