Category: General

The opening night to our Second Student Show was a huge success, with lots of great food,conversation, and of course the
beautiful jewellery.

While enjoying my winter vocation in Montreal, I spent an afternoon and
visited The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Of all the exhibition,
Decorative Art and Design and Big Bang were inspirational. Decorative
Art and Design presents how work of art revolutionized through seven
hundred years from past to present. I was impressed by the change in use
of material, the style and the sense of practicality. I see how we keep
challenging our creativity to make our life more interesting by adding
some edge on things. In Big Bang, En Masse was breathtaking to me. Once I
step in En Masse‘s room, I don’t know where to start from because every
spot on the wall is covered with drawings. They are all unique and
exciting. Eventhough they are drawn in black lines, two dimensional form
and colorless, images speak the story and create a connection with
audience. 

ChiaChien

I thought I would write more of a personal blog for this weeks entry. Last week we celebrated our five year anniversary and we are still going strong. Jewel Envy has been my little baby and making it past the five year mark has meant the world to me. I think it’s important for everyone to know I could not have done it without the help of my family and the wonderful artists I have been lucky enough to meet and work with since Jewel Envy opened. Special thanks to Jewel Envy’s own studio manager Alexis Kostuk for thinking outside the box and always coming up with creative solutions!

Getting this cooperative space off the ground certainly presented challenges but every year we find new ways to grow and expand. This year we did it through our traveling exhibition of our jewellers work as well as our student exhibition of work made by Jewel Envy students. Through both initiatives we have been involved in the arts community and my hope is that we have and are making studio jewellery more accessible to the general public.

Stay tuned for some exciting developments in 2012. We have already starting planning so keep in touch with us!

All of the best for the season and coming year!
Gillian

I’ve noticed over the past year that there is a trend for wearing hand jewellery. When I say that, I mean jewellery that covers the back of your hand connecting to one or a series of rings, and a chain or something around the wrist. I was trying to figure out what the actual name for this Indian inspired adornment is and, although the internet is not always honest, I think they are called panjas.
They can be quite exquisite and intricate, or fairly simple.

Either way, I think they’re a really cool statement piece.

Nicole Scherzinger was seen wearing a hand bracelet by Privé on The X-Factor a couple weeks ago. Hers is a bit different, only resting on the palm. And oh heck yes it’s diamonds and white gold

I think I’m going to make a piece inspired by this trend!
-L

P.S. Don’t forget about our holiday party Dec 8th!

It’s the holiday season and everyone is looking for unique gifts.

So, is there a better gift then an original and hand-made piece of jewellery?
When it comes to originality and creativity, Jewel Envy goldsmiths have lots to offer.

Here is a sneak-peek of some of our pieces:

I have found one of the most challenging parts of enamelling is figuring out how to rig the piece for firing. These pieces are very tiny (7mm and less) so they would not balance on any of the trivets we have. I also tried a material called TFS thin firing sheet that is not supposed to stick to enamel but has not worked for me.

Enamelling of the concave surface was easy enough, but the subsequent enamel on the convex surface was a problem.

As shown above, the convex surface is marred by depressions made by the material is was balancing on during firing.

Using fine binding wire tightly wound around the posts, hanging lines could be created.

All rigged and in place and ready for firing.

Oops, I forgot to take a picture of the finished pieces. But it worked–really!