Jewel Envy

2012-01-24T14:18:00.001-05:00

While enjoying my winter vocation in Montreal, I spent an afternoon and visited The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Of all the exhibition, Decorative Art and Design and Big Bang were inspirational. Decorative Art and Design presents how work of art revolutionized through seven hundred years from past to present. I was impressed by the change in use of material, the style and the sense of practicality. I see how we keep challenging our creativity to make our life more interesting by adding some edge on things. In Big Bang, En Masse was breathtaking to me. Once I step in En Masse's room, I don't know where to start from because every spot on the wall is covered with drawings. They are all unique and exciting. Eventhough they are drawn in black lines, two dimensional form and colorless, images speak the story and create a connection with audience.

ChiaChien

Thanks + Students

2012-01-23T20:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks Jewel Envy!

I want to say that I am very proud to have been a part of Jewel Envyfor the past two years. When I first arrived at the studio, I didn’t have thatmuch experience aside from my training, so I began at the very beginning… Ilearned a lot from the many artists who have worked in the studio over the pastfew years. Thanks Jewel Envy. Happy 5-year anniversary!

Student Exhibition

I haven’t actually taught any student courses, but after seeingstudents improve their skills and participate in two student exhibitions fortwo years, I am very impressed and am now motivated to start teaching soon. Everyonehas told me that teaching involves so much more than simply teaching students,and that I stand to learn a lot from them myself. I am really looking forward to it.

Young Kyoung Ko

Happy Little Kilns

2012-01-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

Our small kiln is getting a little shelf insert to collect our enamel spills

I seemed to have neglected my blogging duties... I am back in action after a relaxing Holiday spent with family. My first concern upon returning was taking care of our enameling kilns. We have some Enamel classes coming up soon so I want them to be in tip top shape for students and of course for myself and other enamelists in the studio. After searching the internet and making a few calls I came across the Pottery Supply House and their technician Geoff. Yesterday I dropped the kiln off and in a matter of minutes he had it rewired and back up and running. After discussing the issue of cleanliness and enameling in a kiln they suggested simply buying extra shelves to collect any mess and prevent ruining the built in bricks. A very economical choice compared to other options I had researched, and so simple! Now I'm thinking I should give them a try this afternoon just to make sure they do the trick and to get some work done. - Alexis

Thank you!

2011-12-12T18:47:00.003-05:00

I thought I would write more of a personal blog for this weeks entry. Last week we celebrated our five year anniversary and we are still going strong. Jewel Envy has been my little baby and making it past the five year mark has meant the world to me. I think it's important for everyone to know I could not have done it without the help of my family and the wonderful artists I have been lucky enough to meet and work with since Jewel Envy opened. Special thanks to Jewel Envy's own studio manager Alexis Kostuk for thinking outside the box and always coming up with creative solutions!

Getting this cooperative space off the ground certainly presented challenges but every year we find new ways to grow and expand. This year we did it through our traveling exhibition of our jewellers work as well as our student exhibition of work made by Jewel Envy students. Through both initiatives we have been involved in the arts community and my hope is that we have and are making studio jewellery more accessible to the general public.

Stay tuned for some exciting developments in 2012. We have already starting planning so keep in touch with us!

All of the best for the season and coming year!
Gillian

2011-12-04T23:26:00.000-05:00

I've noticed over the past year that there is a trend for wearing hand jewellery. When I say that, I mean jewellery that covers the back of your hand connecting to one or a series of rings, and a chain or something around the wrist. I was trying to figure out what the actual name for this Indian inspired adornment is and, although the internet is not always honest, I think they are called panjas.
They can be quite exquisite and intricate, or fairly simple.

Either way, I think they're a really cool statement piece.

Nicole Scherzinger was seen wearing a hand bracelet by Privé on The X-Factor a couple weeks ago. Hers is a bit different, only resting on the palm. And oh heck yes it's diamonds and white gold

I think I'm going to make a piece inspired by this trend!
-L

P.S. Don't forget about our holiday party Dec 8th!

Holiday gifts

2011-11-28T19:06:00.003-05:00

It's the holiday season and everyone is looking for unique gifts.

So, is there a better gift then an original and hand-made piece of jewellery?
When it comes to originality and creativity, Jewel Envy goldsmiths have lots to offer.

Here is a sneak-peek of some of our pieces:

Enamelling small pieces

2011-11-20T09:57:00.000-05:00

I have found one of the most challenging parts of enamelling is figuring out how to rig the piece for firing. These pieces are very tiny (7mm and less) so they would not balance on any of the trivets we have. I also tried a material called TFS thin firing sheet that is not supposed to stick to enamel but has not worked for me.

Enamelling of the concave surface was easy enough, but the subsequent enamel on the convex surface was a problem.

As shown above, the convex surface is marred by depressions made by the material is was balancing on during firing.

Using fine binding wire tightly wound around the posts, hanging lines could be created.

All rigged and in place and ready for firing.

Oops, I forgot to take a picture of the finished pieces. But it worked--really!

Sunny Choi -Jewel Envy Studio

2011-11-14T11:04:00.000-05:00

Hi my name is Sunny Choi and i just graduated from OCADU this year. My pieces are meaningful, one of a kind and "wearable". One of my strongest character is the delicate piercing and finding beauty through the details. I am currently in Jewel Envy studio and working my commission pieces. It's an awesome place to stay in Jewel Envy studio with good environment and great people.

Holiday Preparation is well underway at JE!

2011-11-07T13:05:00.000-05:00

It's never to soon to start preparing for the holiday season and the studio is busy with everyone working away on new pieces to stock our shelves here at the studio and to send to the galleries that carry our work.

I have recently been uploading the photos for my two latest collections unto my website and I am SO excited to finally have them up! The fall collection is titled "Auburn Notes" and the holiday collection is "Bellissimo".

Now I can focus my energy on producing more creations for the Jewel Envy Holiday party and my annual Kathryn Rebecca Holiday Trunk Show.

I am looking forward to both events and to celebrating this holiday season!

Please contact me for more information about these exciting upcoming events.

Best,

Kathryn Rebecca

Hypoallergenic metal for jewellery

2011-10-29T15:21:00.000-04:00

Those of you who have customers who are allergic to certain kinds of metal may be interested in a cobalt alloy I recently read about called BioBlu 27™Cobalt. Extremely hard, strong and scratch-resistant, it is a medical-grade alloy that is biocompatible, which means that it can be used for medical devices and prosthetics which are surgically implanted in the human body, such as artificial joints. Developed by Carpenter Technologies in the U.S., this hypoallergenic alloy is great for people who suffer from skin irritation cause by metal. Now I just have to figure out how I can get my hands on some -- and how to work with it!

Young

A Present

2011-10-23T09:46:00.000-04:00

This is a 14 Y, 14 W gold with palladium and sterling silver mokume gane bangle I made for my mother. Making mokume gane requires complex process, skill and patience. Although I learned it couples years ago while studying at OCAD, I have never tried and made it into an object because it looked very difficult at the time. After years of practicing, I finally have the confiedence to challenge mokume gane! During the process, I was almost emotionally break down and given up. However, I kept myself going, thinking how wonderful it would become once it's done. So I did it. The beautiful pattern was created from grinding a 12 layers of three different types of metal I have soldered. Here is one suggestion if you like to try. When you just start, you may want to work with less expensive metal for practicing such as a combination of cooper and sterling silver or nickle silver and sterling silver.

ps. I think my mom really likes it since she wears it everyday!

Gems

2011-10-16T17:09:00.000-04:00

This is going to be a short one, I am exhausted from the class today! I wanted to be true to my promise of updating with pics of the results of our gem cutting class, see below. - Alexis

This is what my gem looked like this morning

this is after cutting away the side of the table

My wonky smokey quartz,
It's challenging to get all the facets perfect which I didn't achieve, but I'm still proud of the results!

Lianne Friesen's Citrine

Kate Psaltis' princess cut Citrine

Adventures in Gem Cutting

2011-10-15T16:00:00.000-04:00

Boris Kolodny, our teacher

Rock quartz - what our gems looked like before we started

The set-up: my smokey quartz is there in the hand piece.

pre-polish lap - made with 20 carats of diaminds.

Yay! gem cutting!!

I jumped on board for the chance to take the gem cutting class that we have running this weekend at Jewel Envy. I guess I have a romanticized vision of how cutting a gem stone would be like... selecting my gem from a lump of rock and imagining the precious cut gem within like Michelangelo would envision his sculptures trapped within the marble before he began carving. Like anything you want to accomplish as a goldsmith it is fraught with nitty gritty details. To speed up the process our teacher, Boris brought us students our chosen gem with a smooth cut gem that we would be adding facets. To accomplish this we would be using a specialized hand tool that has precise degrees like a compass to tilt the stone at a certain angle and to rotate the gem by exact increments. Using different grit "laps" we carefully grind each facet onto the surface. All this is easier than described since there is such a tiny margin for error. If you make one facet a bit too large than it will effect the entire cut of the piece (which is what I ended up doing and with the help of Boris correcting). It also took me quite a while to get a good polish on my bottom facets, but after today I have completed 32 facets, woohoo! I decided to leave the girdle of my gem unpolished. As Boris let me know, the industry standard was to leave it unpolished only until about ten years ago. I will post more pics and the final gem when I finish it tomorrow.

-Alexis

Playing around....

2011-10-10T23:12:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been following the price of metals so much so that I have been having dreams about charts on kitco. As both gold and silver has been rising and falling I have been trying to plot my metal shopping days in accordance with the valleys. Sometimes successfully, others not so much.

As I love both of these metals I have no intention of making work without them. So to keep some of the costs down I have started to play around with gold plating instead of solid gold sections. I have been 24K gold plating sections of my Twig line and woven pieces to give the appearance of gold dripping down them. This has been quite successful and I look forward to unveiling the new designs at the One of a Kind this winter! Pictures to follow!

Gillian

Life In Plastic Is Fantastic

2011-09-29T15:02:00.000-04:00

With the cost of metal (especially precious metal) continuing to rise, I often find myself thinking about less expensive alternative materials. Acrylic is an interesting material I've always wanted to work with. Here's some inspiration from UK jewellery duo Tatty Devine. While this piece is indeed £270.00, a piece on the same scale in silver would be in the thousands of dollars range! Not something most of us can afford.
-L

http://tattydevine.com

Queen West Art Crawl

2011-09-18T16:55:00.000-04:00

This weekend is the Queen West Art Crawl--an amazing collection of 250 artists in a variety of visual disciplines. The range and quality of the work is impressive. I coveted, amongst other things, two large drawings of cows on mylar. Cows always make me happy.

Of course my main reason for venturing out was to see my incredibly talented friends and studio mates.

Below are pictures of the three of them in action!

Katie Pitt of Kathryn Rebecca

Alexis Kostuk of Glaciale

Lauren Hanham of Lauren Hanham Jewellery Designs

Visit in Paris!

2011-09-15T13:22:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

In the beginning of September, i visited Paris for my vacation. Paris was gorgeous city with endless things to see and many places to go. While i was visiting Paris, there were 8 big fashion and jewellery shows going on at Paris Expo, so I had to go to at least one of them as I felt lucky with the timing. The jewellery show I went is Eclat de Mode that showcased 530 exhibitors' work and it was mostly a wholesale show for buyers, jewellery designers and jewellers. Since it was big event for jewellery designers and jewellers, the exhibitors came from all over the world. I wanted to see a lot of jewellery made with unusual material and there were many interesting and beautiful works I wanted to share with you.

So, here are some of my favourites..

Ring by Anne Donckele http://www.bergueandco.com/

Pendant and Ring by Daniel Vior http://www.danielvior.com/

(It was great to see Plique a Jour in contemporary jewellery!)

Brooches by taratata bijoux http://www.taratatabijoux.com/

Bracelet by Joid’art http://joidart.com/

Leather jewellery by Christina Brampti http://www.christinabrampti.com/

Textile jewellery by Zsiska http://www.zsiska.com/

P.S

I was selected as one of jeweller to participate in The Value of Metal exhibition from September 15th to October 16th at The Guild Shop(click for detail).

Come visit to see beautiful one of a kind jewellery and get inspired!

Rosalyn

As the seasons change...

2011-09-07T21:12:00.000-04:00

So to does our motivation at Jewel Envy!

It's been an amazing summer in the studio, we were lucky to have two fabulous interns to help us with our work (many thanks to Heba and Teresa - we miss you both already!).

After FINALLY accepting that summer is over and fall has officially arrived I have been working away in preparation for the Queen West Outdoor Art Show & Sale. The show is part of the exciting Queen West Art Crawl weekend.

I have been putting the finishing touches on my latest collection "Autumn Notes" to showcase for the first time. As well, Lauren and Alexis have been busy creating beautiful pieces as they will be a part of the show as well.

Here are the details if you would like to stop by.

Saturday, Sept 17^th – Sunday, Sept 18th

11-6PM

Trinity Bellwoods Park (located on Queen Street West between Dufferin and Bathurst, just after Shaw Street)
Toronto, Ontario

My booth # is C72

Alexis booth # is C19

Lauren's booth # is C23

Come by to see 250 artists work from all over Ontario. There will be painters, potters, jewellers and more.

Hope to see you there!

Kathryn Rebecca

2011-08-22T14:24:00.000-04:00

I am participating in an exhibition, The Value of Metal, co-hosted by Ontario Crafts Council (OCC) and Metal Arts Guild Of Canada (MAGC). My jewellery will be showing at the Guild Shop from September 15th to October 16th. They are fun and beautiful. Please come visit!

118 Cumberland St. (Yorkville)
Toronto, Ontario
M5R 1A6
Canada

I have been working on ginkgo leaves and making molds for them. I glued each leaf on a piece of wax sheet in order to increase their thickness so they are easy to cast. Before pouring the paste without shifting them, I glued those leaves on the bottom of the box. Wait for a day for the mold to dry and it's ready to go!

ChiaChien Tsai

when things start to pile up, it's time to organize!

2011-08-12T18:48:00.000-04:00

Random detritus, including mokume and a piece of deer antler

Container of containers


pile 'o boxes

Lately whenever I pause from doing work I gaze around my bench area & frown at the mess that is piling up around me. I know I have enough storage space for placing my tools and materials away. However, it seems like when I start working and switch between projects the detritus of "partially finished', "just started" and "I should fix this" piles become sequestered in small containers and plastic bags crammed between tools. Also, piles of random tools that I don't use everyday but need to keep around and easily at hand - such as popsicle sticks and small containers to cram things into. In an attempt to bolster myself into maintaining a cleaner space I constantly decide that I just need the "right" containers to help organize. Enter: the dollarama, where cheap plastic containers line the shelves in abundance. I think I might be heading in the right direction with these beauties...

Look upon my organization skills with envy!

So beautiful!

Now maybe if I convince myself to drag my extra bookshelf to work I can continue my organizing binge...

Alexis

The summer of Mezuzahs

2011-08-06T19:12:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

It has been quite the busy summer and a project I have been working on since December is 2010 is finally coming to fruition! It all started with an off the cuff question from a client inquiring if I had ever made a Mezuzah. (A Mezuzah is small cylindical sculpture placed on the door of Jewish homes that holds a parchament paper with a sacred prayer). At the time I had not made one but as I like a challenge I said I would be happy to.

This conversation led to me being asked to design a Mezuzah for the Kehilla Residential Program for a new project. (Kehilla creates affordable housing for low income Jewish families.) So now it was design time. I did many sketches and had many meetings about the design and what I could produce multiples of in a reasonable time frame. We finally agreed on design and then the funding challenge began. As Kehilla is a non-profit they are always in need of more funding! The team went straight to work and after talking up the project they were able to secure the finances to proceed.

I am now in the process of making 100 Mezuzahs for the fall fundraiser! The image on the left is of the final design. It features the Hebrew letter "shin" and is made from stainless steel and copper. They will be available for purchase through Kehilla in time for Sukkot!

Looking forward to updating you on future projects!

Gillian

Interns saying helloooo

2011-08-04T17:47:00.000-04:00

Hello Hello,

Let me introduce myself, my name is Heba and I am one of two interns currently working at Jewel Envy over the summer. Both Theresa and I attend OCADU for jewellery and metalsmithing, however I am going into my fourth year while Theresa (the other glorious intern) is heading into her final thesis year (as a 5th year student).

I am really enjoying interning here at Jewel Envy (and I am not just saying that). Everyone is very hard working, hilarious and collectively they create a very enjoyable and productive working environment. It's nice coming in to work on my own collections as well, as the studio is fully equipped and everyone is ready and able to answer any questions. I find that working as a jeweller at home fun at times because I can play my obnoxious music as loud as I want, late into the evening without bothering anyone (who wasn't grown use to it), and I can work in my pajama's and bumble bee slippers in comfort. The downside being that I don't have anyone to bounce ideas off of when things have gone wrong or don't look just right, this I find to be such a helpful part of the creative process, and one that I cherish at Jewel Envy as everyone here has years of experience. Sometimes I will ask standard questions just to see how someone else does it, because everyone has their own little method to accomplishing a task..some work better than others.

I would definitely recommend interning here to anyone who is deserving and hard working...there is no sitting around looking pretty here.

Well, hope you're all having a super productive summer like the rest of us here at the studio.

Cheers,

Heba

Forge n' Fold

2011-07-25T21:04:00.000-04:00

I recently made a few pieces that use a technique called fold forming. Basically what it entails is taking thin sheet metal and folding it. What you do from there is entirely up to you! It's a fairly limitless world with quicker gratification that say anticlastic forming which requires A LOT of patience.
At a show I participated in earlier this month people were asking me a lot of questions about the pieces and were very interested in the process. I found this demonstrative video on Rio Grande's Youtube channel that shows the kind of fold forming I used to make these particular pieces.
This one is called a rueger fold. You can cut out any shape as long as you keep the fold. You don't even have to hammer on the folded side, this is just one example of many!

-Lauren

new art market in town

2011-07-25T11:30:00.000-04:00

The Barns Art Market is an exhibition of artists and crafts people that takes place once a month from May 28 – October 15, 2011 at the Artscape Wychwood Barns.

I was part of this new juried show that introduces interesting dynamic between art market and farmers market at the same time.

Beautiful Wychwood Barns are making this event even more special as visitors get to enjoy the event on many different levels.

Make sure you visit.

Fatima

What is beautiful?

2011-07-17T18:55:00.000-04:00

Jewelry can be beautiful (and interesting and amazing)

Some things can't...(but are still interesting and amazing!)

From here.

Lianne

50th TOAE

2011-07-12T10:53:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, Gillian, Theresa (our intern @Jewel Envy), and I participated in Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition at Phillips Square. The sun was very strong to stand outside but it was the perfect weather for outdoor show. Lucky!

Rosalyn's booth, photo by kat

My booth was a bit apart from the centre where it was most crowded, but overall I had good traffic of people who visited my booth. It was a good experience to hear lots and lots of good or bad comments coming out from thousands of fresh eyes, because when you are out of school and begin working in a studio creating your own work, it is hard to imagine how it would look to other people. Most of the comments that I received over the weekend gave me so much inspirations and motivations to create new works. So, I hope you all stay tuned for more of my new exciting pieces to inspire you back.

Rosalyn

Video is where it's at! :)

2011-07-05T09:01:00.001-04:00

As a small business owner I am always reading about the latest ways to promote my work! I have especially been interested in the idea of video. I personally have not filmed anything yet but I was pleased to find out that one of the lovely boutiques that carry my work (Freedom Clothing Collective at Ossington and Bloor) recently created a beautiful video. The music, models and timing of the short film are so beautifully done that it sort of lulls you into a relaxed state just watching it.

I am especially excited to share that my wildflower rose necklace was featured in this lovely video.

Enjoy!
Katie

Freedom Video!

Exciting Summer!

2011-06-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

Summer is here and people at the studio are very busy because they have lots of summer shows coming up, such as the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition at Nathan Philips Square, the Trunk Show at Avenue Road and Bloor on July 10, and the Matsu Jewellers Second Annual Artist Show. And that’s only a few of the ones I remember off the top of my head. It’s very exciting and very lively at the studio and all the energy makes for a very productive and stimulating atmosphere. I am thrilled to be able to share in the creativity at Jewel Envy.

Young Kyoung Ko

Gingko and Oragami

2011-06-19T13:39:00.000-04:00

Recently, I found some old pieces I casted at school. They were casted in bronze from organic material - dried ginkgo leaves. I am developing an idea that would combine my previous designs inspired by ginko seeds & fertilizaton with these ginkgo leaves. I'm intrigued by the potential of combining my more abstract pieces with pieces from nature.
I want to share a documentary film I recently saw "Between the Folds" filmed by Vanessa Gould. I was amazed by all the wonderful possibilities of a simple form - hand folded paper! It can be transformed into very complicated 3D forms that I would never have imagined. The beautiful origami not only has delicate craftsmanship in art, but also greatly influences scientific research. It has enlightened a new world in art, science and philosophy and given me a new perspective on the creative process. Be sure to check out the link!

ChiaChien Tsai

Pecha Kucha

2011-06-14T12:51:00.000-04:00

After hearing a bit about the SNAG conference I think that next year I am going to try and finagle my way into Phoenix to prepare myself for it's year in Toronto. The anticipation is already building up and I for one am looking forward to exposing our Metal scene to a larger audience. Although I missed out on the it I feel like I got a tiny snippet of what it might be like at the Pecha Kucha held at Harbourfront. It was a very relaxed atmosphere with some interesting talks from a group of very talented individuals. Be sure to check out the Harbourfont link to see who was there and take a gander at their work!

-Alexis

Jewellery as an Academic Topic

2011-06-05T23:57:00.000-04:00

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a SNAG conference (Society of North American Goldsmiths) in Seattle, Washington. This annual traveling event for jewellers centers around lectures and exhibitions of contemporary jewellery. There was also a vendor room with tools and technical demonstrations as well as a trunk show of members work for sale.

Jewellery as an academic topic may be a little surprising to some but I was loving it! So you might wonder how jewellery can be about anything other than a decorative ornament. If that is the case you should think of jewellery like you would painting on sculpture. Metals, gemstones, and alternative materials are the medium for this artistic expression and the body is the natural place to display the message.

My favorite lecture was by Damian Skinner a writer and curator from New Zealand. He spoke about artists creating what he called "ambitious jewellery" as a means to convey important ideas with both a local and international focus. What I liked about his talk was that he acknowledged that so much of what we think of as contemporary jewellery has really only been informed by a few countries in Europe and now the United States.

This view of contemporary jewellery is quite narrow and excludes so much of what the rest of the world has done and is currently doing. As a Canadian attending this conference for the first time I felt that most of the work on display reflected American contemporary jewellery. It was for this reason that Damians lecture resonated with me and made me think about Canadas contemporary jewellery scene and how it differs from the states.

In 2013 SNAG will be coming to Toronto where we will get our chance to show the jewellery community what it is we do here in Canada! I will keep you updated on the plans for this exciting event as they unfold. If you would like to get involved check out the facebook group for SNAG Meta-Mosaic.

-Gillian

Girl Meets Studio

2011-05-21T01:15:00.000-04:00

Well hello everyone! My name is Lauren Hanham and I am the newest addition to the Jewel Envy family. This is my very first blog post so I wanted to start off by introducing myself and talking a little bit about my work.
I am a 2009 graduate of the George Brown Jewellery Arts Program right here in Toronto, Ont. Before coming to Toronto for school I lived in Burlington, Ont for pretty much my entire life. I've always loved craft in any medium, even if I wasn't good at it. Jewellery is by far my favourite. There's something so satisfying about art you get to wear.
Some of my favourite things to experiment with in metal is seeing how far I can bend or stretch sheet metal or wire. I love how malleable metal can be. When I was in school many of my projects utilized these techniques. Now being back in a fully equipped studio, I plan to bring this character back to my designs.
After graduating I worked for Matsu Jewellery, a local Toronto jeweler, for about a year where I learned some great production techniques that enabled me to create my first collection out of college that I have called "The Lady Slippers". Recently the slippers have been joined by a seaweed inspired collection called "De La Mer". Soon to follow is a currently unamed collection inspired by animal claws.
Thanks for stopping by and come visit at the studio!
-Lauren

http://laurenhanhamdesigns.blogspot.com

2011-05-16T14:27:00.000-04:00

My “H2o” Ring is accepted to be part of the National Juried Show-“Inspired By”.

Gillian’s beautiful ring “Burnt Stew Trail” is also part of this show and it is awarded honorable mention by the judges.
Hope you can find time to visit this exhibition that will take place at Zilberschmuck Gallery .

Time: May 19, 2011 at 6pm to June 25, 2011 at 6pm
Hope to see you there!
Fatima