I received a package in the mail yesterday from my dear sister. She was fortunate enough to attend the Tucson gem and mineral show this year, and she sent along a group of stones. Among them was this beautiful pair of opal rough stones.
Opal rough from the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
These are by far the best pieces of opal that I have in my stash. Normally my opals have a very thin layer of color, covered on top and bottom with a layer of base rock. The rock has to be very carefully cut away to show the color, and it’s very easy to cut all of the color away. It’s a common occurrence to spend an hour cutting a stone, only to find there’s no color in it.
These stones, by contrast, are both solid color all the way through. They will be a breeze to cut… the hardest part will be deciding which face to flatten for the back, since the colors will look beautiful on all sides.
Look for more on these stones in the coming months as they’re cut and set into necklaces.
Just completed this morning, #21623.1, a nickel on copper rectangular necklace measuring 24mm x 9mm. It has a hot forged textured surface with a dark lustrous oxidized finish. The stone is a 5mm rainbow quartz weighing about .70 cts. This one is a first for me as it features a fully fabricated silver tube setting, as opposed to the settings I normally use, which come ready to set. It’s definitely more work, but this way I can adjust the height of the setting to better fit the piece. Available with a chain for $60, or without a chain for $45.
Here’s a recently completed 1.64ct oval ruby set in a rectangular silver in copper pendant. The setting features four individually soldered fine silver prongs. This stone is a particularly interesting case- I have confidence that it’s genuine, bought from one of my regular suppliers, and it’s clearer than the other rubies that I have. But I suspect that it is flawed. You can’t see it under normal light, but with a strong sidelight you can see a reflection that suggests an internal crack in the stone… not a continuous fracture through the entire gem, but a partial break. In this case that’s a good thing… a ruby of this size and color would easily cost me $2,900, and I wouldn’t want to mess with such an expensive stone. This stone cost much less- I can set it without it causing myself an ulcer- yet it’s still very beautiful, and it is a real ruby. The new owner may need to treat it a little gently, but it held up under the pressure of setting with flying colors. This necklace is available at the time of writing at $360.
Preparing prongs for solderingCutting the prongsLeveling the stoneThe completed ruby necklace #82422.1, $360
This necklace, #72822.1, was a bit of a training exercise for me. It features a rectangular 6x9mm pastel yellow green beryl weighing 1.49 carats. The difficult part was the corner prong mounts. These are built from half-hard fine silver wire, with notches cut for the stone with a small hart burr. In order to securely hold the stone, they were cut in a sort-of cup shape using a smaller diameter burr, resulting in a notch that is curved rather than straight. This cradles the corner of the stone, and it also protects the corners from wear.
The back is my favorite sterling silver on copper plate. The edges of this piece will darken with time, eventually turning a golden color. As with all of my jewelry, a little rub with some silver polish every now and again will keep the shine.
Pastel yellow green beryl necklace, 1.49 ct, #72822.1Detail of the stoneThe same piece from the back. When space allows, all my jewelry is signed and numbered.
With all the pain and suffering in the Ukraine, I very much wanted to help somehow. With that in mind, here is my new earring design. They feature natural apatite and soo chow jade beads to represent the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag over a hand cut swirl design that suggests the chaos that the Ukrainian people are experiencing right now. Soo Chow Jade isn’t a true jade, but is actually a type of serpentine, a magnesium silicate that is commonly used as a jade alternative. Apatite is a naturally occurring gemstone, largely unknown to the general public but sought by collectors and appears different colors, mainly blues, pale aqua, greens and yellows. The most common gem variety is a translucent to transparent semiprecious gemstone that is steadily increasing in popularity. Faceted apatite gemstones are not often seen for sale, but not horribly expensive when they are.
These earrings sell for $40 per pair plus $5 for shipping. Like many of my designs, these are made with plated silver on copper, and shouldn’t be worn by anyone with a nickel allergy. These can be made from pure .999 silver, but the cost is higher- contact me if you’d like a custom pair.
I have a friend in Ukraine named Olga Polobutko, she and her husband Sergi live in western Ukraine. She is organizing support for the resistance, and to help her, I am donating 25% of all sales of this design directly to her- as long as she can still receive Paypal or Venmo.
Show your support by posting a photo under the hashtag #EarringsForUkraine, and don’t wear them in Moscow- I’ve heard stories of the police harassing people with anything yellow and blue.
Here’s a pair of hot-forged nickel earring dangles with natural carnelian chip beads on gold-filled ear wires, completed in 2021. Photo by Sandy Andrews, http://www.sandrewsphoto.com/
This is an older piece that I created some time ago. It’s undated, but it would have been around 2006-2007. I made it for an art show, and I still wear it on special occasions. It features a forge-welded steel base with a 6mm aquamarine set in a fine silver tube setting, braided leather chord with silver tips.
After FINALLY resolving an “expired security certificate” issue that wasn’t expired, I’m finally able to post again. This necklace was completed on Sept 7th and features a 5mm carnelian cabochon. The photograph was taken by Sandy Andrews Photography in Columbia, SC.
“Sea Oats” necklace #90721.2, silver plate on copper
I will readily admit that an inventory system isn’t the most sexy-hip-glamourous thing to write about, but it is very essential for a working jewelry business. I’ve been through a couple ways of numbering the pieces I produce, and I’m on a continual process improvement. Ideally, you want to start with a good system, as changing it midstream is an invitation to confusion.
At first, everything was an experiment… I didn’t know if anything would sell, and if it didn’t, I’d need to find some other form of gainful activity. So I just numbered the necklaces N1, N2, etc, and the earrings E1, E2, etc. As it stands right now, I don’t make a lot of rings, bracelets, or anything else. So that method worked for awhile.
But my current gallery, the Irritable Pelican here on Tybee Island (more on that later) used a different system. They assign everyone an artist number- mine is 523- and then go up from there. So the first piece I placed there is #523-001. Currently, I’m somewhere around 523-055. I adopted their numbering system to use with my internal recordkeeping.
This system works fine- if I only want to have a single gallery. if I add a second gallery, that throws everything off. So I’ve developed a new numbering system, with an excel spreadsheet to match. My new number is just the date followed by a decimal point, and then a sequential number that matches the number of pieces that I’ve finished that day, for example, #091721.1 will go on the first piece that I finished on September 17th. I finished six pieces that day, so the last piece got #091721.6. I then take some quick pictures on the same day, and the metadata for the photos is automatically recorded at 09/17/21, so that helps me to figure out which photo file matches what inventory number based on the description. A detailed written description is recorded in the excel spreadsheet, that includes things like the size in millimeters, the stone or bead, stone size if applicable.
There is a space in the spreadsheet to add the gallery and the gallery number when I deliver a piece for sale. If a different gallery wants to use a different numbering system, that’s fine- my spreadsheet should accomodate that. There’s a column for the date placed on sale, a column for the date sold, and another for the number of days on sale. Right now I calculate that in my head, but I’m pretty sure that I can get Excel to calculate that for me. Over time- and given enough sales data- these columns might show sales trends to say if a particular design or price point outsells another. But the main reason the spreadsheet was designed is to tell at a glance what pieces are at which gallery and which ones have sold. We’ll see if it works- if not, we’ll try something else!
Just completed today is this necklace in red dichroic glass. Set in a 34mm x 27mm plated silver backplate, with a fine silver bezel. It’s available for sale at $85.
Image taken under daylight balanced LED lightThe same pendant in sunlightA look at the back. It’s open so light can pass through, signed & dated.
Fine Art by Brian Gilbert 