December 3rd, 2009
CJS Sales has 5,000 square feet of vintage closeout craft and jewelry that is open wholesale only. I recetly went to find big metal beads, which they did not have but what I found was so much more interesting.
Rooms full of boxes of vintage jewelry components and as you can see in my pictures loads and loads of stuff. below is a list of just some of the items at CJS…
rhinestones, cameos, beads, stones, findings, filigree, wood, plastic beads (Lucite and Bakelite),Venetian one hole beads, cabs, buttons, chain, Swarovski, buttons, metal, clasps, and they specialize in liquidating vintage items and components there is also finished vintage jewelry and accessories from the 60’s-early 90’s, headbands, hemp, piece jewelry, rings, belts, cuff links, as well as rhinestone accessories.
It is a warehouse and unless you know what you are looking at it can be very overwhelming – but if you are an experienced buyer and willing to dig and get dirty you will be in heaven! Wholesale only (no retail customers).
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August 20th, 2009
Or Kleinodienbuch der Herzogin Anna von Bayern the entire book can be seen at die Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek web site. After a bit of fumbling around I was able to navigate the site pretty well. The jewel book is a visual record of the personal collection Duchess Anna and Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria. The hand painted manuscript by the German master Hans Mielich displays more than one hundred gouache drawings of jewellery, belonging to Duchess Anna and the Duke.
In 1541 Mielich travelled to Rome on a commission from Duke William IV of Bavaria (Albert’s father). He stayed there until 1543, From 1545 onwards Duke Albert V of Bavaria helped him obtain commissions one of which was this extraordinary manuscript. His signature can be found on the first plate which is a portrait of the Duke and Duchess It took Mielich two years to execute the drawings and the book was completed in 1555. You can see the silver guilt used to highlight pearls has tanished and that the style for rendering diamonds was to paint them in shades of black which looked most similar to the old style table cut diamonds.
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August 19th, 2009
I draw a lot! I have many moleskin sketchbooks full of designs rendered to scale along with notes and updates. I am starting a new group that has to be finished soon, I rely on my sketchbooks to be a visual record, starting point, or warning beacon of where not to go.
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August 13th, 2009
I pass by the new Hermes store downtown almost everyday and I always like to look in the windows at the silver jewelry. First of all it is substantial, really big in fact and amazingly crafted. When I stopped in to talk to the sales staff I was treated to a show a tell of some of the new pieces.
First of all the all the pieces are made by Hermes by the same artisans that make their gold jewelry. In fact the point was made that the craftsmen are goldsmiths first and foremost. Also when the pieces are completely finished, polished etc they are then plated in silver.
I have tried to find out who was the designer for Hermes jewelry collection is but it seems to be secret.
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November 20th, 2008
Racecar Jewelry Co. Inc. started by Daniel Grandi in 1998 is a full service investment casting and finishing shop utilizing modern lost wax casting techniques. They produce high quality metal products for jewelry designers, They cast in many types and colors of Gold, Silver, Platinum, Brass, Bronze, Pewter and also provide a full line of production services including mold making, model building, design consultation, and finishing and plating.
I was trying to find a way to produce less esxpensive samples in bronze and found Dan’s shop online. I could not be happier with the work they did on the “grill” cuff.
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October 9th, 2008
In late September we went to Cham! from Bhutan. Thirteen monks from the monastery fortress of Trongsa in central Bhutan perform the mesmeric ritual demon subjugation dances in public spaces in and around New York City. We went to the performance in Corona Park Queens.
It was an amazing experience but I am afraid it was very hard on the monks they are use to performing in an altitude of 10,000 feet and 40 degrees instead of the 80 degree temperature which NYC was enjoying that weekend.
So what does Cham have to do with jewelry design not a lot however on our way home to Brooklyn we stopped off at the Jackson Diner for great Indian food and exploring 74th street. Jackson Heights especially 74th street has many great traditional Indian jewelry shops. The workmanship is amazing and all the gold jewelry for sale is at least 18K if not 22K or even pure gold.
Indian gold jewelry is sold by weight which seems odd to Americans. When I asked about prices of a large filigree bracelet the clerk put it on a scale and calculated the price which was lower than I thought it would be but it was still more than I had. In a way traditional Indian jewelry is highly ritualized especially the jewelry worn by a Hindu bride which also functions as a dowry, it has both traditional significance as a part of the 16 adornments (Solah Shringar) which completes the bride’s wedding attire the and is also a commodity.
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September 11th, 2008
I have struggled with photographing my work for a really long time I’m not against using photographers in fact it would be great, but I always seem to be really late and I just don’t have time to turn over the collection to a photographer. So I take pictures myself with varying degrees of success. I just found a site that give instruction on how to photograph your work but also how to retouch the photos so they look really close to Tiffany’s style of photos. I have to say I was skeptical but I downloaded the tutorial and it was very helpful in fact I would say my retouching skills definitely improved. So go get the free PDF and see how it goes. http://www.imagingprep.com/ they charge for there real tutorials I think I am going to get a subscription I’ll let you know how it goes.
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September 2nd, 2008
I’ve finished the piece with the extra long cabochons. Rose gold and rubies.
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September 2nd, 2008
Mr. Ravi K Lashkery from Gemorex was very helpful at a recent meeting. I was attending the JA winter show and his booth had massive smooth emerald necklaces and a lot of unique cut stones and brioletts. He really was very knowledgeable and innovative. you can visit his web site to get an idea of the quality of his merchandise.
They also specialize is custom cut semi precious stones he showed me a few pieces they where working on for another client and I bought a few rose cut citrine, topaz and ruby as well as flat cut stones that are similar in style to the flat cut diamonds.
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September 2nd, 2008
I recently got these custom made stone ring blanks in. Last June I had samples cut here in New York from rough I bought at a stone importer, most of the material I got was not very good. I thought rough was rough and the lapiderist could use whatever I gave them. I learned a lot from that experience. Buying rough is an art in and of it self and requires x-ray vision.
This is the specification drawing I did and the final stone ring blank I really like making the drawing. It required me to adjust every measurement based on the ring size. I did three sizes the lapiderist was right on the mark.
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