Sunday, August 14, 2011
Today is my gorgeous sister Terri Berry‘s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TERRI BERRY! Yesterday, TerriB’s husband, Tim Berry, presented her with a custom ring I designed. TerriB was in on the plan. Earlier this year, when gold was at a then-record-high of $1330 an ounce, I started taking the stones out of old jewelry and selling [...]
Continue reading about Jewel of the Month: Terri Berry’s Birthday Ring
Friday, May 20, 2011
I don’t do sketches of all the designs that I create for my collection. Sometimes I skip the sketch and go directly to the wax model. Other times, I do a very rough sketch to convey a concept. When I was working on my Cleves swan ring, I scribbled something that looked like two deformed [...]
Continue reading about Custom Work: Gettin’ Sketchy Wit It
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
In the spirit of “April showers bring May flowers,” the Jewel of the Month is the poppy ring I created for my designing friend Zang Toi’s 2007 spring runway show. I also designed a matching bracelet, choker and giant belt buckle — all in gold-plated silver. With Zang’s approval, I wore the ring myself with [...]
Continue reading about Jewel of the Month: May Flower, Customized for Christine
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
I’m sometimes surprised by the jewelry designs that take off. When I originally designed my Siobhan perma-stacked stacking ring, I didn’t envision it evolving into an engagement ring. But evolve it did! First, gorgeous blogger Susan of Une femme d’un certain age asked me to redesign her original engagement ring, Siobhan style. I never expected [...]
Continue reading about Jewel of the Month: Heather’s Engagement Ring
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
When gorgeous blogger Mariel of Preppy With a Twist asked me to create her engagement ring, I immediately got ABBA’s “Waterloo” stuck in my head. It took me a while to recall that the song was featured in a key scene of the 1994 movie Muriel’s Wedding. In the movie, Toni Collette is shy Muriel [...]
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Monday, November 8, 2010
Last year, I had the thrill of doing a custom engagement ring for handsome blogger Thom of The Sunday Best and his gorgeous fiancée, Sharon. It was the first engagement/wedding ring I ever did for a blogger; since then I’ve done many! Thom and Sharon must have brought me good luck. Sharon’s Asscher-cut diamond set [...]
Continue reading about Custom Wedding Band for Iron Man Thom
Saturday, September 18, 2010
My gorgeous friends Jen and Kevin are getting married today! I’m so excited for them. I had the pleasure of creating their custom wedding bands. Jen requested something wider than the typical band, and Kevin wanted a Celtic/tribal feel. I was happy that they each chose a design that suits their individual style. Some couples [...]
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Back in March, while explaining the work that goes into creating custom designs, I mentioned that I spent an hour on the phone with one guy discussing how he was going to propose to his girlfriend. Time to tell the whole tale and introduce you to John Muggenborg. He’s one of my talented product photographers, [...]
Continue reading about John, Olivia and the Engagement Ring Surprise
Monday, August 2, 2010
I do a lot of custom work in my jewelry business. A customer comes to me with an idea and I make it a reality. Sometimes I create a piece from scratch, like I did with these dog cufflinks. Other times, customers come to me with old jewelry that they don’t wear anymore and I [...]
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
In yesterday’s post on my Freud cufflinks, I mentioned that a client who orders custom jewelry from me will get a lower price if I wind up adding the design to my line. I promised a long explanation of that and here it is. Remember my January post about manufacturing costs and how larger quantities [...]
Continue reading about Get Smart (About Custom Work)
