Rambling on...
The other day a potential customer came into my shop to have a bracelet
repaired. She said it had broken several times before, and she had
always taken it to WXYZ jewelers where she bought it. It was an
interlocking heart design with each link made of two pieces of thin
gold sheet, formed and soldered together to make a hollow form. A
rivet, made from ultra thin 24 gauge wire kept pulling out and
breaking.
I quoted her $108 to replace the rivet with a thicker one, soldered
both ends, a fair price for an hour of goldsmith labor, equipment time,
solder, gold wire, oxygen and gas, polishing compound, time to take the
job in, quality control it, and write up a receipt when we're done. She
said she only paid $250 for the bracelet and declined the repair. I
showed her a Solid 14K bracelet we made, at $1,300... made solid to
last a lifetime. She asked me about 3 other bracelets she had on - and
every one of them was hollow and showing denting, tearing and previous
repairs. We both said our thanks and she left.
It is a sad fact that most jewelry is made purely to impress at first
look and get the sale, but economize on materials so the manufacturer
can make more money. If it falls apart in a couple of years, oh well.
Needless to say, we have a different idea.
Ancient Artifacts at unearthed at Foxfire!
Imagine a simpler time... Say 1500 to 2500 years ago. Now,
think of the objects the civilizations of those times left behind. A
tie to the distant past, rare, precious and timeless. A silver coin
bearing the image of an ancient emperor... Who knows whose hands it has
passed through on it’s journey through time.
The artists at Foxfire have delighted in creating jewelry from ancient
coins, artifacts and glass shards. This year we have made several
pieces with ancient coins, and have established a supply of coins which
will allow us to make more. We will also be working again with ancient
glass fragments, sometimes given an opal like patina by their long
exposure to the soil.
We can even create custom work in this vein!
Tucson 2007
I'm sitting here on the plane writing this while
flying home from the world's largest gem show in Tucson, Arizona.
I am coming back with some wonderful gems - more
about that later. The show is really 47 shows, ranging from shows with
8 booths to hundreds. Some are open to the public and some ( the main
ones we go to) are strictly limited to jewelry professionals. The main
shows feature fine unset gemstones, jewelry and jewelry tools including
computer software. The outside shows are much less gem intensive with
mostly beads, carvings, minerals and crystals, gem rough and everything
from tribal jewelry to African masks and drums. dealers come from all
over the world and pick the show that they fit into. We met up with a
very nice couple from Sri Lanka, who we've done past business with, and
bought Sapphires, in blue , yellow, and pink. Old acquaintances and new
ones were met over showcases of gems from diverse places, but including
Arizona and Oregon. We even bought some Quartz crystals - and when we
couldn't afford the Quartz, we bought pints. (sorry, bad joke.) The
shows have so many beads and gems to look at that by the end of the day
we got a bit jaded ( OH NO! not ANOTHER one!) We went to the Tucson
shows this year with two themes "something rich and strange" and "get
local".
"Something rich and strange" is from Shakespeare's
the Tempest, and relates our desire to bring back exotic and unusual
gems in high qualities; beauties you might never see in more
traditional jewelry stores. We chose blue flash and rainbow moonstone,
in rounded cabochons and moon face carvings, slices of meteorite
including one studded with extraterrestrial peridot crystals, amber
pieces with bugs trapped inside from millions of years ago, rich and
beautiful opals from Australia, bicolor and watermelon tourmaline, and
lustrous coin shaped pearls.
For "get local" we sought out gemstones from our
own US of A, and preferably the Northwest. We brought back Sapphires
from Montana, lots of peridot, and blood red garnets from Arizona
called Anthill garnet. From southeast Oregon comes sunstone, a striking
orange to red feldspar gemstone, related to moonstone and labradorite.
Sometimes sunstone has a sheen called the schiller effect, which looks
like a hint of glitter within the stone. (Don't get confused by
"goldstone", a man made glass imitation of sunstone.)
Rounding out our selections are natural color
pearl strands in peach to pink mixes, fine aquamarines, tourmalines,
tiny ruby beads, orange spessartite garnets, tanzanites, color change
garnets, carved stones for Medieval seal rings and for Renaissance
style pendants, and one 3.45 carat diamond; an uncut octahedron crystal.
It was a great show with warm sunshine and amazing
gems. I am looking forward to creating some pretty special jewelry with
the gems we brought back. Stop by to see the treasures and learn more
about our new and unusual stones.
Gem and
jewelry trends for 2007
While jewelry should reflect a timeless beauty and
style, tastes do change and it's fun to take note of the trends we read
about and see at the gem shows. Here's a few tidbits: reds, oranges and
orangy reds seem to lead earthy colors into popularity. A return to
yellow gold, particularly 18k is coming on strong. Rose gold, a coppery
looking gold alloy, is gaining in popularity as well.
Peridot has been a hot color lately, the rich
grass green color is very good as an accent to clothing styles. In
pearls, unusual shapes and colors, and assorted strands are very hot,
while layered pearl necklaces remain popular. Industrial colors of
blues and greens are contrasted with oxidized metal colors. Color
graduations and mixes are said to be the rage.
In diamonds, earthy and natural designs are
becoming popular, and antique styles with rose cut and black or brown
diamonds have their following.
In general, nature and spiritually driven designs
are inspirations moving many designers. At Foxfire, Michael's designs
these days can be divided into loose categories ( a bit different than
most designers who have only one signature style);
Glyphs: Triangles, spirals and graphic elements
and ancient symbols which give the jewelry a talisman, amulet or tribal
feel.
Featuring rough textures as a foil for polished surfaces. These are
usually fabricated and molded, then cast, but can sometimes be CAD/CAM.
Nature: organic curves and swirls, freeform
designs to complement the gemstones and more important, the wearer.
These pieces are modeled in wax and cast.
Historical: A style we've recently taken up and
are having lots of fun with; reminiscent of ancient to medieval,
renaissance to Victorian times. Not just reproductions, but jewelry
inspired by the techniques, symbols and motifs of the jewelry of those
times. Hand engraving, fabrication, and yes, even computer assisted
design all can play a role here.
Custom: Someone comes to us with an idea and we
create it. In this area we do a very wide variety of styles and really
try to match what the customer wants.
Whichever style you choose, you'll find that
jewelry from Foxfire is quality, upscale, yet casual, traditional at
times, but with a modern prospective, symbolic but not arcane.
A word on Quality 2006
One of the things that annoys me most is the
constant barrage of people trying to deceive us, to steal from us, to
trick us. It's brought home every day by spam on the internet, but also
in every form of advertising. By email, we are enticed to order cheap
pharmaceuticals, invest in the new hot stock, or meet that cute single
Russian woman who just happened to find us... somewhere. On other
media, there is the placebo weight loss pills - for those who need to
lose serious weight only - for $129.00. There's the Oriental rug store
that's having that big going out of business sale - and has been for
three years now.
Of course there are the jewelry stores who advertise that they sell
great quality jewelry for a fraction of the price - yeah, SURE they do.
There is a wide variety of quality - why not just admit they're more
affordable because they carry lower quality, more mass produced pieces?
A coworker we had working at Foxfire told us the story of one such
place she had worked in Renton where she sold a diamond anniversary bad
with a, well, unique feature. The diamonds had been cast in place in
the ring instead of set by a skilled artisan. OK, some places do it
that way. One of them had been accidentally covered over with
gold, and this defect had been missed by quality control. She sold the
ring by telling the customer that the hidden diamond was a secret one,
just for them.
We do not do things that way at Foxfire. In fact we're constantly
striving to improve our quality - and it pays off in great referrals
from our customers to their friends and family. We appreciate the word-
of - mouth advertising and keep very busy , and we have been doing this
for quite a few years now - since 1985.
