Although Burmese rubies seem to have a deeper, better red color, almost all the Burmese Rubies are treated. The newly available rubies from Tajikistan are 100% unheated & untreated.

I bought a small Tajik Ruby to be set in a white gold ring. Will upload a photo of it after it is finished.

Other show highlights: 18 carat Pink Diamond and almost an entire booth of stunning Blue Ceylon Sapphires.

More updates from the Bangkok Fair coming soon!

Orijyn - Laos Jewelry

I am headed to Laos this evening for a few days. I’m leaving on the 8pm overnight train from Bangkok to the border town of Nong Khai and will take a taxi to the capital, Vientiane. I just did some searching on Laos Jewelry and found a lovely organization called Orijyn that works with PADETC, a non-profit school in Laos, to preserve these traditional arts while improving education and healthcare through revenue development for the artisans. A Fair Trade wage is paid to the artisan with a portion from each purchase going to PADETC to fund “Education for Sustainable Development” programs. We support buying jewelry to support local people and raise their standard of living.

75 Strand Liquid Silver Waterfall Necklace

I was going to post about blue stones and Turquoise this evening, but I left my file at work. Recently, I’ve been reading and studying about Native American spiritual customs and their jewelry to learn more about and from them. I was lucky enough to attend a Native American powwow while I was visiting St. Petersburg, Florida recently. I was looking at the site Indians.org – the website for The American Indian Heritage Foundation which “was established to provide relief services to Indian people nationwide and to build bridges of understanding and friendship between Indian and non-Indian people.”

They have a section on jewelry and I came across this stunning 75 Strand Liquid Silver Waterfall Necklace. The necklace is made up of 75 strands of tiny silver hand strung beads. The necklace has over 14,000 individual beads on it! It was strung by Navajo master bead artist named Berlinda Begay. Navajo Silverwork is one of the most famous crafts of the Native American people.

St. Petersburg | Gold Tone & Seven Egg Drop Necklace

I just can’t help myself but stop in every jewelry store that I walk by. My flight to Tokyo was delayed in Detroit and I found myself happily wandering through the  Edwin Pearl’s Detroit airport store – Forever Silver. What caught my eye in the window was the St. Petersburg collection – a set of necklace, earrings and bracelets with Russian style hand pained easter egg charms hanging from them – reminiscent of the legendary Easter Eggs commissioned by the Imperial Russian court. So he meant, St. Petersburg, Russia…not Florida. The collection is made from jeweler’s metal with 18K yellow goldtone finish, Austrian crystals, hand painted French enamel and made in the USA.

Not surprising, the other collection that caught my eye was yellow gold and onyx.

Learn more about the company founder Erwin Pearl.

Visit Erwin Pearl website: www.erwinpearl.com

They have store locations all over the United States.

I just saw a beautiful pair of Art Deco 18K Jade, Onyx and Diamond earrings in a Sarasota, Florida jewelry store. I couldn’t take a photo of the earrings in the shop and they didn’t have an image of the earrings on their website, but I searched online and found a similar design – seen at left.

The earrings at left are available at Lawrence Jeffrey Estate Jewelers in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Contact details for the jewelry store in Sarasota are listed below:

Shrode Jewelers
1433 Main Street
Sarasota, Florida 34236
Telephone: +1941 365 4234
Website: www.shrodejewelers.com

On a walk through St. Petersburg, Florida, we stopped in the original Vinoy Park Hotel built in 1925. Much of the original building is still intact including hand painted ceiling beams over the lobby entrance. Also in the lobby is an exclusive jewelry shop called Ami Jewelers. There were some beautiful amethyst and Australian opal set in yellow gold pieces in one side window case, but it was a collection at the entrance that really caught my eye – The Henderson Collection by Lecil.

Each piece weaves different color gold and platinum threads around gold bars to create necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets. The colors of the gold threads are most interesting – black gold, chocolate (brown) gold, denim (blue!) gold, yellow gold and white gold. The Italian handmade pieces are unique, intricate and beautifully crafted. All the pieces combine the gold woven threads with fine quality diamonds. The chocolate gold woven ring caught my eye, but it is not surprising that the black gold set are the popular right now considering the black gemstone trends that we’ve been following. What was absolutely stunning is the denim or blue gold jewelry pieces. Although I didn’t see any in the store I did find some images from their website. The different gold colors are obtained by mixing 18K gold with other alloys.

View The Henderson Collection by Lecil at Ami Jewelers at the Vinoy Park Hotel (also known as the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club) in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.

We just got back from Chiang Mai, Thailand. Besides the cool mountain air, delicious food, and sparkling temples, one of the highlights of our trip was a visit to NOVA – a contemporary jewelry art studio. They combine clean and modern designs with a beautiful selection of stones for jewelry that is simple and stunning. Selected pieces featured here:

1. 18K Yellow Gold Ring with Fancy Sapphires,
2. Sterling silver pendant, sandblasted finish and high polished 18k gold domes

Their friendly staff answered all our questions and spent time chatting with us about many of the pieces, how they are created and the gemstones selected. In addition to a wide selection of skillfully crafted jewelry that you can buy, NOVA offers creative workshops in jewelry design and creation at the NOVA artlab.

Their 5-day Basic Program covers:

Pendant
- Design process
- Transferring of your design to metal
- Sawing out your design, filling and forming metal
- Metal finishing techniques

Ring
- Designing ring bands
- Sizing a ring
- Metal bending
- Soldering ring
- Surface decoration and metal finishing

Stone Setting
- Selecting a stone for your design
- Design considerations for bezel setting stone

A five day course costs THB5,500 (about USD 165) or THB1,100 (about USD 33) for each day. You can choose to attend one to five days.  Esan plans to attend a course soon and I’ll report on what jewelry he creates and the class instruction. Stop by, browse the collection, or take a jewelry workshop if you are ever in Chiang Mai:

201 Thapae Rd., Muang
Chiang Mai
Thailand 50100

Tel : +66 53 273 058
Fax : +66 53 206 134
www.nova-collection.com
info@nova-collection.com

studio hours:
Mon-Sat 9.00-20.30
Sun 12.30-20.30

MICHAEL VALITUTTI | Uruguay Amethyst and Diamond 14KW Gold Ring

Finding Uruguay Amethyst in Thailand. Not easy.

Although amethyst is found globally, its quality differs based on the region and source where it comes from.

Uruguay amethyst is considered one of the highest quality of all amethyst with color saturation ranging from medium to deep highly saturated violet-purple.

At left is a Michael Valitutti Uruguay Amethyst and Diamond 14KW-Gold-Ring.

Amethyst is said to have healing powers to calm and soothe the soul and body energies. Learn more about Amethyst’s mental, physical and spiritual healing qualities.

Black Coral Bracelet, 14K Yellow Gold - Maui Divers Jewelry

We’ve mentioned black gemstones in numerous other posts. I want to add a new one to the list – Hawaiian Black Coral. In local Hawaiian language it is called, ‘ēkaha kū moana.

Black coral (Antipatharia) is a group of deep water, tree-like corals related to sea anemones.  Black coral was originally found in Hawaii in 1958 and is Hawaii’s state gemstone.

Although Wikipedia says that Black Coral is listed on the Endangered Species list, one of Hawaii’s leading jewelry companies, Maui Divers Jewelry states that it is “carefully harvested it in strict accordance with state and federal laws to protect the precious source that was first discovered off Lahaina, Maui in 1958.” Maui Divers Jewelry sells black coral calling it “the world’s finest…growing slowly in deep-sea colonies, maturing only after 50 years or more.”

Minerals & Rainbows Exhibition - Natalie Dissel

MINERALS & RAINBOWS | NATALIE DISSEL

Mandy D’abo / Cat Street Gallery invites you to view Wearable Works of Art by Natalie Dissel

9 December 2009 – 12 December 2009

Cat Street Gallery – 222 Hollywood Road – Hong Kong

Natalie Dissel Website