Winner of the “free hour” contest!

Congratulations to Mary Harding!  I wish that I could tell you that she actually won a free hour, but you all know that’s not within my power to grant  :-)  What Mary did win was a small package of lovely beads made by my friend Melanie, of Earthenwood Studio. Share This

Graphic Ads - Do They Help or Hurt Your Online Marketing?

Some marketers have said that graphics are out. Aside from having an ecover on your minisite, they feel that consumers’ eyes glaze over when they see an animated graphic banner ad. But does that mean they’re completely ineffective? Not necessarily. If I go to a site that has nothing but banner ads and a small amount of text, [...]

Jewelry Bargains at Zavier

Zavier Boutique is an online specialty store offering fashion-conscious customers exclusive high-quality products at truly affordable prices. Zavier, originally a fine jewelry brand known for its creative, innovative designs, and world-class craftsmanship, now extends its passion for beauty and design into handbags, shoes and other accessories. Zavier's talented designers not only have a discriminating eye for style, but also for the finest workmanship. I love the way they set their gemstones.


18k Gold Plated & Created Amethyst Ring
• Fancy checker board-cut created amethyst
• 18k Rose gold plated sterling silver
$78


Smoky Quartz & Mother of Pearl Bracelet
• Faceted smoky quartz gems and black mother of pearl stars with silver beads and floral end caps.
• 7" long, Sterling Silver.
• Toggle clasp.
$49


Sterling Silver & Honey Amber Ring
• Oval and round shaped honey ambers
• Rotatable petals with spiral design
$50


Labradorite & Black Onyx Necklace
• Star Labradorite and faceted black onyx with silver beads
• 18" long, Sterling Silver
• Toggle clasp
$83


14k Gold & Blue Topaz Ring
• From the Zavier Lugano Collection
• Square step-cut blue topaz
• Square blue topaz with filigree shank design
$168


Green Jasper & Black Onyx Necklace
• Oval green jasper and faceted black onyx with silver beads
• 18" long, Sterling Silver
• Toggle clasp
$78


14k Rose Gold Ruby & Diamond Ring
• Round brilliant-cut diamonds and rubies
• Concave square design
$260


Smoky Quartz & Peridot Flora Pendant
• Navette brilliant-cut smoky quartz
• Floral design, Sterling Silver
• Fits up to 3 mm chain
$31


White Pearl & White Gold Ring
• Expert-selected white cultured freshwater pearl, 7mm
• 32 square step-cut diamonds, 18k White Gold
$262


Sky Blue Arizonian Turquoise Ring
• Sterling Silver
• Openwork shank
• Arizonian Turquoise Oval cabochon
$97

Have a great week!
Maggie See full article.

Related Entries:

Jewelry Career Resources - 08 August 2006

Jewelry Designer for Princesses - 08 March 2007

Designer Jewelry Bargains - 20 April 2008

Jewelry Bargains at Max & Chloe - 03 May 2008




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Stylish Star burst Fancy Earlets now available at The Chain Gang

The Chain Gang Body Jewelry strive to bring you the most unique collection of body jewelry. Our line of body jewelry comprises of a huge variety of curved barbells, ear plugs, charms and lots of other body piercing accessories. We sell only the highest quality body piercing jewelry to guarantee customer’s safety and protection. All our [...]

Social Networking for Jewelry Designers

Anyone who has spent any time on the Internet knows that social networking is the next big web communication wave. You’ve probably gotten emails from friends asking you to join one or two or more of them, and I would bet you are a member of at least one social network. For the longest time [...]

What Does Your Home Office Life Look Like?

How many of you actually get in the car and drive somewhere to do your Internet marketing business?  I wake up every day, plop my butt down on my couch, and sip my coffee. To be honest, this has become a sticker in my marriage for a few reasons, so I’m working on changing that.  First, [...]

Recession Slump Marketing for Online and Offline Businesses

John Lawlor has created a tactic called Slump Marketing, where you harness the power of various online tools and sites to keep your business afloat. As an online marketer, you may think your business is exempt from recession issues, but it’s no different - consumers are going to pick and choose how and where they spend [...]

Somers Randolph Jewelry

Somers Randolph is not a jewelry designer, he's a sculptor. Known for his larger pieces, Somers has also spent 30 years carving in miniature. When his wife Hillary discovered a virtual treasure trove of these tiny soapstone sculptures, she was inspired. They have transformed the miniature sculptures into silver and gold, creating the SOMERS collection. Somers says that he is one of those few lucky people in this world who are blessed to spend their working lives doing exactly what they want to do.

designer jewelry
Nancy Pendant
Friction clasp.
From Somers Classic series.
Measures 1-3/4" high x 3/4" wide.
Double strand 18" Tobacco colored leather cord.
$290

Each piece of Somers Jewelry begins its life as a soapstone sculpture, hand-carved by Somers Randolph. To keep the integrity of the original soapstone, each piece is cast using the technique of lost-wax casting and a five-step finishing process.

jewelry techniques
Susan Pendant
Sterling silver hook and eye clasp.
From the Somers Geometric series.
Measures 1-1/2" high x 1-1/2" wide.
16" five strand Ruby colored leather cord.
$350

jewelry designer
Reeve Pendant
From the Somers Classic series.
18" black silk cord with friction clasp.
Measures 1" high x 1" wide x 3/4" deep.

Artist Statement

I learned to whittle from my great uncle Alfred Adams, a Superior Court judge in Nashville, Tennessee. He spent many hours whittling cedar sticks, trying to create the perfect curl of wood with each stroke. The price of a consult with that wise man when I was six or eight years old was to possess a pocketknife that would shave his arm.

My affinity for sculpture was discovered later, emerging as a logical escape from the standard pressures of a New England prep school's academic demands. Cabot Lyford was the first sculptor I ever met. His style of teaching involved a lot of doing. We were welding, casting bronze, and carving wood and stone in just two semesters of school. After a year of artistic exploration, which included attendance at the Corcoran School of Art and an apprenticeship in a marble yard in Pietrasanta, Italy, I attended Princeton.

Princeton is stubbornly academic, recognizing the study of, but not the creation of art as a worthwhile pursuit. I majored in Art History and mounted a sculpture show as a senior thesis in order to graduate. I am grateful to that institution for exposure to and friendship with some wonderful artists that chose to visit as professors from New York City.

From New Jersey, the logical move was to the West Coast, and I spent the next dozen or so years in Santa Barbara, California. In 1979, I visited a bronze pour at the local community college and was greeted by the instructor, an energetic fellow who introduced himself as Paul Lindhard, and asked me my name.

I told him and, without pause, he asked, "Somers, what do you do?" I said that I was going to be a sculptor. This fellow grabbed my shirt with intense enthusiasm and said, "Somers, you either are a sculptor, or you're not." Without hesitation, I replied to Paul, "Well then, I am a sculptor."

I taught at that college with Paul for the next several years, until I could support myself with sales of my own sculpture. I lived in warehouses and home-built studios with corrugated fiberglass roofs. The microwave oven on top of the refrigerator was the kitchen, and stone dust coated everything.

By 1990 it was time for a move, and so I loaded 14 tons of tools, stone, and possessions and headed to Nashville, Tennessee, for an encounter with my heritage. I threw in all my savings on a burned out warehouse in downtown Nashville, renovated it, and opened Blue Sky Court, the first coffeehouse in Nashville. While I was carving upstairs, we had live music six nights a week and a new art show every two weeks for over two years.

In 1996, I quit carving and began a romance with an anvil and scrap metal that lasted through my move to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1997. That morphed into silversmithing in 1998, and persists to some extent today. I returned to carving stone in 1999, and am now doing some large marble pieces, and some soapstone whittling to keep my lovely wife in jewelry designs.

Yes, there's a wife, Hillary. She's the business-minded of the two of us. She figured out how to market my thousand or so soapstone whittles as silver and gold jewelry. She also was kind enough to create a daughter, Comfort Avery Randolph, who at 3 years old has already participated in her first art show on Canyon Road in Santa Fe.

While I carve, I have lots of time to ponder. I think about everything from religion, to what will be the same in a hundred years, to how to answer my 3-year-old's query, "Daddy, where is the speed limit?"

And I reflect, very often, on how fortunate I am to have been gifted with the ability to create objects that other people want.
See full article.

Related Entries:

Jewelry Career Resources - 08 August 2006

Jewelry as Designer DNA - 13 September 2006

Couture Jewelry Awards - 04 March 2007

Jewelry Designer for Princesses - 08 March 2007




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Judith Neugebauer Jewelry Designer

Judith Neugebauer has worked as a jeweler since 1974. Prior to that, she was trained in classical ballet, having studied extensively with the American Ballet Theater in New York City. She performed professionally in the Ballet Corp at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and with the New Jersey Ballet Company, as well as in musical theater productions throughout the country for ten years.


Daffodil Necklace
Necklace with lines drawn in 23k gold leaf on forged and hollow formed leaves of sterling silver. Accented with a pearl. 16"L fine silver cable. (Click on the pic.)
$400

Judith's jewelry is made of die-formed, brushed sterling silver with an overlay of 23k gold leaf applied in sweeping, calligraphic strokes. Many pieces are enhanced with beautiful freshwater pearls and Australian boulder opals set in 22k gold. Recently, she has made extensive use of oxidized and sandblasted sterling silver to create a rich charcoal-black patina that contrasts even more dramatically with 23k gold lines.


Winterberry Pendant
Pendant with calligraphic lines drawn in 23k gold leaf on two pillows of domed and hollow-formed oxidized sterling silver. Accented with a Tahitian freshwater pearl.
$430

Judith's work is widely exhibited and collected, having been featured in Fine Craft Galleries, Museum Stores, and Juried Exhibitions throughout the US since 1985. Of special note was her selection to participate in the 1999 Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, DC. She was selected as a Juror for the prestigious American Crafts Council shows in 1996, and has served as Juror for a number of other regional fine craft shows.


Orbit Earrings
Earrings hand-fabricated from sterling silver with 23k gold leaf and pearl accents. 14k gold post backs.
$205

Judith was educated at Farleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey, and studied jewelry making with Austin Goodwin at Kean College in Union, New Jersey. She also studied both jewelry and ceramics at the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts in Summit, New Jersey. She lives and works with her husband, Tom Neugebauer, a nationally known ceramic artist and sculptor.

The many years Judith spent as a dancer have given her an appreciation of form, line, and movement. These influences have inspired her as an artist, and have been translated into her work as a jeweler. Her explorations with clay in the early eighties introduced her to an Oriental aesthetic, that can be seen in the calligraphic use of gold-leaf and colored metal inlay in her jewelry designs.

Artist Statement

A previous career in classical ballet and theater instilled within me a deep awareness and appreciation for movement, line, and balance. These are the classical qualities I have always tried to incorporate into my jewelry designs...and in my life.

My work is individually fabricated using sterling silver with an overlay of 23k gold leaf. Many pieces also incorporate freshwater pearls and Australian boulder opals set in 22k gold. Die-formed hollow elements create visual depth, yet the overall concern with lightness and movement remain central to my approach. A recent development has been the use of oxidized, sandblasted sterling silver with 23k gold leaf to create an even more dramatic surface.
See full article.

Related Entries:

Jewelry Career Resources - 08 August 2006

Jewelry Designer for Princesses - 08 March 2007

Judith Ripka Speaks at WJA Conference - 20 March 2007

Judith Ripka Jewelry Designer - 04 March 2008




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Fast and Easy Jewelry Gift Bags to Make

A simple but stunning way to package your jewelry for customers.