Lily S asked:


A few days ago, a classmate said that she made jewelry and asked me to buy one from her. Well, I said I’ll take a look at them if she would bring them to school. I was expecting jewelry made from beads, or maybe bracelets braided together. I wasn’t expecting to show me a wrist band made out of paper that she decorated using markers.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not appalled by her drawing skills or anything. It’s just that I’m an art student, and her bracelet wasn’t that appealing. When she asked me if I would buy it, I couldn’t think fast enough (I couldn’t say “No, I don’t like it” or simply “No, I won’t buy it” because that would be rude), so I just stalled and said, “Sure, if I bring money tomorrow.”

She’s not really a friend. I met her for only a week or so, so we’re acquaintances. But I don’t really want to buy the bracelet. Is there some clever way to back out of this if she asks me tomorrow, without hurting her feelings?

mosaic asked:


We are opening a “gallery”. We will have almost every item imagineable.. not just wall art. Handmade furniture, lighting, sculptures, scarves, jewelry etc. will be included.
Do you think it’s better to keep all the walls very neutral (taupe or bone) or do some accent walls (tomato red, olive etc.)? The floors and one wall will be natural African Slate.

Candace Daugherty asked:


I have been collecting Antique and Vintage Costume and Fine Jewelry for over three decades. Most of what I bought was from the Saturday and Sunday flea markets at the local drive-in theater and at a once a month massive open air antique market held in the mountains near where I grew up. I never paid much, a quarter here, a dime there and sometimes a few dollars however over the years until I really became a serious collector, I probably had no more than $500.00 in an amazing collection of over 2,500-3,000 pieces. 

Over the years I have collected many types of jewelry. At first it was bracelets, then rings and when I got out of college and pursued my career as an interior designer, I found pins and earrings to be practical and suitable. In the mid-60’s to early 70’s I bought a lot of colorful and heavy “plastic” pieces and most were bracelets. I just loved the dull clunk they made when they hit against my desk… well I am sure you know where this is going… you’re right most were Bakelite. One in particular is a wonderful art deco black, red, orange, yellow and green fins clamper bracelet and it is like having a carnival on your arm. It fits great and feels sturdy andit brings me joy. It wasn’t until I received Harrice Simons-Miller 2002 third edition Official Price Guide to Costume Jewelry, that I realized the bracelet is called “Philadelphia” and has a market value of up to $5,000 making it the Holy Grail of Bakelite jewelry.

I also became quite passionate for the charm bracelets made in the 1960’s by Napier. At one point I had over 30 of them and I rarely wore them I just loved holding them. I had the colored fruit, the Asian theme, and my favorites was the marine theme with seashells and seahorses. Over the years I paid between $1.00 - $5.00 each for them and in early 2000, I sold them individually on eBay for $125.00 and up to 245.00 each. What a great return, right. Well yes but a day does not go by that I regret selling them. They gave me more happiness than the monies they brought.

As I became more sophisticated in my jewelry search I began to love all things Miriam Haskell, Eisenberg, Pennino and Boucher. All of these names seemed to come with a higher price but still affordable and all quite luxurious. Then there came Staret, McClelland-Barclay, Schreiner, Dujay, DeMario, Reja, Deja and Alfred Philippe and Alfred Spaney’s extra special pieces made for Crown Trifari. Needless to say I was smitten and would never turn back. After a while and as I was getting older, I started to understand the beauty of 19C Victorian and Art Nouveau and in particular the mourning pieces made during and after the Civil War. The Art Deco period pieces also caught my attention because of their architectural angled designs. Well enough about me… 

Throughout the years it was truly guesswork as to what I should pay for a piece and then the harder part came when trying to find out how much a piece was worth. As a result I found that the public library had many jewelry price guides and I poured through them all for days on end and would pick out my next piece I was obsessing for. Through this research, I found three authors who stood out as being the best at giving the right information for just about anything you might need to know as an antique and vintage costume and fine jewelry collector or dealer.

The first is Jeanenne Bell. Jeanenne Bell has been on Antiques Roadshow as a jewelry appraiser and is one of America’s leading authorities on antique jewelry. She has written many books and the first book I bought of hers was “How to be a Jewelry Detective”. This book is filled to the brim with priceless information about the clues to solving jewelry mysteries. She gives easy to understand tips for testing materials, gem cuts, hardware and findings throughout the ages, marks and a whole lot more. I have recommended this book to literally 100’s of my buyers on eBay who may not be sure what gutta percha is, or is it ivory or bone and what is a briolette cut stone. She answers them all and she even has a small pocket size field guide to take along to the shops and flea markets.

My favorite book of hers is Collecting Victorian Jewelry which is a real treat for the eyes and is beautiful enough to be left out for others to peruse. In this book she shows an amazing range of incredible museum quality pieces of Costume and Fine jewelry. Each piece is a work of art and each has an easy to understand description and value assigned. She imparts the history associated with the Victorian era and who all of the main characters were. She enlightens the reader about this period in time that was all about romance, passion and heartache. Very good read and a very good aid to the serious period piece collector.

My next favorite author is Harrice Simons-Miller. I have two of her price guides, Costume Jewelry 2nd edition and Official Price Guide to Costume Jewelry 3rd edition. What I love about her books is that she knows her stuff as it relates to costume jewelry dating from early Art Deco up to the present. Her books are very good for identifying the major players in the costume and fashion design industries. She really clarifies what each jewelry designer’s signature look is and her photographs and descriptions will give you an edge when you are out in the field. Her values are truly representative of retail in fine antique or jewelry boutiques and give the reader the parameters as to what to spend to get your jewelry collection “fix”. She has bought from me on eBay on a couple of occasions and each piece she purchased was always a little odd and unexpected, making me think she knew of or was creating a trend which others were yet aware.

My third favorite author is Roseann Ettinger. She has a series of price guides that are not only about jewelry but other vintage collectibles with a lot of concentration on fashion and the fifties. Her jewelry price guides include her “popular” series and include “Forties and Fifties Popular Jewelry”, “Popular Jewelry of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s” and my all time favorite of hers “1840-1940 Popular Jewelry” the revised 3rd edition. Her price guide covers jewelry pieces that you actually might come across and be able to own for not a lot of money. Unlike Bell and Simons-Miller who are showing museum quality and hard to find pieces, the pieces shown in Ettingers are really quite attainable and I have actually had many of her pieces that she has described. Her photographs are quite large making it easy to see the details of the pieces and she doesn’t dwell on the glitzier side of jewelry but the real down to earth stuff that most of our mothers and grandmothers would have worn.

There are many great costume jewelry price guides out there from Nancy Schiffer, Lillian Baker, Christie Romero for Warman’s, Cheri Simonds, Ronna Lee Atkins and more, but my first three will give the beginner or even well seasoned antique and vintage costume or fine jewelry collector or dealer a well rounded wealth of knowledge and pricing guidelines.

For even more super jewelry tips and great jewelry to buy, visit Vintage Gems Emporium at www.vintagegemsemporium.com. Registration is free and easy.

About the Author: My name is Candace Daugherty and I live near Charleston, South Carolina. I am an entrepreneur and have worked as a retail design and marketing consultant with many internationally known retailers and fashion designers over the past 30 years. My true passion however is Antique and Vintage Costume and Fine Jewelry. I have collected jewelry for over 35 years and own many incredibly fabulous book pieces as shown in the many of the jewelry price guides discussed above.

Since October 1, 2008,  I along with three others have founded the first of its kind, an exclusive auction boutique for antique, vintage and new costume and fine jewelry. We started Vintagel Gems Emporium at www.vintagegemsemporium.com with three philosophies in mind. The first is to be a specialty boutique in an Auction Venue just for the collector and specialist of antique and vintage costume and fine jewelry. The second is to be the lowest cost auction or fixed price venue on the internet. And the third is to put the entire Virtual Gems Emporium community first with unbelievable customer service and fair equal treatment of all trading partners.

www.vintagegemsemporium.com

 

Odelya Natan asked:


The Jewish culture has a long ancient history that dates thousands of years ago. Throughout time, the Jewish people have been scattered all around the world, absorbing various cultures of Eastern and Western societies. However, the core of the Jewish culture has been preserved and managed to survive through turbulent times.

Jewish religious articles and symbols have played an important role in maintaining the bond between Jewish communities from all around  the world. Today Judaica art gives an expression to these common motifs that have sustained the collective unity of the Jewish people. One such example is the Star of David. Within the field of Judaica art, Jewish jewelry draws a wide audience who is fascinated with the original ways in which Jewish jewelry incorporates Jewish symbols and styles.

So what makes the Jewish jewelry so unique? Throughout history, the Jewish Diaspora has been exposed to diverse cultures. At the same time, prominent motifs in Jewish culture have been well preserved. Today we can find these multiple influences come to life in Judaica artworks with new interpretations. Contemporary Jewelry designers combine modern elements with ancient motifs to create pieces that express collective identity and religious faith. Judaica designers also celebrate the love of the Jewish people for the aesthetics by adding a dimension of their own creativity and imagination. The mix of elements results in unusual designs with symbolic significance that bring together the old and the new, Eastern and Western.

Jewish jewelry has enjoyed a growing popularity in the last few decades. Many people, including non-Jews, are drawn to this type of jewelry for its beauty and what it represents. In addition to its aesthetics, jewish jewelry carries a feel of something ancient and sacred. Many Jewish women and wear Jewish jewelry as a way of expressing their identification with Judaism and solidarity with Jewish nation and culture. The Star of David pendant or necklace is a great example. Wearing the Star of David is a common expression of faith, as well as it demonstrates the bond with the state of Israel as it decorates its national flag.

The Star of David is one of the several prominent symbols in Jewish tradition that are believed to protect the people who wear them on their hands and around their necks. Jewish people also believe that wearing a red string around the wrist wards off evil. The Book of Psalms, one of the most sacred texts in Judaism, is also a common motif in Jewish jewelry. Like other protective amulets, the Book of Psalms is believed to protect the ones carrying it.

Miniature versions of the Book of Psalms or quotations from the sacred text decorate many Jewish jewelry and other Judaica items. Today, Star of David pendants or Book of Psalms pendants make popular gifts for Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah.  Hamsa jewelry is also given as a romantic gift between two lovers, as a way of showing someone you care for them and their safety.

The Hamsa hand is an excellent example of a symbol that the Jewish culture has absorbed that it is not derived from religious or biblical sources. The Hamsa hand has become a popular motif that decorates an array of Judiaca designs.

In addition to Hamsa designs, many jewelry items are inscribed with Hebrew words, letters or symbols with Kabbalist meanings, generally known as Kabbalah jewelry. Kabbalah is a Jewish school of thought concerned with the mystical aspect of Judaism. Kabbalah discusses the inner meaning of religious Jewish texts. The combination of the three Hebrew letters ‘Alef-Lamed-Dalet’, for example, spells out one of God’s sacred names and can be found on many pendants, rings and bracelets. There are many symbols in the Kabbalah amulets that are believed to bring good energies. In recent year Kabbalah jewelry has become wide spread with the growing interest of people, Jews and non-Jews, in spirituality.

The fact that the Diaspora Jews were constantly prosecuted for generations in the last centuries, reaching its peak during World War Two has also influenced the growth and development of the field of Jewish jewelry. In Post World War Two, many proud Jewish people have felt a need to show a sign of identification with their nation. The Star of David that was negatively used by the ***** during World War Two has turned even more sharply into a sign of collective pride.

Large audiences are drawn to the spiritual aspects of symbolic jewelry. Judaica artists, in response to the growing demand, aspire to design jewelry that includes traditional motifs with an appropriate meaning. Today’s artifacts are inspired by old models of Jewish tradition with a modern twist.  People enjoy wearing symbolic jewelry because they carry meaning and a touch of holiness. As these can be found in so many designs and styles, no wonder Jewish jewelry is so popular in so many places around the wor

nithya asked:


Can anyone give me some ideas of how the dogwood festival in lenox square would be like? Would there be anything good to buy? Jewelry, cheap art,etc?

sublimushroom asked:


I am more than aware of the terrible innacuracies in this portrayal and, as lamentable as they are, wasn’t it at least really neat to see on screen the language, dress, jewelry, art, architecture, and environment of the Maya. Although all of these things may have been put in the wrong place or context and would lead the lay person to the wrong picture of the truth, is it not still amazing to see it all brought to life in some form? Rather than criticize a piece of art using liscence to tell a story, perhaps the critics should influence the creation of another film on the Maya so we can have the opposite depiction!

www.leatherjournal.co.in asked:


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Handmade leather bound blank page Photo albums, note book of recycle paper, variety of stone journals,
Stitching journals, embossed journals, sketch books, telephone journals, file folder,
Envelope in paper, traditional leather belts, paper bags, friendship belt
(Leather), wrist band, letter pad, day / month/ year planner, wine box,
Traditional pens, passport cover, business card holder, coasters cover, leather bags, leather folder
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arealsexyguy asked:


I’m native french speaker, and I need to know that… When I try to translate “joaillerie” (the french word) with an online translator, it gives me things like jewerly and jewellery, but when I define them on google, it says : “an adornment (as a bracelet or ring or necklace) made of precious metals and set with gems (or imitation gems)”. So it seems it’s more about the “art” or the “product”… I need to know about the place to craft them.. ( in comparison, the place to craft an armor or a sword would be the forge, etc.. )

Smith & Chen asked:


The Beautiful blue and green hues of turquoise have long been prized by the Native American peoples of the southwestern part of the USA. Entire cultures were built on mining turquoise and crafting sacred and special items from the attractive stone in areas which are now part of both New Mexico and Nevada. American Indian peoples were making necklace strands and other turquoise jewelry by hand many centuries before the first European settlers arrived. Because turquoise was so highly prized, it was widely exchanged and circulated among the Native peoples of the Americas, and the each of the tribes developed their own unique names for the striking blue stone. Scientific testing has proven that some ancient beads found in central and South America were originally dug from the Cerrillos turquoise mines near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

When the Europeans brought the technology of working metals like silver with them to the new world, the American Indians who learned the silver smith trade learned eventually began to add turquoise with the silver to develop their own special style of jewelry. A Zuni man by the name of Kineshde is believed to be the first to add turquoise to the hand crafted silver items he was making in the late 1800s.

Turquoise first came into popular high fashion in the US during the early 1890s, but Persian turquoise was the focus of the demand at that time, and only a few deposits of high quality turquoise were known in the US. In the following years, a number of high quality deposits previously worked by Native Americans were “rediscovered”, and shortly after 1900 and Americans began to recognize that American turquoise from the Western US was the equal of any in the world. Interest again began to peak around 1908-1910, and a considerable amount of American turquoise was mined, especially in Nevada. The majority of the Turquoise jewelry produced prior to 1910 was made by well-known jewelry manufacturing companies like Tiffany’s, and was produced in the standard Victorian styles of those times.

None of this was what we would recognize as Indian style turquoise jewelry. There were a few Native Americans making turquoise and silver pieces in what we now see as the traditional style, but they produced very few pieces and their very simple tools increased the man hours each piece needed for completion. That era was essentially the dawn of the traditional styles for silver-turquoise jewelry. America’s fascination with turquoise and genuine Indian Jewelry really began in earnest during the 1920’s when more people from outside the southwest began to see the beauty of this artistic jewelry. At that time, the Harvey House restaurant chain opened a number of facilities across the southwest during the great days of popular rail travel across the US. At first, Indian Jewelry was only sold as curios in the restaurants for the patrons touring the west. Earrings and thin, small bracelets stamped with arrows and bows and containing symmetrically cut small oval pieces of turquoise were the types most in demand. The pieces produced during this time are still termed as having been made in the “Fred Harvey” style. Heavy Indian Jewelry did not become popular until after 1925, when the classic squash-blossom necklaces were first brought to the tourist market. The squash-blossom craze lasted until about 1940, when they were discontinued for the most part by most Indian artisans for requiring too much work and too much turquoise.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, the concho belt changed from a simple silver belt to a more ornate belt with one to multiple turquoise stones in all the individual sections of the belt. The tourist jewelry of that era is highly collectable today. It began to be noticed that sales of Native American jewelry had significant potential to provide a reliable income source to tribal members across Arizona and New Mexico. During those years, schools and classes were established at several reservations to train young men in the trade of making Native American style Sterling and turquoise jewelry. In the following decades, many very talented artists came out of these schools. During the years following WWII, many Americans traveled across the country, and on their trips through the Arizona-New Mexico area, discovered that local traders had rooms full of this Native American jewelry, which the traders called pawn pieces. Most of these were jewelry pieces the Indian people made for themselves and pawned for one of two reasons: either they needed money, or it was considered a safe storage place. As a result of the popularity of these pawn pieces, a host of trading posts sprang up in the Southwest and knowledge of this unique style of jewelry became much more widespread. New jewelry was also created to meet the growing tourist demand. Those who appreciated the beautiful American turquoise began to recognize the general differences in matrix patterns and color, etc. between the different mine sources. During this time, which extended to the early 1950’s, turquoise began to be named, for sales purposes, after the mine in which it was found, such as Lone Mountain, Royston, Blue Gem, and others.

An increasing number of American Indians continued to handcraft silver jewelry in the 1950s and early 1960’s in the traditional way. Up to that time their work was generally popular only in the southwest region of the US, but the increasing amount of material available began to enable a larger audience to see and appreciate this beautiful style of jewelry art. Even so, it did not become widely popular across the entire US until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. At that time the simple and natural beauty of turquoise jewelry became the rage of the American fashion scene. The prices of the old pawn jewelry rocketed upward, and a craze for Indian turquoise jewelry swelled and boosted demand (and prices) for turquoise to previously undreamed levels.

The increased prices and demand caused the re-opening of many mines and the import of Indian “style” jewelry made by manufacturers in Mexico, Taiwan, and the Philippines. In time, the market became glutted, the consumer was confused by overpriced synthetic, stabilized and plastic imitation materials and by 1981 the supply was high but the demand was gone. The market collapsed and most of the American turquoise mines were shut down and have remained closed since that time. Turquoise demand hit a low water mark in the early 1980s, but has been slowly and steadily increasing in popularity since that time. Most American mines have remained closed, and in recent years high demand for natural American turquoise has caused once again significant increases in prices.

~Styles Madly~ asked:


I was going to go into detail about the painting but decided I want an honest opinion. So I’m just going to give you the facts that way I get your ‘first impression’ when you see it, which to me is the most important. Please glance @ my painting and tell me what you think, and don’t be shy to tell me if you don’t like it. I understand that this type of art doesn’t appeal to everyone.
I’m thinking about making a Special Edition Series to go along with this piece but don’t if i should go through all the trouble
1) I don’t know if this style/ subject is enough, although inspiring.
2) Not sure if its illegal to paint characters/ sale from a video game that is obviously copyrighted.
3) dont know if its good enough to sell….. (sigh)
Any opinions or advice would be SO SO SO APPRECIATED!;))

PAINTING TITLE & INFO:
Special Edition Series; 1 of 8; “Women of War”
“The Brutal Beauty of Buidsaer”
By: Brittany Hood 8/3/08

Dedication: “To Theresa, a true ‘Woman of War’.”

PS. I posted 2 different views because the accent part only shows up from certain angles/ lighting.

Straight shot:
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/brittanydiane86/Photo1325.jpg

Close up/Different Angle: feathered Gold Lashes/ jewelry
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/brittanydiane86/Photo1323.jpg
Shot that shows detail a little better… thanks again!
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/brittanydiane86/WOWFinal2.jpg