Merry Christmas

Lots of new and good things have been happening in the new studio. I am here today to finish up my last custom order before Christmas. It's an anniversary gift. There are different objects represent each year, but why so cliche and following the tradition? My customer decided to have a bookmark made for his girlfriend. Its a paw symbolizing their cat, Mellon with a blue gem in 10K White Gold. As I was saw and piercing out the paw, I discovered that it could be worn as a pendant! It wasn't intentional so doubled thrilled! Now there is no one she would loose the bookmark. 

If you haven't seen my website, here it is. www.ellolite.com
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year


ChiaChien

TIJF: Online Exhibition!

For those of you who couldn't make it to the Toronto International Jewellery Festival online exhibition launch last month, here is the website where you can check out the online catalogue! Mark your calendars for all the jewellery exhibits happening in Toronto in May 2013, and drop by Jewel Envy as one of the 18 exhibition venues!

"Just wear it!"

-Theresa

New Neighbourhood, New(ish) JE Goldsmith

Hello there!

This is Amanda! Nice to meet you. I started at Jewel Envy in August, and, how rude of me, I haven't introduced myself. I like pizza, cats, and long walks on the beach... No, but really, I am the designer/goldsmith of Jewelust. I make mustache-themed jewellery, called Sweet Movember, and I donate a portion of all sales to Movember for prostate cancer research and support. I also make a line of Whirl jewellery, it's kind of like curled ribbon on a nicely wrapped gift, only made out of silver!

I was fortunate to start at Jewel Envy just before the exciting move to 151 Marion Street. We are now set up and open for business! And what an exciting time for it to all happen. I've been meeting the local LoRo residents and, while our Spadina location was right in the middle of the bustling downtown activity, Roncesvales is proving to be a friendly, welcoming neighborhood.

Do you know about the LoRo Block Party? This is just one example of how great this neighbourhood is! On Thursday, December 13th, Lower Roncesvales (LoRo) - that means Roncey south of Galley Ave, is having a block party. Stores will be open late, until 10pm. We'll be here with special treats. So come on by, say hi, finish that gift shopping, and have a treat!

See you Thursday!
And I can introduce myself properly, in person.

Here is my Movember Gala Party Special Sparkle 'Stache

 

And here is my kitten modeling it.

A Splash of Colour

During the summer I spent a lot of time perfecting my spray painting technique on my Instinct series. I was lucky enough that at our old studio on Spadina we had this giant encased fume hood that was already messy so I didn't have to worry too much about getting spray paint everywhere. Here in the new studio, it's a different story. We ended up having to leave behind our large encased fume hood and trade it in for a smaller one that lays flat on the table. This is still perfect for other types of chemical finishing but doesn't give me room for the sweeping range of motion used in spray painting. So, what's a girl to do? Turn to the Pinterest Gods of course! I found two different solutions, one using a portable canvas wardrobe (too big!) and one using a cardboard box (bingo!). Now to test it out and try not to make a mess in the shiny new studio :)
-Lauren

Pinterest's suggestion - My solution

Instinct series with spray paint

Glass is fantastic!

            I love to incorporate glass into my jewellery. Glass allows me to experiment with splashes of colour, and texture in ways that are not possible with other media. Flame work (lampworking) and enamel are two of my favourite jewellery-making techniques.

Here are a few examples of my experiments with glass.

This pendant is made from borosilicate glass (the sturdy glass used in scientific lab-ware). I created the interesting shape using an oxygen-propane torch. Working with glass in this way feels a lot like pulling sugar taffy. The glass needs to stay hot enough to be manipulated, but not hot enough to melt completely and loose its form. Finding the balance between heating and cooling a piece can be quite challenging.

This bead was made using Italian soft glass (104 Coefficient of Expansion). This glass is used most commonly in bead-making. The iridescent sheen of the bead was created by using glass fused with a dichroic coating. Once again, the balance between heating and cooling the glass bead is quite important. If the temperature of the glass bead changes too abruptly, the glass will shatter and pop. To prevent this from happening, a kiln is used to slowly bring the bead down to room temperature. This process, called annealing, gives the glass a lot more strength and durability.

This last pendant was created using powdered glass enamel over fine silver. The glass powder is fused to the metal using a kiln that reaches temperatures between 1400-1500 °F. The delicate shading of this piece was the result of over fifty kiln firings and weeks of work. While creating enamel jewellery is time consuming, and often frustrating, I find it to be very rewarding.

Christine Woollacott

Our new friend!

Very exciting studio news today! Better than a new piece of equipment or anything else you think jewelers are wishing for--we are going to have a studio puppy! Well, the puppy is actually Gilian's, but she will be getting lots of love and attention from everyone. We met her briefly today and she will be coming back to stay in a few days!

Okay this is not the lucky puppy--but she looks something like this--though even cuter if you can imagine that!

Jewel Envy is (re)open for business!!

Grand opening parties are so much fun!!!

We will be posting more pictures from our big night over the next week or so, for all those who could not make it in person.

Today was my first day working in the studio during retail hours, and it was great to see so many curious people from the neighbourhood walking in to take a look.  Roncesvalles is such a wonderful community of small and creative businesses, and it has been refreshing to meet so many like-minded individuals.

Thank you for welcoming us into your neighbourhood, and we look forward to getting to know all of you!!

Loving our new space!

Last night was the grand re-opening party for the lovely new Roncesvalles location!  We are all loving the beautiful new retail space and our MUCH bigger work space!  :) Here is a small sneak preview of the new space.

One of our fabulous students modeling some of her work at the opening!

Our fun new retail space with funky "pods" holding all of our jewels!

Even our windows have bling. ;)

Our stunning new retail counter!

My new work bench. 

Ellen(left) and I (right) enjoying ourselves at the opening!  

 

 

 

 

 We have all been exploring the neighborhood and discovering all of the amazing local businesses in this area!  My next blog will showcase my favorite finds thus far. 

Come on by for a visit and to see everything first hand.

Til next time,
Kathryn Rebecca

New Studio Sign

Friday was an exciting day at the new studio as both of the signs were installed!

The other is at eye level and is a QR code you can scan to take you to the website.

We are getting close to moving time so stay tuned for details!

inspiring art education

 I  completed the three-year post secondary visual arts program at Central Tech Art Centre.
This year The Art Centre is celebrating "50 years of inspiring art education". Therefore one of my sculputers will be included in the show.
Check it out if you are in the neighborhood.
 www/ctsartcentre.ca

Fall/Winter 2012 - KR

Last time I blogged I shared with you a few of the gemstones I had purchased for my fall/winter collection.

I am very excited to now share a few of the pieces I made with those lovely stones!

10k yellow gold, rose cut citrine and small garnet set on side.

Sterling silver, labradorite and smoky quartz.

The rest of these items will be up shortly at kathrynrebecca.com  

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful season... 

*Kathryn Rebecca

More Student Work

Here at the studio we have been getting our usual calls about upcoming class availability.  I am currently teaching the last 8 week class that will be held at our present location on Spadina before making our big move into the new space in Roncesvalle.  Fortunately, we have been receiving enough interest to continue listing our one day workshops on Saturdays up until we move.  If you are at all interested do not hesitate to sign up!  

The class that I am teaching is the 8 week Intermediate Fabrication Class, and it also includes a student taking on advanced jewellery making projects.  Each student in the class has come up with challenging projects, using the demos of the class to their utmost potential.  Check out some of their creations.            -Alexis 

Monika Weber's hollow constructed pendant.

Erin Noh's pierced and dapped pendant.

Joanna Savvaidis' pieced, formed and wirework cuff.

Joanna Savvaidis' bezel set faceted gem ring (Joanna's been a busy bee!)

 

   

Corporate Class with City Orthodontics

This past August Jewel Envy had the pleasure of holding a team building fun day for City Orthodontics. Eleven people working in all areas of the clinic came in to learn how to make a piece of jewellery.

Jewellery and dentistry have quite a lot in common and many of the skills are transferable. We use many of the same tools and both fields have a passion for tiny but important details.

When the City Orthodontics group showed up you could see their eye light up with recognition the moment they saw the display of tools for their class were in fact common items in a clinic. The dentists drill is called a flexshaft in the jewellery studio and we use re-purposed dental tools for carving tools.

Kathryn Rebecca and I taught the group how to carve cuttlefish, which is the bone of a sea animal, and cast precious metal into the cavity created. Everyone had the option of making either a pendant or key-chain and the group came up with a variety of designs.

A lot more goes into making jewellery than is generally expected without any experience so I think after a few hours the group had a new found appreciation for hand made work!

Below are finished pieces. They are all turned out exceptionally well and we hope the group had as much fun in the class as we had teaching them.

If you would like more information about special classes for your group please let us know and we can design an event just for you!

Happy jewellery making!

Gillian

My First Blog Post!

Hello Jewel Envy Fans!

I am Theresa, a recent graduate from OCAD University and a former summer intern at Jewel Envy! I am excited being a new member and moving with the team to the new location!

I hope you all had a great long weekend. Mine was rather exciting, accidentally running into the Heritage Antique Show in Centerpoint Mall! There were many vendors with antique jewellery and home decor but something that really caught my eye was this grouse bird foot brooch with amethyst and citrine stone settings in 15k gold!

Even birds need a ring!

And check out the filigree work in this miniature table setting!

Until next time,
Theresa

P.S. Come say hello to me at the Queen West Art Crawl this year on September 15-16 booth H8!

Cerussite

The Royal Ontario Museum houses the world’s largest faceted specimen of a mineral called Cerussite. Cerussite, from the Latin “white lead”, is a lead carbonate mineral with the chemical formula PbCO₃. 

Cerussite is especially interesting to jewelers and gem enthusiasts because of its extreme dispersion or fire. Dispersion is a gem’s ability to split light into prismatic colours. The desirable sparkle and flash a diamond displays is nothing compared to the vibrant dispersion of Cerussite. 

Diamond lovers can rest easy knowing that fragile Cerussite will never become the gem of choice despite its colour and flash. Besides only having a mohs hardness between 3 and 3.5 (quite soft!), Cerussite is very sensitive to heat and vibration. The specimen of Cerussite on display at the ROM is called the “Light of the Desert”, and weighs an astounding 898 carats and is approximately four times the size of the next largest faceted specimen. Considering how fragile Cerussite is, the “Light of the Desert” is an amazing feat of gemstone faceting.