The Wrap-Up of February 2012

It doesn't feel like it could possibly have been a whole month since my January wrap-up! But here we are on the last day of February and it is time for another one of those personal-progress-updatie-kind-a-posts.

February has been nowhere near as chilled-out as I had hoped my year might be. Upon deciding to take an un-planned overseas trip next month, I have had to somehow squeeze March's workload in with my February jobs. My home is still looking quite good, although I can feel the clutter creeping its way back in at the edges. I must get back on top of that! The cleaning schedule that I was so good at sticking to last month has gone out the window. In the face of endless renovation dust and mess, I have simply lost the motivation. My crazy busy workload has not helped the situation either. Hopefully a completed bathroom late next month will renew my housework enthusiasm. Don't even ask about the state of my studio. It's not a total lost cause, just one that I continue to push to the back of my "Things To Do" list.

My photo-a-day challenge where I am taking one iPhone photograph each day using the "Instagram" app, is still going strong. I will continue to show my pictures at the end of each month, but if you'd like to follow my images from day to day, you can download Instagram free from the App Store. I am posting under the user name the_jeweller. Here is my February in photographs.

On the weight-loss front, I am now 4kg down. That is exactly one third of the way to meeting my goal of 12kg. I would like those numbers to be moving southwards a little faster, but at least my weight is heading in the right direction.

So what's next in the chronicles of the adventures of The Jeweller? I'm heading overseas! My very good friend and fellow jeweller Sinead Buckney is currently living over in Bangladesh and I am ducking over to visit her. On the way, I am visiting another old friend, Mike, in the United Arab Emirates. Ok, I'll admit, Dubai is really more of a detour than "on the way". I am very much looking forward to exploring these foreign lands and taking you along for the ride. Thanks again to my readers, bring on March.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Bathroom Renovation Update

I keep getting messages from my Facebook readers asking how the bathroom renos are going. The answer- SLOWLY. The problem with the fact that we are doing so much of the work ourselves is that weekends are never long enough and the spaces in between weekends are far too long. In saying that though, it is really coming along well.

The ground work for the plumbing went in first, then we put in new walls, ceiling and a concrete slab. After waiting for the concrete to cure, the waterproofer came in and did his part (stinking us out in the process- resin smells horrible!). Another few days of waiting and we began the LONG process that has been laying the tiles and fitting the bathtub. An estimated four day job has turned into eight, but is almost done now. Here are some pictures, all taken from the same vantage point. The first is the 'before' picture, the middle one is the state of my bathroom last time I wrote of the subject and the third is a current view.

The gorgeous oak vanity that I have ordered from overseas will be here some time in late March/early April. The project is an on-going one until that final part arrives to make our room perfect. In the meantime we'll be putting in the toilet, painting walls, putting up a shower screen and accessorising. I'll do a final bathroom reveal once it is all completed. Until then, you just have to be patient. Not having a bathroom in my home is certainly testing mine!

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Holiday Opal- A Pendant for Pauline

Pauline and her husband are lovely repeat clients of mine. Some time ago, they purchased a custom made, 'Encased Designs' pendant from me. Recently Pauline dropped in to see me at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra, bringing with her a loose piece of boulder opal. The pair had purchased the gem from a shop in Blackall in Central Queensland on a holiday up north. Boulder opals are natural Australian gemstones which form as veins of colour in the brown ironstone of certain areas in Queensland. Because these coloured veins are so thin, opal cutters leave a layer of ironstone on the back to give the gems more bulk and prevent damage to the delicate opals. In general, I'm not usually a big fan of opal, but this stone is amazing.  There is something captivating about the organic shape and sweeping bands in tones of blue that move like liquid across the stone.

Pauline asked me to design and make a silver pendant to hold the opal. With her only instructions being "something simple", Pauline gave me complete control over the design. After tossing around a few ideas I crafted a highly polished silver surround to run around the edge of the stone. Then across the center of the design I created wide tabs to hold the opal in place (without the use of any yucky glue). The tabs line up with the natural colour banding in the middle of the opal and have a matte finish, to contrast with the high polish of the surround. Add a square shaped bail and leather cable, and the job was done.

Front, side and back views of Pauline's opal pendant.

The couple collected their necklace from me last week and seemed really pleased with the result. With lovely holiday memories and a beautiful design, I do hope you enjoy wearing it for years to come Pauline.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Ring With Bite- A Snake For Jenni

Some clients come to me because they love my design aesthetic. Others choose me as their jeweller because I have the skills and attention to detail that they are after. This job was definitely the latter. I've never really been an animal jewellery type of person and this snake has little to share with my own sense of design.

Jenni sells handcrafted glass beads that she makes from molten glass in a technique called lampworking. We met at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra where we both sell our wares. Recently, Jenni brought me a little bundle of her old gold jewellery that she wanted to recycle along with a hand-drawn picture of the snake ring she wanted made.

And so the making of the snake ring began. I melted down Jenni's old jewellery into a solid gold ingot, then spent hours rolling, forging, hammering, sawing and filing away at the metal. The process was painful! I mean literally. Jenni's little bundle of gold included several hollow charms. In what can only be labeled as complacency, I totally forgot the dangers of heating hollow objects. The air inside of the piece expands as it is heated and can cause the jewellery to explode. The best way to combat this is by simply drilling a small hole in the piece, allowing the air to escape. Of course I didn't even give it a thought. I just threw the jewellery into my crucible and put the torch to it. I was lucky to escape with a very minor burn to my eyelid and a few singed eyelashes. The other little bite that came from this snake is a cut to my index finger where my saw slipped whilst scoring one of those many scales into the surface of the snake. I wonder if the day will ever come that I stop injuring my poor little fingers whilst making jewellery?

So in the end was it all worth it? Absolutely! I feel a great sense of pride looking at the asp that I have carved from solid gold. The piece reminds me of something from ancient Egypt. I can imagine queen Cleopatra adorned in snake rings and arm bands which would have been made using the same techniques as I have used to create this ring. I was stoked to get home from the markets yesterday to find a message from Jenni on facebook saying that she was so excited to have her new ring. She said it is "so much better" than she imagined. Another happy customer. Thanks Jenni, you are a beautiful friend and I hope you enjoy your ring.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Spring Blossom Earrings

I only have time for a quick post today, so I thought I'd share some pictures of the Spring Blossom Earrings from my retail brand Japonicity.

These whimsical little blossoms appear so delicate and soft, but are actually hand sculpted from solid and strong sterling silver. They are very light weight, comfortable to wear and come in either hooks or studs. Spring Blossom Earrings are available in four sizes ranging from a teeny blossom measuring just 6.5mm up to the premium size of 15mm.

If you would like your very own pair of Spring Blossom Earrings, prices range from $49 to $79. Orders can be made either via phone or email. Check out the Japonicity website for further details.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The 4C's

Cut, Colour, Clarity, Carat Weight- The four major aspects of diamond grading. As I currently have a few clients looking for their perfect diamond, this topic is really at the top of my mind. So I thought I'd share both a story of my recent experiences with the Australian diamond industry, and some diamond facts.

When I was new to the jewellery industry, I found it difficult to find gemstone, and particularly diamond dealers. As I was inexperienced and not spending great volumes of money, plenty of dealers wouldn't give me the time of day. BIG MISTAKE! Young, emerging jewellers are the future of the industry. Give them a little bit of your time early on and they will be your loyal clients long into the future. Who knows, in a few years time they may be your best customers. As a student, I found the lovely Kathy who was working for one of Australia's major coloured gemstone dealers. Several years later, now as a fully qualified jeweller, I needed a diamond supplier as well. I rang a company recommended to me by a friend. Who should answer the phone, but Kathy! My favourite gemmologist had transferred companies. It was such a relief to know that I had someone I trusted to buy diamonds from. Kathy has a young family now and is no longer working in the industry, but over the years I have gotten to know many of the other gemmologists from both companies. They are still my preferred dealers due to their fabulous customer service, quality goods, competitive prices and reliability.

Recently, I had a customer insisting on a diamond of a certain size, but with a restricted budget. My favourite diamond company was unable to provide me with the stone I needed at the right price, so I started looking further afield. I found a dealer with a stone with all the right specifications. After signing the paperwork and paying a hefty security deposit, the diamond arrived. When it arrived, to be very honest, I was appalled. Based on previous experience, the colour and clarity stated on the certificate were not up to my standards. It was nowhere near the quality that I had expected. This brings me to my topic of the 4C's and the Australian diamond industry.

CUT: Refers to the quality of the cutting. The better the cut, the more brilliant the diamond. That sparkle comes from the proportion, finish and symmetry of the diamond facets. It is the single most important aspect of any diamond. Without a good cut, your stone will appear dull and lifeless.

COLOUR: Ranges from D (colourless) to Z (yellow/brown). D and E are colourless, F and G are fine white, and H and I are common white. K through to O are tinted, and from O down they are considered "fancy colours" and come under names such as Champagne or Canary Yellow.

CLARITY: Refers to the amount and size of natural imperfections (known as inclusions) in the stone. IF means internally flawless. A stone graded VVS1-VVS2 has very very small inclusions and VS1-VS2 has very small inclusions when viewed with a 10x optical jeweller's loupe. SI1-SI2 does have slight inclusions, but these should not be visible to the naked eye. I1-I2-I3 graded stones have got visible inclusions.

CARAT WEIGHT: This is the weight of the stone. One carat is divided into 100 points. Therefore, a diamond weighing half a carat is 50 points, one weighing a quarter of a carat is 25 points, etc. A quarter carat, round brilliant cut stone generally measures between 3.90 and 4.15mm. Half a carat ranges between 5.00 and 5.30mm. A one carat round brilliant cut diamond will measure somewhere in the region of 6.40 and 6.60mm.

A sample of some diamond rings that I have created for clients over the last three years.

So, now that you understand diamonds, you will appreciate my shock when this G-SI2 graded stone had a visible dark spot in the top, and was not as bright a white as I had hoped. My first question was "Why?!". How can this certificate claim that the stone is a G-SI2 when I have seen similar diamonds graded as H-I1. The answer- overseas diamond grading laboratories. This stone was graded at a foreign gemmological institute which does not meet the high standards of the Australian Diamond Grading Laboratory. As I have been sticking with my trusty diamond dealer all these years, I did not realise that so many of the diamonds we get here in Australia have been graded in the USA and Europe. Now it needs to be said, the diamond I looked at last week was a lovely stone at a fabulous price. If I was after a nice, white, big stone with a little inclusion, it would have been perfect. But I really did want a G in colour and SI in clarity with no visible inclusions. So, I sent it back.

In the end my client chose quality over size and went for a slightly smaller stone with an excellent cut, great colour and high clarity from my preferred supplier. The experience of the last week confirms that my original diamond dealer is offering fabulous quality goods. I will be sticking with them from now on!

For anyone looking at buying a diamond with a foreign certificate, you can request that a second report be conducted by the Australian Diamond Grading Laboratory for around $50. If you are particularly fussy about your diamond grading, as I am, it may be worth the little bit of extra cash.

For more information about the 4C's, I recommend a visit to the Eternity Diamonds web site. Oh, and happy Valentines' Day to all the lovers. There will certainly be some lucky girls getting new diamonds today!

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Tie Clip for Rebecca

Now it has to be said that I'm a little bit of a sucker for taking on those little sentimental jobs. I know that the value of jewellery is often so much more than the material worth of the piece. When an item that has held significant personal value breaks, it can be very difficult to find assistance. Plenty of jewellers wouldn't bother to offer to help with a repair or re-make because they don't think it is 'worth it'.

Mid-way through last year, Rebecca approached me with a broken tie clip belonging to her husband. This tie clip held significant value to Rebecca and her man, as the design matches her wedding ring. The clip was made from steel, a material that I do not have the tools or expertise to work in, so I offered to re-make the design in sterling silver and gold with the promise that if it ever broke again, I could solder it back together free of charge. Rebecca happily accepted my offer and so began the making of my first ever tie clip!

I'll admit, I was pretty nervous about this job. As with every first, I wasn't certain how well I could pull it off. I was worried about getting the right amount of tension to hold the clip comfortably on the tie, as well as doing justice to the lovely design of the original. I'm very good at procrastinating and with no confirmed delivery date for the piece, it was pushed towards the back of my pile of jobs for several months. Rebecca is one of those fabulous and extremely chilled-out customers who just kept saying; "Whenever you get to it, no hurry, I can wait", even though she had paid in full at time of ordering. Finally came the time when I couldn't bear to delay any longer. I set a date for Rebecca to come and collect the piece and got to work creating it.



Rebecca's tie clip: a gift for her husband in sterling silver with 18ct yellow gold.

What a huge sense of satisfaction this completed tie clip gave me! I thoroughly enjoyed making it, the tension was perfect and the design came up really well. In fact, making this piece has me totally inspired to do a range of tie clips this year. Around Fathers Day perhaps? Maybe some cufflink and tie clip sets?

Thanks Rebecca for giving me this wonderful, inspirational job AND for your patience. I hope your husband is enjoying wearing his special tie clip again.
Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Wedding of Chad and Angie: Part 2- For Him

My last story was all about the bride Angie in "The Wedding of Chad and Angie: Part 1- For Her". What I didn't mention was that I also made a ring for the groom Chad, as well as cufflinks for him and his team of four groomsmen. 



Chad and his groomsmen on the wedding day.
Photograph by Craig Fenmor.

The cufflinks were extra special, as they featured motifs of deep symbolism for the groom and his family. Chad's mother sadly passed away in early 2010 after a battle with cancer. This darling lady had been quite a fan of the Phantom comics. So, as well as setting one of the theme colours for the wedding as a very Phantom shade of purple, Chad wanted some Phantom inspired cufflinks made. This iconic superhero wears two rings (one on each hand); the first symbolising the powers of good, and the second the powers of evil. The symbol representing 'good' is that of four crossed swords, whilst the 'evil' sign is a skull. I handcrafted each cufflink from two layers of sterling silver. The inside layer has an oxidised finish, whilst the top and sides are brushed.

Chad's "Phantom" cufflinks.
Top three photographs by Craig Fenmor, bottom image by The Jeweller.

On the wedding day, before heading out to help dress the bride, I ducked in to see the gentlemen getting ready for the big day and delivered the cuff links. "Good on the right?" I asked Chad, to which he replied "Nope, good on the left, closest to the heart". I must admit, I did tear up a little as I slipped the link through each cuff on my friend's shirt.

Onto Chad's wedding ring. It is made from solid white gold, with a slight groove running around the ring one third from the edge. The surface finish of the wide section is high polish, whilst the narrow part of the design is matte.

Chad's white gold wedding ring.


To finish off this couple's story, here are a couple of stunning images of Chad and Angie on their wedding day by photographer Craig Fenmor.

Congratulations Chad and Angie on your union and best wishes for your long and happy lives together. I am looking forward to being part of this couple's future stories.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Wedding of Chad and Angie: Part 1- For Her

In my last post I told you the story of "The Engagement of Chad and Angie". Here is the promised tale of their beautiful wedding day. 

As previously mentioned, Chad is a long-time friend of my husband, and over the years Chad, and then his girlfriend Angie, have become very close friends of mine too. When the couple got engaged, I told them that any jewellery they wanted for their special day would be my wedding gift to them.

Angie and her bridesmaids.
Photograph by Craig Fenmor.

As well as the wedding band to compliment her gorgeous engagement ring, Angie chose to have a necklace and matching earrings made. She wanted to use some crystals in an old necklace from her grandmother (something old!) and incorporate the pearls given to her by Chad the previous Christmas. I purchased some little diamonte roundels to add that extra bling she was after, and handcrafted a brushed, sterling silver frame for the base of the earrings. After a bit of time spent stringing beads and wiring up the earrings, Angie's special wedding jewellery was complete. 

Bridal necklace and earrings
First three images by Craig Fenmor. Final photograph by The Jeweller.

All married! Rings and certificate.


On the wedding day, I was privileged to be invited to help dress the beautiful bride. During the ceremony I was given the job of ring bearer. When the time was right, the celebrant asked me to bring forth the wedding rings which I had made for Chad and Angie. Below are a few more photographs from the day.


Groom, Bride and Jeweller.
Photograph by Craig Fenmor.



The bride and groom at their wedding reception.
Photograph by Craig Fenmor.


It was a gorgeous wedding for two wonderful people.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Engagement of Chad & Angie

I have a confession to make... I am a hopeless romantic and just LOVE weddings! So can you imagine my excitement when Chad, one of my husband's closest friends, asked me to make an engagement ring for his gorgeous girlfriend Angie. The bigger shock though, was that this big, burly, motor mechanic had been scouring the internet for weeks and had chosen all the design features of the ring he wanted made!

Chad and Angie's white gold and diamond engagement ring.
The center stone is a claw-set, quarter carat, round brilliant cut diamond under which lies twelve channel-set, princess cut diamonds. All diamonds are GSi.

Soon after, I popped up to visit the happy couple at their stunning rural property near Orange, New South Wales. Secretly slipping the ring to Chad, I knew that he had chosen perfectly and Angie would love it. A few weeks later, very quietly and without a fuss, Chad made his proposal.

Bride and Groom-to-be: Chad and Angela at their engagement party.

How very special it was to be part of such a significant moment in the lives of two people that I love. Last September, about a year after their engagement, Chad and Angie were married. I'll share some stories from their beautiful wedding soon.

Love from The Jeweller. xx