The 1 day prep class is a mandatory full day class in addition to the 8 week evening class (weekly on Tuesday evenings). You can opt out of this if you have the ability to take the cast pieces to a 600 emery finish as this must be done before class 1 on Tuesday July 21st. This class includes a kit of 6 cast pieces in sterling silver, calibrated gemstones and burs for the setting as well as tool steel to make two specialized setting tools. To opt out when you pay for the class. Just pay the class deposit and put a note you will pick up your kit in advance. The class and kit must be paid in full when you pick up the kit and opting out means out means you are able to finish the jewellery pieces to 600 on your own before the Tuesday class begins. If you pay for the prep day and do not attend your pieces will be finished to 600 for you and this fee will be paid towards the finishing.
Tag: #roncesvillage
8 Week Intro/Intermed Casting Wednesday May 20th, 2026
1 Day Stacking Ring Workshop Sunday November 16th, 2025
Introductory/Intermediate Casting Tuesday September 16th, 2025
Do your settings need repair?
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
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.