Thursday, January 5, 2012
I’m going to continue the lazy-ass theme from Tuesday and belatedly do another 2011 wrap-up post. (Actually, I’m working on something for the Huffington Post, so I’m not being 100% lazy.) Here’s a look back at my Jewels of the Month for 2011. I started off last year with a black-diamond Cleves swan ring in [...]
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Like a lot of small-business owners, I spend my free time sitting at the bar, telling my friends and random winos that my career would be MADE if only a huge celebrity bought something from me. Well, I think my overnight success must be nigh because Kim Kardashian‘s 72-day marriage is over and who should [...]
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Friday, September 2, 2011
Love at first sight? Nah. When painter/illlustrator Tracey Atkinson first met new-media artist/designer (and my former People.com colleague) Paul Notzold at The Brooklyn Inn in January 2007, romantic lightning didn’t strike. But Paul walked Tracey home in the rain, so she agreed to see him again. Then she gave him a broken umbrella and sent [...]
Continue reading about Jewel of the Month: Tracey’s Custom Engagement Ring
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 [...]
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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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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, [...]
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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 [...]
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Thursday, February 19, 2009
To the person who came to my blog by searching for “cheapskate > doesn’t want to buy engagement ring”: Don’t marry him. Ring © Wendy Brandes Photography by SquareMoose In general, I advise against marriage if a potential spouse inspires you to Google things such as “cheapskate,” “liar,” or “goddamned motherfucking asshole.”
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Contrary to popular belief, engagement rings don’t have to be boring. A round solitaire is about as traditional a stone as you can get, but even those can be spiced up. I encourage clients to be creative. In 2007 or so, my gorgeous client Deb and her husband asked for an engagement ring in which [...]
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