82KY

Customizable Unisex Ring

2011-07-05T13:09:00.000-04:00

I was hired to create a ring for a client that has sparked my creative impulses. The ring sounds simple enough, a 14k Palladium white gold band. The client wants music notes from a specific line of a song that has a very personal meaning to him. As I begin working on the ring, I find myself thinking about all the other personalized patterns this ring could hold. From music notes, fingerprints and your handwritten inscription to anywhere else your imagination will flow.

The ring as it is pictured is a 14k Palladium White Gold, 10mm wide anticlastic band starting at $1,200.

New to PMG Art!

2011-06-30T22:25:00.002-04:00

My name is Taylor Ruby and I am the newest member to join Pal Gooz at PMG Art. I will be the Custom Jewelry Concierge handling communication between the designer, Pal, and the clients. I have a background in Studio Arts and am a professionally trained Pastry Chef (perhaps a fancy way of saying I make amazing cookies! Photographic proof below). I came on board to allow Pal more time to design and manufacture all the custom orders that have been flying his way. I look forward to helping create amazing jewelry and true works of art.

March’s Topic: "Best Childhood Years Memory"

2011-03-20T12:00:00.051-04:00

My Grandfather was a tacit man. He was a notary in the pre-war Hungary , then demoted by the Communist regime and served as a clerk in the city hall of Miskolc - he was lucky to find employment instead of deportation. All in all he was living an uneventful life when we "met". But inside his round, bald head there was another world, filled with distant , exotic places the latest advancements of science and technology and a talent and passion for woodcarving.

The only carving I have from my Grandfather, István Majoros. © Pal Gooz 2011

He was the ideal companion for a child like me, who was living wild adventures in his head about exotic animals , treasure hunting and an unsatisfiable curiosity about how things worked. We both loved solitude and liked to share quiet hours, when we both - I believe - lived our own intense second life inside our heads.

One of our favorite past time was to go to a magical place called Lillafüred, near Miskolc. The woods and the lake there were inexhaustible sources of entertainment, constantly feeding my adventure hungry mind , filled with Pirates, Indians, fairies, hidden treasures and long forgotten ruins of never existed castles. ( There is a real one there, but that is not ruins, so does not count ).

Lillafüred : Palace, Hámori lake, and the surrounding forest

© copyright Civertan Grafikai Stúdió Civertan

Sometimes we just walked the narrow paths between the woods , but from time to time, we took the small train that took us on scenic route to place called Ómassa ( meaning Old Smelter ).

The train . (original: A LÁEV vonata Lillafüred állomáson by VT )

From there we would walk towards Újmassa ( New Smelter) to find the the ruins of the old blast furnace and forge that was built in 1813. ( Honestly , at that time I had no idea I would become a jeweler, melting metal in my own little furnace).

The Old Smelter at Újmassa (Az újmassai őskohó by Szalax )

We would often go there with the the purpose that I would make drawings of the place, and we were equipped accordingly with sketchbooks and pencils and erasers. I loved drawing the old smelter. I have no idea why I was so attracted to that ruin. It may be that I always liked abandoned buildings which I could inhabit with the products of my fantasy. Additionally , the function and use of that smelter fascinated me beyond imagination. I wanted to understand how those people extracted iron from stone. Of course at that time - early 70ies - there was little explanation about the place. So I listened to the explanations that my Grandfather provided. Neither he, nor I were very well schooled in the chemistry and technology of iron smelting, of course, and his lectures always left gaps in my understanding. Maybe this was another reason I returned to the place so willingly every time.

Some days I had no motivation to do sketches and I went on expeditions to discover the building and the surrounding " jungle". In the surrounding forest people still produced charcoal and lime in the old fashioned way.

Charcoal pile ( Public domain) (This photo was taken by someone else, somewhere else)

On some other occasions, we just sat there, silently, side by side with my grandfather and was enjoying the almost supernatural beauty of the place. We would be sitting there for an hour or longer, speaking very little, that left enough time for our minds to wander wherever it was taken by our imagination.

The Old Smelter at Újmassa

© copyright Civertan Grafikai Stúdió Civertan

Those were the times of peace and freedom.

           Please visit my friends' blogs, to read about their memories:

          Andes Cruz: www.andescruz.wordpress.com
          Kathleen Krucoff http://mysticalmythicalmetalwork.wordpress.com/

          Laura Flavin: http://modernbirdjewelry.blogspot.com/
          Wendy Kelly: http://www.wendykianakelly.com/
          Stephanie Nocito Clark http://thethinkingsofacoldweathergirl.blogspot.com/
          Brad Severtson: http://hammeringoutaliving.blogspot.com/
          Andrea Bell: http://feathersfreesiasandfishingtackle.blogspot.com/
          Natsuko Hanks: http://jewelrybynatsuko.blogspot.com/
          Shaun Young http://shaunyoung.ca/
          Beth Cyr http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com/

Website Building Adventures of a Greenhorn

2011-02-12T17:32:00.002-05:00

Then came the moment of truth- some 4 years ago - when I could not avoid the confrontation with the monster called Internet: I needed a WEBSITE!

This series will tell what I learned ( hint: very little) during this time. It may be very useful for those who are similarly clueless in the jungle where bloodthirsty Domains ( Worldwildwebiscus domainicus var. comii, var. orgii etc.) and highly ranking Google officiers fight each other for survival every day. Don't even ask about the many other horrors of the place....yet.

I am a hardcore DIY guy. I go into every challenge headstrong and I am not afraid of learning new things in order to achieve my goals. But setting up a simple website makes me sweat, have nightmares and so far has defeated every one of my attempts. Maybe not this time!

It sure looks like a costruction site hard at work. If only I knew what I am doing...

   How hard it can be to put up some information and pictures about my work , then sit back and allow Google to lead visitors to my site? At least how hard it could be for a person who - at his early twenties - learned programming in Basic and Pascal, simply because he refused to make things manually , when a computer could do the same thing more precisely and faster. Sure enough I spent more time learning the basics of computers and then the not so basics of programming, than I would have with doing the chores manually.

Intermezzo: The first computer I encountered was a Commodore 64 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64 ) . This little thing featured a staggering amount of memory ( 64 kilobytes ; compare today's 2 gigabytes = about 3 million C64s , hehe)

   But - I thought at that time, nearly 3 decades ago - that learning programing would be a lesson well worth in the future. Hehe, I had not the vision to see how quickly digital technology would grow over my head!

    For the first few years I was doing OK. No internet at that time, at least not in Hungary. There were a few guys messing with bulletin boards (do not even ask what they were- I read this word in magazines). But really no internet - no problem.

    I wrote a few smaller applications for fun or for making life easier where a lot of calculation had to be done. At that time I killed computer viruses with my bare hands. (that spread on floppy disks - remember those? )We were in the DOS era and I had free acces to the pityfully small amount of system data: so when I saw funny text appearing, I just deleted those things.

   Then Windows came, but I still had much of the hardware and software under control. If I needed a new controller, I purchased one and installed.

   Internet exlpoded into my life and I took the new terms like pills: web, browser, e-mail.

   My computers escaped my control - I don't even know how to give myself full administrator rights to my Windows 7. The firewalls and virus scanners have complete control over my my life. When they say things like this: "Warning! A program is trying to access the internet ! Do you want to allow cegerata.exe to acces the internet ", I am speechless. Mostly for the reason I have not a clue of what I am opening my virtual doors to.

Sure, I still can unplug and plug in most of the hardware - if I can figure out what I should buy . The latter part is the real challange these days. I am not trying to say that my mental capabilities have significantly decreased, rather my priorities changed. That is OK, I guess.

I think , at this moment, that my website will look something like this. Unless I change my mind. Or scew up big time. Or something.

To be continued at a date that I will determine flexibly...=) Love and Peace to All

How it is made: A custom wedding ring for an old engagement ring. Part 3.

2010-12-30T21:24:00.001-05:00

The last part.

The benchpin is probably the most ingenious and usable tool in a jewelry studio. I discover a new use for it everyday. This time I realized that I can use it to hold the freshly attached sprue upside down, squeezed into the benchpin's slot and work on the other end, until the wax at the ring shank completely solidifies. The shank affixed to the sprue, then can be united with the head. After smoothing the welding area , I removed the little bridge between the two shanks, that helped me to prevent breaking the delicate wax structure.. Holding the wax against a light source, allows me to judge the thickness and evenness of the whole contraption, last time before casting, and make some last minute adjustments if needed.

The wax model is then completed with sprues, that will allow the molten metal fill the mold. The models are attached to a rubber base and the whole "tree' is embedded into a plaster like material, called investment. The investment is placed into a furnace to make the plaster hard and melt the encased wax out of it; hence the name of "lost wax casting" . The wax leaves a cavity system inside the hardened investment and provides a mold for the molten metal. After about 8 hours of firing , all residues of the wax are burned out of the mold and it is ready for casting. After casting the rings, the investment material is removed (white stuff on the picture ) and the the result becomes visible. This is the moment of truth. This is the moment, when it turns out whether or not the work of many hours is resulted in a good casting, or have to be started over.

The rest of the process is only briefly summarized here: After the castings were cut off the tree, the engagement ring was fitted and soldered to the guard/wedding ring. The surfaces were filed and sanded and polished until they took on the desired final finish. Then I set the raw diamond cubes and made some final touch up on the surfaces. The ring is finished and ready to be shipped. In this setting , the weak parts of the old ring are fortified and the diamond is protected from the majority of blows, that are also the most dangerous : the sideways hits.

The finished wedding suit. I used a similar process for the groom's wedding band.

How it is made: A custom wedding ring for an old engagement ring. Part 2.

2010-12-29T20:14:00.002-05:00

I used the lost wax casting process to create the ring guard/wedding ring for the bride.

First I choose a wax blank, in this case a Matt's purple for no particular reason other than, that I had this piece that was the perfect thickness.

Next I marked every possible dimensions of the design on the blank, using dividers and scrapers, carbide pencils, knives... whatever. Since some of the marks will be carved away, I either redraw them as I proceed or extend the markings onto areas, that will not be last . This is most important for the crucial dimensions that determine the symmetry, centers and borders, that will be pretty hard to establish again when the simple geometry of the blank will transform into the more complex geometry of the design.

For rough shaping I used a handpiece extension, that allows me to position and hold the cylindrical bit in fixed angle ( 90 degrees in this case).

End of the roughing up, onto the more delicate free hand shaping.

I carefully traced the measurements and outlines of the design and fitted the green top part , that I previously carved, to the forming shank.
Then , using a jewelers saw, I cut out the tapered profile shape.

More sawing: to remove the middle part of the shank and shape the tiny columns that will support the top part.

Using jeweler's saw, blades, files and abrasive papers drill bits and whoknowswhat I shaped the shank and fitted it to the top part. Then I smoothed the surface to a decent finish . Here are my favorite abrasives: 3M microfinish films, an old shirt and nylon stockings. The interesting thing is the sudden color change of the model, no miracle, here is what happened: I finished it and the casting went wrong. Although not very often, this kind of things happen . So I had to remake the model. At some point I decided, that I would continue the process explanation using the new model, that I made from a green colored wax blank.

To be continued>>>

How it is made: A custom wedding ring for an old engagement ring. Part 1.

2010-12-27T20:29:00.003-05:00

This series is to offer you a sneak peak to the behind the scenes events that lead to the creation of a custom piece of jewelry.

This story starts with an engagement: the young man proposed to her lady with his grandmother's ring. The ring is a diamond solitaire, from the early 19's , made by the famous Jabel company. The ring shows the impact of time , but held up nicely during the nearly 100 years, undoubtedly due to extremely high quality and the die pressing fabrication process that Jabel developed. Nonetheless, the metal is thinned and weakened, as well as the diamond has a large number of chips and abrasions. It would not have been prudent to just make a simple band to fit this ring, because the old diamond solitaire was at a point , where it could easily snap , or the diamond may break without warning at any time.

In situations like this , we usually suggest a complete overhaul of the ring and the diamond: The thin parts - in this case the head and the bottom of the shank would need to be re-built or fortified and the prongs re-tipped. The diamond would have to be re-cut - if possible - or replaced. The customers did not want to alter the original ring, which can be easily understood given the sentimental value of the original ring. Re-cutting this size of diamond would have probably resulted in a very small stone.

Therefore I proposed a design, where the engagement ring would be built around with the wedding ring , similar to a ring guard, but of course more organically united. They also wanted me to create the grooms band in a manner that they would be different, but refer to each other at the same time. To make matters a bit more complicated the lady also bought an engagement ring for her fiance from me . This ring featured a raw diamond crystal.

We agreed that the common reference would be the use of raw diamond crystals in both wedding rings.

In the next parts I will show how these ideas were turned into a beautiful wedding suit.

Kaleidoscope: Thomasin Durgin a.k.a. Metalriot stretching the boundaries

2010-06-14T17:09:00.001-04:00

      Thomasin Durgin's latest installations dealing with the current oil disaster in the Mexican gulf raised the old questions in me : Where is the border between art and jewelry, or is there any? Is art in general functional? Is jewelry in particular functional? What if a piece of art is manifested as a piece of jewelry? Can it be functional without being wearable? As I was writing this post, I discovered the latest entry of Thomasin's blog where she is asking similar questions. This is not only interesting, but it also shows how extremely well she communicates every aspects of her thoughts to the viewer.

    In short, I think (art)jewelry and art in general is functional: They always carry a message. Jewelry in particular can be used to make this message particularly significant and personal. After all you could put that thing inside your personal space, making a very intimate connection. But then sometimes an artist have such an important message, that overrides the wearability requirement and uses the (possible) attachment of the object to the body as an additional layer of meaning.

    Well, without any further blahbla, here it is through examples from Metalriot:

The first one would be a perfectly wearable ring with a pleasing look, if it was not for the "spill" ! I personally would love to wear it and feel frustrated that I don't even have a chance. Do I need to explain any further ( I will be happy to, just leave a comment)? Did you know that the epoxy used for the ring is entirely made of mineral oil?

© Metalriot Ring a Day 151/365

You can wear this one, or even create one for yourself as a powerful demonstration of your commitment to save our planet, important natural resources (we live in a plastic world, that is made from oil!) and future generations of Homo "sapiens" . I think this is the one that perfectly fits the category ( Oh , I hate categories) of conceptual jewelry -(What the hell is THAT?).

© Metalriot Use no oil - Ring a Day 155/365

Another conceptual piece , that can be wearable - IMHO not as much as to convey your identification with the cause, but as a reminder, how deeply we depend on oil and how far behind we are with the technology to use it wisely. I think every CEO, shareholder and owner of every drilling Co, refinery and automobile factory should carry one 24/7.

NO, no , nope! She is not crazy and she is more than capable of making quite beautiful and perfectly wearable items:) Visit her Flickr or her blog to see more after these :

The Walk

2010-06-03T00:15:00.002-04:00

Today we had a walk Downtown,...

© Marc Osborn/The Western Front. All rights reserved. Originally published on Flickr.

Today I remember...

my Wife and I, together.

© Marc Osborn/The Western Front. All rights reserved. Originally published on Flickr.

History is real in this town...

.................................. times of struggle, hopeless days of darkness,...

© Photo was originally published by lazyapple.

of romantic alleys and salty wharfs.

.................. ........................ ... restart from scratch over and over.

© Melissa Breeland. All rights reserved. Originally published on Flickr.

It was a steamy day...

Failure walks hand by hand....

© Marc Osborn/The Western Front. All rights reserved. Originally published on Flickr.

and we were sweating a little...

while wandering ...

© Joe Nienstedt. All rights reserved. Originally published on Flickr.

.................................................................................with success on the alleys of creation.

from gallery to gallery...

© Julian Shelton. All rights reserved. Originally published on Flickr.

stuffed with works of amazing talent...

I refuse to cast the chelae of the blue crab...

(and some horrid mishaps as well).

........................ in gold and set a f..king huge diamond between the pincers...

© Melissa Breeland. All rights reserved. Originally published on Flickr.

or sell cheap copies of M. Good's work...

to make a living.

© Joe Nienstedt. All rights reserved. Originally published on Flickr.

The mint chocolate cake was delicious...

today.

Bedtime Stories for the Artlover: Touching a Ruby by Scott Schreiber, Two Claws Jewelry

2010-05-28T17:30:00.078-04:00

Bed Time Stories is a regular feature on my blog. I select and publish exceptional pieces of art with interesting stories that tie each piece into a strong context with society, history, people and provide insight into the inner workings of the artist's mind. I hope that it will provide an understanding of art in a plain language, that is so sadly missing from many collections and publications. If you got one that you would like to share, please send me a message!

This is an old one. It's got stuck in my mind for the past two years or so, and today I understood why (sorry Scott, it took so long, I am also over that innocent age) : We are pushing the button ( or more correctly keep pushing it even if that does not make sense), touching the button, even looking at the button, but do we see it? Do we care what we are missing while we want our instant coffee with instant love?



Touching a Ruby, originally uploaded by Two Claws Jewelry.
© Two Claws Jewelry All rights reserved.

    In case you were wondering, this one surely passes for puclic art, provoactive art or guerilla art and a good one at that IMHO, even if it is not the spit-in-your-face kind. So here it goes:

"This Crossing button is right outside my house. I made a custom-fit brass bezel to fit over the original one and set a cabochon Madagascar Ruby in it. It gives me pleasure every time I see little kids trying, without success, to get their moms to look at the pretty red button. It just tickles me that people don't know they're banging away at a genuine ruby! I get a lot of foot traffic at this corner and believe me, adults just don't even glance at it....teen girls, sometimes....but many little kids (it's at eye-level for them) really scrutinize it. It always has amused me that people of all ages don't push these buttons just once....(which is all you have to do) They'll push it as many times as they can 10, 30, 50 times, until the walk sign changes.

     As far as the fitting goes....I took the measurement of the existing button and turned the cap/bezel exactly so that it was just shy of an extremely close fit. I also turned the seat for the ruby and tightened it by spinning it and pressing a vaseline covered burnisher against the edge of the bezel. Then I heated it up to just under red heat, ran out to the corner like a crazy man (at 3 AM....) and shoved it on with my fingers protected with welding gloves. It worked great and stuck fast. Then I had to rub it out with a little tripoli cloth to remove a little heat scale. The original button spun around freely, so this means that torque will be ineffective if someone wants it.....they'll have to pry it off. If that's the case...they're welcome to it."

Scott Schreiber is a great jewelry artist, a top notch goldsmith, a cat-fan with an encyclopedic knowledge about jewelry making, odd tools and insects. Please visit his Flickr album to feast your eyes!

Technorati submission - a new experience

2010-05-27T19:39:00.003-04:00

I wrote this blog entry because Technorati , a blog directory , needed to verify that I am the author of this blog (see below). I will never get old and bored, since I am learning something completely new and totally irrelevant ( at least to my work) everyday. I wonder where we would be if our ancestors needed to be so self sufficient and well versed in every discipline of their time. I used to admire great polyhistors since they knew "everything" : math, sciences, theology, art and whatnot. Today, however we are swamped with minuscule duties to manage every day, it is a miracle that some of us still can create!

See more pics here

Since I swore, that I would never publish a blog without a picture, here is one of my latest work, a custom ring for a beautiful concave brilliant TM sapphire cut by award winning gem artist Richard Homer.

May 27, 2010. Technorati will need to verify that you are an author of the blog by looking for a unique code. Please put the following short code******* within a new blog post and publish it. Once it is published, use the "Verify Claim Token" button to tell Technorati your blog is ready for verification.

Your ultimate guide to buying and pricing handmade jewelry. Part 2.

2010-05-26T02:16:00.004-04:00

This entry is going to put the basic definitions in Part 1 to use as we continue to explore the intricacies of jewelry valuation.

Let's make four identical rings (see picture above): one from fine silver, one from fine ( or pure) gold (24K), one from 14K gold and one from pure platinum. Although the rings have identical geometry, their weight will be very different due to the difference in the density of the four metals. (The following table contains simplifications to make it easier to follow). Every ring has a volume of 0.576 cc.

                    The     silver (Density:10.5 gr/cc) ring will weight :   6.1 gr or 3.92 dwt
                    The    24K    (Density:19.3 gr/cc) ring will weight : 11.1 gr or 7.13 dwt
                    The     14K    (Density:12.9 gr/cc) ring will weight :   7.4 gr or 4.76 dwt
                    The Platinum (Density:21.4 gr/cc) ring will weight : 12.3 gr or 7.91 dwt

Here comes the tricky question: What is the weighth of the precious metal in each of the above rings. You could say - Hey, it ain't tricky, we just calculated that !

Or did we?
The silver ring is pure silver, and it will have                                        3.92 dwt of silver content
The 24K   ring is pure gold, consequently it will have                                         7.13 dwt of gold content
The 14K   ring contains only 58.33% (by weighth) gold, consequently it will have 2.77 dwt gold content
The Plat ring is pure platinum, consequently it will have    7.91 dwt plat. content

Only one task left for today, and that is to calculate how much money we need to spend on the precious
metals market if we want to make these rings.

Note: this is only one part of the PRODUCTION COSTS as you will see next time when we dig even deeper into the dark realities of life!

At the moment of writing this, the NY spot stands at (remember 1 TO=20 dwt):
                              Gold : $1202.20/TO
                              Silver : $17.97/TO
                              Plat    : $1523.00/TO

From here it is just easy math:

The silver ring will cost    $ 3.52
The 24K   ring will cost $ 428.58
The 14K   ring will cost   $ 166.50
The Plat ring will cost $ 602.35

One more interesting thing: If we could go back in time and purchased the metals fo rthis project in 2005, we could get away with the following costs:

The silver ring $ 1.39
The 24K         $ 149.00
The 14K    $ 57.89
The Plat           $ 340.00

See you next time!

CAD to finish

2010-05-23T04:57:00.004-04:00

Here are some photos of custom designs I made with the help of CAD and the finished pieces side by side. CAD is very useful in designing jewelry as well as presenting the design to the customer. The pieces are then created by the most appropriate and cost efficient method: sometimes the CAD files are sent to a company to produce a wax model on a rapid prototyping machine or on a CNC mill. Alternatively I can hand carve a model from wax . In either case the model is used in the lost wax casting process to produce a metal object that is then finished by hand. In some cases when it is economically feasible and technically possible I fabricate the piece directly from sheet metal and other basic components according to the blue print made in the CAD software.

© Pal Gooz All rights reserved.
Engagement ring, Aquamarine Square Cushion Concave Apex TM cut by Richard Homer of concavegems , diamonds
Designed in CAD, hand fabricated from palladium 950 and 18K royal yellow gold

Bedtime stories for the Artlover (Part 1): Secret in the Forest Box by 2Roses

2010-05-21T14:06:00.149-04:00

Bed Time Stories will be a regular feature on my blog. I will select and publish exceptional pieces of art with interesting stories that tie each piece into a strong context with society, history, people and provide insight into inner workings of the artists mind. I hope that it will provide an understanding of art in a plain language, that is so sadly missing from many collections and publications. If you got one that you would like to share, please send me a message!

So here it about an old house, two ferocious artists and an urban gang by 2Roses jewelry :

Secret in the Forest Box, originally uploaded by 2Roses Jewelry. Media: Plum boughs, Honduran mahogany. Lined with California redwood. The box also features a secret compartment.Size: 9.5”L x 4”W x 6”H.
© 2Roses Jewelry All rights reserved.

" Lots of things came together to make this box. The plum wood was harvested from a tree on our property. As I was trimming the tree, the red color of the bark was just too pretty to trash.
    The mahogany was salvaged from a historical Southern California home slated for demolition due to urban renewal. The home was built in 1895 by a wealthy industrialist and featured many luxuries and technological advancements for the time, including the first alarm system installed in a home. The home was featured in the first issue of Architectural Digest in 1920.
   The curator of the local Historical Society obtained permission from the City Council for 2Roses to reclaim the wood just hours before the entire house was bulldozed. We received that permission in a phone call at 10:30 pm. The bulldozers were scheduled to start the teardown at 7 am the next morning.
   By the time we got our tools together and rushed to the house, two gangs of thieves were already at work striping the copper plumbing out of the walls. Things got pretty confrontive when we showed up. The thieves were from different local hispanic gangs and they had already worked out a truce to strip the house. They saw us a rival gang trying to intrude on their turf and they were ready to throw down to defend it.
We eventually convinced them that we were from the historical society and really didn't care about the copper pipes, that we were after the woodwork. The gangbangers thought this was hilarious that the "blancos" would come out in the middle of the night to steal old wood. They actually ended up helping us a bit. "

About 2Roses Jewelry :

"2 Roses is artistic collaboration between jewelry designers Corliss Rose, and John Rose. The studio is driven by the principles of exploration and experimentation. 2 Roses have made their mark on American Art Jewelry with a individualistic style that has combined a dizzying array of highly unorthodox materials and techniques ranging from the medieval to the space-age."

Corliss and John are truly eclectic, imaginative and very creative people buzzing with life and humor. Their art simply cannot fit any box as they are ready to play with anything that crosses their path.

The following is a little sample, randomly selected from their extensive body of work.

Your ultimate guide to buying and pricing handmade jewelry. Part 1.

2009-02-19T00:17:00.015-05:00

I have decided to write about buying and pricing handcrafted jewelry! Let me first assure you that there is nothing specific about pricing handmade jewelry or any other handmade crafts. So the title is misleading, but I stick with it nonetheless! I choose it intentionally to point out misconceptions associated with jewelry purchase. It is not intended to be a tutorial, nor it is intended to be full guide! However it will be a long series of blogposts, because I want make my point using a lot of examples, detailed description of work processes and critical analysis of my and other jewelers' pieces.

So what does the word misconception mean? According to Wikipedia: "A misconception happens when a person believes in a concept which is objectively false."

What kind of misconception many people have when buying jewelry? First and foremost is that they are buying precious metals and stones. The sad truth is hidden in the first sentence of this paragraph. When buying jewelry, people buying man created objects that are often made from precious metals and gemstones. So what is the difference? The difference is the the same as in buying 2000 pounds of steel, aluminum, plastic, glass and textile versus buying an automobile.

Before we plunge in the details I will summarize the most common measurements used the jewelry industry. This will help you tremendously later.

Density: Density is defined as an objects mass per unit volume.
Specific weight is defined as an objects weight per unit volume.
For detailed physics lessons the reader referred to other web sites and manuals.
In the future I will use density, acknowledging that specific weight may be more appropriate.

We need this definition to understand a few basic ideas about jewelry prices. The following example will show you the practical application of this definition:
You want to make a ring in platinum, 14K gold, 18K gold and sterling silver and would like to know how much metal you need to make this ring. If you say, well in my experience 3 grams of 18K gold is enough, therefore I will buy 3 grams of each of the other metals, then you are already screwed up on several fronts. Your 3 grams of platinum will not be nearly enough to make the ring, while you will have bought too much silver and generated a lot of scrap, that you will have to recycle.
How is this? Since the density of platinum is much higher than that of silver, equal weight of them will give you a longer silver wire, than platinum wire.Exactly how much longer? If you need 3 grams of sterling silver to make a ring, then you will need 6.21 grams of platinum, 4.38 g of 18K gold, 3.75 g of 14K gold to make that ring.

Now I will show you this information translated into materials costs. Today's spot (market or cash price. This is the current price in the physical market for immediate delivery of gold) prices for gold: ~$941/troy ounce, silver ~$13.07/troy ounce, platinum ~$1047/troy ounce.
Hey wait a minute! You were talking about 3 grams of silver, now you are giving me the prices on WHAT ounce! Troy ounce. This is the traditional weight unit used by precious metal markets. Is it confusing? Yes, but if we would like to understand the Chinese, we gotta speak Chinese, right?

So allow me to continue. The market price of gold is given for "pure" gold. As we mostly make jewelry from gold alloys, we need to translate these prices into karat gold prices. Gold is alloyed mostly with copper,zink and silver, but their prices are negligible in this case, so don't bother.

Definition: karat: means how many parts (by weighth) of gold you have in the alloy if by tradition we say that fine gold contains 24 parts of gold in 24 parts of the metal (5 grams of 24K gold contains 5 grams of gold). For example 14 K contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts of other metals. It means that the gold content of 14 K alloy is 100*14/24% or 58.33333.%. 18 K gold has 100*18/24 or 75% of gold in it.

That's it for today, I gotta do some work now. We will continue soon. Hey, why dont you sign up for updates?

Etsy Front Page 1/27/09 deelind

2009-02-01T21:33:00.001-05:00

Etsy Front Page 1/27/09 deelind, originally uploaded by Etsy Front Pagers.

Dear Deelind did it again!

2009-01-14T01:15:00.003-05:00

My artists statement - explained, but not finished.

I am currently trying to define myself as jewelry artist. I have been (mostly intuitively) making pieces that show - maybe too much - diversity. I keep telling myself: this no good, because people will have a hard time to identify you. But maybe that is exactly what it is, and more. I have been studying little cells and tiny molecules - all part of the great wonder life - for a long time. And one thing always amuses me: how is it possible, when everything in the universe is governed by strict physical and chemical laws, the manifestations and movements of matter and life are ever so varied. Let's see it through an example. The branching of trees (blood vessels, bronchy, kidneys, glands...) are governed by apparently strict rules and a few very simple (haha) fundamental mechanisms. Do not worry, I am not going to elaborate on these, at least not now. The result are however strikingly varied: from tree to tree, from my vasculature to yours. More than that the results are really amazingly random. Oh yes, we sometimes clearly see ( tree) and other times may not have a clue (kidneys)about the orchestrating force behind these fractal structures, but the result is always different, individual, unrepeatable.
In conclusion, I believe that trough my jewelry i would like to create a synthesis and deeper understanding of of this duality of the universe.

As one example I post this photo that I took of one of my latest creations. The shank of the ring is very regular, geometric. It's cross section is a section of a circle. The shank is split along the lines of two exponential curves. The surface is mirror finished. Two gold nuggets made by melting some scrap gold ( resulting in forms that would be excruciatingly difficult if not impossible to define by any functions currently known to humankind)are of randomly different sizes. They therefore can be fit between the shanks in different positions, one sticking out slightly more than the other. A (green)diamond (a geometric shape!) is set in each of the gold blobs. Note, that none of them are perfectly centered, because the highest point of the blobs are not centered as well. This way the irregularity of the gold nuggets resulted in a creations that is impossible to recreate if we follow the simple rules: make a ring shank from a low dome wire 10 mm wide,2 mm high. Split the shanks along the lines that are defined by x=a*y2(squared)+b. Form two blobs by melting some gold and solder the between the shanks. Set a diamond into each on the highest point of the gold blobs. Finish.

The picture is interesting because the reflection on the ring is that of a sculptured tree, forged iron. Circle is complete, next.

2009-01-05T12:05:00.002-05:00

Hey We have made the front page on Etsy!
Thank you Deelind, and Gulinoartware.

My first ever blog

2008-10-24T12:52:00.012-04:00

I decided to create this blog to share my various thoughts and experiences with whoever may be interested in them. This is an exciting part of our life since we are actively developing our jewelry business, while continue to pursue our scientific ideas. As you can imagine we have been debating for a long time whether it is a good idea to start a jewelry business when the whole economy is creaking and rumbling. I believe, that these times will force us to look around in our immediate environment and re-evaluate values. Let's just take an extreme example: What happens if the globalized manufacturing, retail, and trade systems completely fails? Who can you then trade with? Your neighbor or next to next neighbor. There will be a baker and a shoemaker, and a blacksmith and hopefully a jeweler within walking distance. So life do not have to stop, just take another route.