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Monthly Archives: May 2009

A Fun Graduation Project–Another Local Product

One of our local high school teams, the Riverside Polytechnic High women’s water polo team, won the championship for their division so the booster club decided to reward them with a special piece of jewelry. We used our JewelSmith CAD/CAM system to create these Argentium silver medallions on budget and on time! See the entire […]

Niche Marketing Thru Local Products

The Matilija Poppy is a beautiful and very recognizable wildflower found only in Southern California, making it a great subject for what I call “Local Product”.  If you can find an object, a symbol, a graphic, or a phrase that is unique to your community, try using it as a design theme for a line […]

Looks like Emerald, costs less green!

Over the last 40 years or so, with intensifed gem prospecting planetwide, many new gems have come onto the scene.  Because of it’s beauty and reputation, the emerald remains our most expensive green gem, but other new stones are equally beautiful and wearable and in some cases, more rare than emerald.  Follow our discussion of […]

In Case You Hadn’t Noticed, A World Record Price for Gems

May 12– Just as we predicted in our Blog, April 18, Sotheby’s achieved a record price of  ~ 9.5 million US for the fabulous 7.03 ct Fancy Vivid Blue Internally Flawless Cullinan Blue Diamond. Sotheby’s original presale estimate was 5.8 to 8.5 million US. The stone sets a record price per carat for any gemstone […]

Waking Sleeping Beauty-Restoring Emeralds

One of the skills we learn as gemologists is how to evaluate damage to gemstones.  Most jewelers know that diamonds can be repaired or recut, but what about other gems, like this emerald?  Emeralds are usually enhanced with oils or resins, complicating the process. Our Blog, Recutting Emeralds tells success stories of three different emeralds, […]

What is Slow Jewelry?

This bracelet is an example of what I call slow jewelry. Made from two sterling silver butter-knives, the design flowed from the the actual shape of the knife blades and the unusual malachite stone – it’s puffy shape and cross-grain cut reminded me of the body of a sphinx moth freshly emerged from the chrysallis. […]

A Jewelers Challenge-Mother’s Rings Aren’t Easy

We struggled a bit to create this Mother’s ring, but our client was thrilled with the outcome. Communication was the key. Follow the progress of this custom order, start to finish, at the Mardon Blog

Exquisite Japanese Metalwork

This wonderful panel, one of nine in a hinged link bracelet and less than one inch high, shows the superb craftsmanship and artistic vision of an unknown Japanese metalworker. We think the piece might be Meiji period or a little later-we’ve only seen this quality of work on samurai objects. After the Meiji Restoration, since […]

Emeralds-R-Us

To celebrate May Day, we just added this fine natural Colombian Emerald to our collection.  Now we just need a great design and a willing customer. Read more about A Fabulous Emerald