Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Hybrid exhibition revisited through the comments by you!

This year during our group exhibition around the theme "Hybrid" we asked viewers to interact with the show by leaving comments. Viewers could provide their own interpretation of a piece, comment on a piece, or let us know their favourite work in the show. We had a wonderful response and below are some of the comments about the work!

Love the beginning of Life it reminds me of a beautiful Bloom. - Marion

Coral Reef & Chochos by Helena Perez Lafaurie: I felt connected to the planet the moment I saw H.P.L.'s pieces. The raw beauty & asymmetry was so perfectly balanced with the final form and colour, Love! - Jenny

I like the unique pieces. Awesome local business. Very nice staff and owner. - James

Fascinating, thought provoking, marvellous - Veronica

I really like the pieces, but three items really call out to me: Gillian Batcher's whimsical & imaginary animals are so cute but also so well crafted. They make me happy when I look at them. Lafaurie's organic piece made of emerald, silver with a wood base harkens back to the elemental: we know that for eons and eons, far below the earth, precious jewels have been developing their unique strata. The wooden stand with its indigenous ethnicity depiction is unusual & an important statement of life on this planet. Thirdly, I love Alexis Kostuk's foray into indigo enamels. Her necklace is luxurious and strikingly simple, even with so many components. I would wear this piece instantly! The whole exhibit covers every aspect of fancy. Well done! -Andrea

Are beautiful dinosaur bees the future? - Devon

I like Amanda Henderson's Mixed Gold, Silver, Copper Necklace. - Jeannine

Alexis Kostuk. Elegant, nice shades of blue, eye catching. - Bernard

Hybrid is a fantastic concept to combine different creative pieces and colours and create something unique. It's really interesting and fascinating to create in this way. - Marlene

Hybrids are a very relevant idea in our world today with the rapid spreading of ideas and information. I am always surprised and amazed by the unique creations I find. - Rania 

 


 




Sunday, October 25, 2015

Spotlight on Alexis Kostuk!

We are trying something new here with our social media and part of our new initiative is to make sure everyone at Jewel Envy receives equal representation across our various platforms. That means you can look forward to seeing artist spotlights each Sunday as we work through a rotation highlighting each member of the space.

Today I would like to highlight what Alexis of Glaciale Goldsmith has been up to. If you have been in the store recently you may have seen her amazing new line of sharks or her marriage of metal pieces. We have posted some pictures on FB and Instagram but that is the obvious work she does; today I want to highlight some of the behind the scenes work taking place.

As you may know Alexis is the studio manager here. What that means is that she is responsible for a fair bit of equipment maintenance, social media, studio organization and coordination as well as retail and teaching. One of her recent initiatives was to move us over to steam dewaxing for our casting burnouts. She spoke with various casting houses and came up with a plan to help us make this switch. The reason for doing so is that during the wax burn out process one of the most toxic stages is when wax reaches a temperature where it actually burns out of the flask. This releases toxins into the air and although we have a good ventillation system it was not removing everything and some people were getting headaches from the burnout.

By switching to a steam dewaxer, the wax comes out of the flasks using steam and pressure at a much lower temperature before the wax has a chance to burn. This means cleaner air for us, cleaner castings for the jewellers here and an overall improvement in the casting process. Switching over has not been without a few bumps along the way but with an interest in troubleshooting and excellent problem solving we have a safer system in place for all. Thank you Alexis for your perserverence!

Gillian

Saturday, October 24, 2015

STEAL VS SPLURGE

As goldsmiths, designers and business owners, most of us here at Jewel Envy know the work involved in creating handmade jewellery. As buyers and shoppers and coveters of beautiful things, we also know that value is important as well.

With a quick spotlight on HYEWON JANG, here is today's steal vs spluge:


The earrings on the left can be yours for $100, or you can splurge on the righthand pair for $150. To tell you the truth, the decent price point probably means that you could buy them both and consider the whole purchase a steal:)))

 Hyewon tends to work with clean geometric silhouettes, accented with softer, more feminine details. Her work is beautiful and unique, with just the perfect amount of colour and sophistication.
We have plenty more of her work in store, so pop in and see what else we've got!



Sunday, October 18, 2015

Gillian loves animals.
The latest addition to our zoo are the owels.
They are a hoot !
And they have gemstone eyes to really see well at night .
Ckeck them out,
they come as ear studs, lapel pins and pendants on beautiful two tone chains.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Come visit us at Craft Show by Craft Ontario!

An amazing art show is coming up this Thanksgiving weekend and we want to be sure you don't miss your chance to see and buy work by talented local artists. Remember the holidays are just around the corner and this is a great opportunity to get a jump start on selecting the perfect gifts for the special people in your life. Both Hyewon Jang of H Jewelry and Gillian E. Batcher of PASH Jewellery Design will be participating along with 40 of our esteemed colleagues. We hope to see you and your friends at the show!

Show Details:

Friday October 9 – Sunday October 11, 2015
Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street, Toronto

SHOW HOURS:
Friday Oct 9:  12:00pm – 5:00pm
Saturday Oct 10: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday Oct 11: 11:00am – 5:00pm
The Stop’s Farmers' Market at Artscape Wychwood Barns focuses on local, sustainable, organic, and artisanal products and will be taking place on Saturday Oct 10 from 8am – 1pm.
TICKETS:
Admission to the Craft Show will be by donation at the door. Big or small, whatever you can afford or deem appropriate... Every little bit helps Craft Ontario in building new programming such as this to help promote our members and Ontario's makers!