This is, in a sense, a follow-up of my previous post on inspiration in jewelry design from established designers like Elian Fatal.  Mr. Giunta’s “‘happened-to-form” design style lends itself very easily  to the concept of repurposed or upcycled jewelry, a topic in the aforementioned Elian Fatal post.  So what inspires, motivates Giunta?  Scroll further down ( the “Read the rest of this entry link” ) to see model and muse Chanel Iman’s interview with the designer.

But first, inspire yourself either as a maker or wearer of  jewelry: Galleries for your viewing pleasure.

From Subversive Jewelry Collection & Subversive for Target, 2008

Chanel Iman on Modelina

See more videos on modelinia.com

_{additional pictures: thebudgetbabe.com}

What can be done with precious jewels can be done with costume jewelry. That got me thinking of the trays of vintage jewelry pieces often found at thrift stores and the “jewelry-remnants” I have stored away. Not only has Ms Fattal’s beautiful unique pieces inspired me to start blogging again but to upcycle the various bits of broken jewelry and unmatched earrings I’ve kept. Look for those upcoming posts, meanwhile see how a master does it. Below (after the jump) are a few pieces that I have found of Elian Fattals collection for S.J. Philips or if you want to buy more affordable pieces you can always check out Etsy
 
 
 
 

Elian Fattall attends a dinner for Coach, Sept. 7, 2011
 
 
Gallery and video after the jump…
 
 

Gwyneth Paltrow in Elian Fattal earring and Versace Gown, Repurposed Jewellry Collection by Elian Fattal

_{Photos: vogue.com, sjphillips.com}

It would be a good move for you to consider constructing quality custom jewelry for individual clients if you have a great sense of style and creativity. You will soon be flooded with phone calls asking you to construct special pieces for them or as gifts for others.

Making custom jewelry isn’t hard, all you need a sense of style and creativity – the skills needed to make jewelry are very easy to learn. The goal is to create exclusive pieces that will make your client feel special.

It is actually not easy to work with clients because it is very hard to match the picture in your mind with that in their minds. It would be a gross error for you to work in the presence of your clients and expose to them how easy it is to create bespoke jewelry – it is tantamount to teaching them the trade and you run the risk of losing clients.

Talk at length with the client because this is the only way that you can design custom jewelry that matches their likes, dislikes, and personality. In order to design a gift piece to be given to another person, you need to ask a lot of questions about the other person and if possible talk to them before you commence any work. Communicating regularly with your customers coupled with the exclusivity of the products are the prime ingredients necessary for the success of this business.

From time to time clients may ask you to make custom jewelry using parts from their own jewelry. Your client may already have a piece that they just want you to renovate. Before you start doing this, make sure that you have the skill and qualifications necessary to do this work because the last thing you want is destroy a client’s beloved jewelry! Make sure that you ask about the history of the piece, and find out what special meaning it holds for your client as well.

You need to make an investment buying pieces from wholesale sources to cater for your needs to make the custom jewelry. Be careful when you quote any customer a price for bespoke jewelry because you will have to make sure you are buying quality parts. Since surely you do not want to lose money, once you have quoted a price, allow up to thirty percent to be deducted from it. Think of the remainder as your ‘budget’ when buying supplies to make the custom jewelry.

Dressed up or semi-casual the versatile jewelry is also versatile in fitting a range of budgets. The Dark Amber Bib Necklace Set with  “petals of luminous dark colored faux amber” would be a treasured piece at $450 or you could splurge on the Malachite Dramatic Bib Necklace at $8,800. (See the picture gallery below for these and other necklaces, rings, earrings and bracelets)

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Her collections are  available online and at Neiman Marcus or Bergdorf Goodman at locations in the U.S. and at other  stores in Canada and Japan.

With hundreds of things to remember for your wedding day there is one thing you must not forget. It is perhaps the most important and enjoyable task, that of choosing and buying the wedding rings.

When the wedding day arrives, you and your guests, will have a wonderful day but over the months and years the memories will fade and the details of the day will be forgotten but there will remain one thing that will always be with you and always remind you of your special day – your wedding ring.

Wedding rings represent the joining of two people into their own circle of life. The ring is a sign to all who see it that you have joined as one with your partner. It is the one part of the ceremony that remains with you long after the big day.

So, you can see how important it is that you buy a wedding ring that you love now and will still love many years down the line.A ring you will enjoy wearing and always be proud of. Happy for everyone to see it and know you are a happily married person.

A quick look through a selection of wedding rings will soon show how many different types and styles of rings are available. The choices with so many designs in various different metal setting can become confusing if you don’t give yourself plenty of time to choose.

Some people prefer to opt for a very simple and plain gold ring. It is the traditional wedding ring that has stood the test of time but today you are faced with several other options and you may be attracted to a more extravagent and ostentatious design.

Spend the time with your partner considering different styles and designs to make sure you will both be happy with the wedding ring you choose even many years into the future. Also ensure that whatever ring you choose will be practical to wear day to day, whatever you are doing.

Easy to wear and practical rings may not be what you really want so you might think about buying two weding rings. Wear one simple one every day and another, more exciting one, on special nights out.

Since prehistoric man first stumbled upon a nugget, raw gold with its radiant sun yellow coloration and metallic luster has captivated and fascinated mankind. The unique gleam of gold attracts the eye, enabling the seeker to detect the smallest of grains in an aggregate of many other materials. The tiniest flakes are easily detected.

Reserach of Stone Age burial sites shows that gold was the first element collected and prized by man. This unique metal, gathered in the form of nuggets, seems to have been highly prized but was not used in practical applications. Listed 2.5 ? 3 on Mohs scale of hardness, gold was much too mallable to be pounded into workable tools or weapons. Gold carried little value for prehistoric man except to be admired and treasured for its rare, intrinsic beauty.

However, as man progressed he soon discovered many applications for the mysterious golden metal. The earliest record of gold exploration dates to Egypt around 2000 B.C. Ancient records tell of an enormous alluvial gold deposit in Nubia, between the Nile River and the Red Sea in southeastern Egypt. This remarkable discovery encompassed more than one hundred square miles. Using the most primitive of equipment and working to an average depth of less than six feet, these first miners pried an estimated one thousand tons of gold from this rich discovery. Egyptian crafters, seeing the amazing malleability of gold, fashioned distinctive jewelry, decorations and idols of breathtaking beauty.

Throughout history, gold, has been prized not only for its beauty but for golds ability to withstand the rigors of time. No substance that appears commonly in nature will destroy gold. Unaffected by air, moisture, heat or cold, this noble metal will not tarnish, corrode, rust or tarnish. Shimmering gold flakes, nuggets of placer gold and brilliant vein occurrences have survived over 4.5 Billion years of cataclysmic geologic and climate changes; volcanic eruption, earthquakes, upheavals and deposition. Treasures of golden jewelry, bullion and coins, buried for thousands of years beneath land and sea have been found intact; as brilliant as the day they were abandoned. A relatively rare native metallic element, gold ranks fifty-eighth in abundance amongst the ninety two natural elements that compose the earths crust. Considered a rare element, of all metals gold is, with the exception of iron, the most widely distributed over the planet. Gold has been discovered on 90 per cent of the earths surface and

is mined in high mountain ranges, in the deeply weathered soil of the tropics, harsh deserts and in the permanently frozen soil of the Arctic.

Gold is mined on every continent with the exception of Antarctica. The largest gold producing area of the world is the Witwatersrand District of South Africa. This mega rich area has yielded over eighteen thousand tons of gold with no stoppage projected. Notable gold bearing areas around the world are Siberia in the former USSR, the Porcupine District in Ontario, Canada and in the United States the Yukon District of Alaska and the celebrated Mother Lode District in California.

In the United States nature was extremely generous. Thirty-two states have recorded significant commercial gold production. The highest yielding areas are located within the western states, California, Colorado, Alaska, Nevada and South Dakota. Other abundant locations for prospecting include Georgia, Arkansas, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Washington, New Mexico, Wyoming, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan, Vermont and New Hampshire. The recreational gold prospector can find gold in his pan in practically every state of the union.

Gold is an ideal media for craftsmen. It is a metal that can be deformed by pounding without breaking or crumbling. Gold, in its pure form is the most malleable or workable of all metals. One single ounce of gold can be drawn and stretched into an ultra fine wire over 50 miles in length without breaking or pounded to the amazing thinness of one hundred thousandth of an inch without disintegrating. Gold is easily carved, readily buffs to a gleaming polish, can be heated repeatedly without discoloration and joins to itself or other metals by soldering without the need for a bonding flux.

For 6000 years gold has been a symbol of status, power and wealth. In 1350 B.C. the Egyptian child king, Tutankhem, was buried in an elegant coffin elaborately cast from 242 pounds of solid gold. Throughout history men and women have annointed their bodies with shiny, gleaming gold. The ancient custom of exchanging gold rings during marriage ceremonies continues today.

The wealthy of Medieval Europe liberally sprinkled gold on their food to demonstrate the hosts great wealth. Today gold is still often used in food and has the E Number 175. Metallic gold is inert to all body chemistry, it brings no flavor nor has any other nutritional effect and exits the body unaltered.

Primitive man believed gold contained a hidden, internal fire, a gift from the Gods with mysterious healing and magical powers. Numerous cultures of sun-worshippers revered gold as the tangible essence of their God; solid sunshine. In modern day Japan believers seek golds medicinal magic by immersion in a bathtub designed in the form of a phoenix crafted from 400 pounds of pure gold. Health and gold have long been entwined in the wondrous belief that something so rare and beautiful could not be anything but healing and healthy.

Today modern esotericists and several forms of alternative medicine embrace the healing qualities of gold. Gold salts have anti inflammatory properties and are used as pharmaceuticals in the treatment of arthritis and other varied conditions. Only salts and radioisotopes of gold are of pharmacological value. Elemental gold is inert to all chemicals it encounters within the body.

Gold is viewed as a storehouse of value, the natural way for mankind to preserve capital and guard against financial uncertainty or monetary collapse. In modern times gold has served as a hedge against the threat of inflation and as a secure and safe way to secret away assets. Hoarding of gold occurs most often during times of war, adverse world conditions and international fears of economic instability. Gold has repeatedly conquered the attempts of regimes to inflate the currency of their country as well as circumventing the goals of those controling political power to command the economy of other nations.

All through recorded history, gold, the unequaled king of metals, has been known as the ultimate monetary exchange. Gold is the only currency that isnt someone elses responsibility or liability; it is more secure than just a paper promise to pay upon demand. Golds value does not depend on the economic stability of any political power or financial cartel. Gold has value in and of itself.

The current world price of gold is established daily by the London Gold Market which trades gold bullion and coins with other financial world centers such as Zurich, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and Paris. The price is based on pure or fine gold, therefore the value of gold gleaned in its natural state may vary depending on the impurities it contains. However, raw gold sold as specimens or jewelry will always bring a considerably higher price. Gold nuggets are as distinctively different as snowflakes, although similar, no two nuggets are alike. A nugget of unique character and shape may sell for as much as five times its value by weight.

Do you have gold jewelry you no longer wear? Now may be the time to cash in. With the price of gold exceeding the $1000 an ounce mark, an errant earring or broken gold chain could add up to a significant amount.

To obtain the highest price for gold you may wish to liquidate, know the karat count. Because of the softness of pure 24k gold, it is usually alloyed or mixed with base metals for use in jewelry, altering its melting point, ductility, hardness and color. Alloys with lower karatage, typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k, contain larger percentages of silver, copper and other base metals in the alloy. The higher the karat the more you will be paid.

If you only have a few items to sell, try a local jeweler or take a vintage piece to an antique jeweler. They will take the artists skill into consideration and you will net a much larger price than for just the gold weight alone.

In point of fact, in Western cultures the engagement ring finger will just about all of the time be the fourth finger on a person’s left hand for it has forever been a tradition for this finger to hold both the wedding and engagement ring. However, there may still be many young lovers who are still questioning incisively which finger makes for the best engagement ring finger and the option at large normally concentrates to the fourth finger on their left hand which is very convenient and therefore is almost often picked out to hold the engagement ring.

Warmth, Devotion and Relinquish

The importance of the engagement ring finger means that if an outsider sights additional sporting a ring on the engagement ring finger, then that person is not available for love. It’s significant dwells on its power to express to the partner a dedication of undying love, devotion and surrender.

In addition, the fourth finger on a person’s left finger is supposed to be one in which veins connect straight to the person’s heart and thus both tradition and etiquette require that this finger be chosen for holding the engagement ring.

However, the fourth finger is usually considered the engagement ring finger mostly in countries such as the United Kingdom and also in the United States. In other countries including France, Spain and Germany the engagement ring finger is generally one of the fingers (fourth) on the right hand. It has always been an ancient custom in these European countries where the left hand was meant to signify negativity while the right hand is associated with positivity and thus the engagement ring finger in European countries is the finger of choice on the right hand.

As a matter of fact, the special hand selected to hold the engagement ring is also depending on several religions such as for Jewish couples, the custom is to wear the engagement ring on the left hand that is their engagement ring finger particularly after the wedding has been solemnized, while in the Greek Orthodox Church, the tradition is to utilize the right hand.

You must then determine how to discover a ring of the right size for this finger, this comes when you are for sure about which finger, on which hand is to serve as the engagement ring finger, as you call in at a jeweler you will discover that they have a ring size chart too as have tools with which decide the right size of the engagement ring. If you have no idea what the size going to be, you should pick out the size that is on the bigger size instead of on the small size as it is a larger ring can easily be resized than do anything about a small ring.

(click on thumbnails for larger image) 

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Swarovski crystals, beads and texture are added to the silver pieces for great effect. These beautiful  affordable pieces are as low as $50 (and upwards to about $650) are a wonderful aesthetic to add to anyone's jewelry collection.

pictures: Lyra Mag, FashionTribune

According to wwd.com, the collection will be comprised of

“…edgy, black leather cuffs as well as necklaces, charm bracelets and hoop earrings in metal, glass and enamel. Retailing from $16 to $68, the collection is targeting the same department stores that sell Deréon apparel and accessories, such as Macy’s and Dillard’s, as well as contemporary specialty stores.”

picture: aol.com