Masks are mandatory during classes for your own health and safety!
Tag: #bigbluehouse
8 Week Gemsetting Class Monday May 29th, 2023
To enroll in this class you must have completed at least one 8 week jewellery making class or the equivalent through weekend workshops.
This class comes with a kit that consists of a set of 6 cast pieces in sterling silver, calibrated gems and setting burs for the projects, materials to make 2 setting tools to use in your work. The kit has a fee of $200 that must be paid at or before the session begins.
1 Day Stacking Ring Workshop Sunday April 30th, 2023
*Masks are required while attending classes at Jewel Envy.
1 Day Band Ring Workshop Sunday April 23rd, 2023
*Masks are required while attending classes at Jewel Envy.
Winner winner jewellery dinner!
Ok so it’s not quite appropriate to eat for dinner but jewellery can certainly be worn during dinner or really any other time you feel the need to add some sparkle on your body.
December 2021 marked our 15 year anniversary as a boutique retail and working studio space. We started off a lot smaller on Spadina Ave but have made Roncesvalles our home for the last 9 years. If the times were different we would have had a big celebration but alas it was not to be last year so we got creative and asked you our amazing customers to share a special memory about the shop or a piece of jewellery from here and as a thank you we did a random draw for a little shopping spree in the store on us.
We deeply appreciated everyone who wrote in. All names were entered into an excel spreadsheet and we used a random number generator to pick the winner. There were far to many lovely notes to share in just one blog post so I have chosen the winner and one more.
Yesterday our lucky winner had the opportunity to come and shop in person and you can read her entry as well as see a selection of her jewellery from here below.
How can I show my love for Jewel Envy and all the talented, creative artists? Buy their jewelry, of course! Over the years my collection has grown, many of these pieces are near and dear to my heart as they were made for me, while partnering with the artists.
I absolutely love every one of these jewels and will definitely be adding more from Jewel Envy to my collection.
Your social media page is one of my favourites as I get to see a glimpses of beautiful, sparkly, unique creations.
Janet k.
From the many other entries I chose this one because it truly highlights the sentiment of jewellery and what we do here. Please enjoy the touching story by a customer we started working with just before the pandemic began.
This is about memories and what you’ve done to enrich them.
My mother died and left behind dozens of pieces. There was a blind auction for the four heirs. In English, it meant that no one got every item they wanted. Horse trading was allowed – and that helped. That said, most of the settings were dated. I found out about you guys totally by accident – from a woman working across the street from you.
We have relied on you to reinvent pieces that retain our memories of the stones, my mother’s love of baubles and my father’s love of buying gems for our mother.
I’ll share one backstory. My father never smoked cigarettes. But his 5 sisters sent him cigarettes during WWII that he could use for barter. He bought diamonds. I wear the largest engagement ring diamond as a pendant every day. And think of everyone involved in getting it from Holland to around my neck. And you – Jewel Envy – is a part of that story.
Carla C.
Watermelon Tourmaline
Sneak peek at some design ideas Alexis Kostuk of glaciale goldsmith is brewing up to set these beautiful watermelon tourmaline into some earrings designs.
Spring is almost here and brings gemstones and more with it!
We are more than prepared to say goodbye to the winter and welcome a warmer season full of plants and animals, but that’s not all for us here at the studio; Spring is bringing us new Goldsmiths, new awesome gemstone events (more on that will be addressed on the monthly email) and new classes.
New jewelers will be joining our family soon, and we cant wait to have their work available on the store for you.
There are also plenty of events to come, but those will be unveiled when the time is right, so I will not ruin the surprise.
Last but not least, our gemstone setting course is running and personally has me excited, after months and months of planning, sketching, writing and thinking, the course has a starting date and will be running, if you ever wanted to learn about gem setting, this is your opportunity. The course will require previous experience with jewellery, but good news, you can take fabrication courses here at the studio and be ready to take the course. go to https://jewelenvy.ca or give us a call at the studio to learn more about the courses.
That is it for now,
Mauricio
Lapidary equipment
Holy bananas batman, we have been bringing in some exciting equipment to add to our repertoire at Jewel Envy. I couldn’t hold back my excitement for our latest addition:
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| Lapidary equipment!!! |
We can now play around with gem cutting. Instead of jumping back into completing work I had on my docket I decided to scrounge up some amethysts and smokey quartz crystals to play around with.
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| All the amethysts are sitting upright on the flat surface I created and I am holding the smokey quartz crystal to show the grinded flat surface along with a hole I drilled into the crystal. |
I love the of natural crystals and cannot wait to play around with a few more in my stash to make adjustments so I can more easily set them into jewellery pieces. The reason I am so excited to have this equipment to grind and polish gems into unique shapes that will make any custom piece of jewellery that I create even more unique! – Alexis
Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
Hello our lovely readers,
I cannot believe it is already the end of June! Is everyone ready for the long weekend? Well today, I have an exciting event to share with you to prepare you for July!
The annual Toronto Outdoor Art Fair is happening on July 6th – 8th! It is Canada’s largest and longest-running contemporary outdoor art fair. This free public event showcases works by over 340
contemporary visual artists and makers, ranging in medium from painting,
photography, and mixed media to jewellery and ceramics, and attracts
115,000 visitors each year to Nathan Phillips Square.
I will also be showcasing my jewellery works for the first time at the TOAF. Please come by and check out my works!
@ Nathan Phillips Square
Friday July 6 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Saturday July 7 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Sunday July 8 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
I will be located at Booth A23 in Zone A! Hope to see you all there! Here are some of my works below.
Thank you for reading and I hope everyone will have a fantastic long weekend! Happy Canada Day!
Hoi Yi
Harem Royal
I just came across a jewellery design house called Harem Royal, and wanted to share some of their work with you. The richness of the colours is so amazing, and softens the sharp lines and somewhat mechanical nature of the pieces. The style makes me think of steampunk insects, beautiful yet dangerous. What inspiring work! It is so refreshing to come across artists whose style is so vastly different from my own – it reminds me that this world is filled with so many talented people, and so many beautiful things.
Happy Sunday everybody!
(all images via https://athousandfacets.tumblr.com/ and www.haremroyal.com)