Distinction Jewelry - The Blog

Distinction Jewelry Video Contest Winner Announced!

jetflair — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:50:10 +0000

With my sincere thanks to everyone who entered, I am thrilled to announce that the winner of the Distinction Jewelry video contest is Rose Ciardiello!

Her 40-second promo spot was written, directed, acted, and edited with utmost professionalism. It is entertaining and fun to watch as well as being a fantastic advertisement for Distinction Jewelry. It was also the winner in overall popularity with the youtube audience. Look for it to be featured on YouTube as well as on my website and newsletter. Thank you, Rose, for your outstanding video!

Rose will be taking home a $100.00 gift certificate for Distinction Jewelry and a one-year listing with co-sponsor Ellie Bean & Models. She’ll also be appearing in many future still modeling shoots for Distinction Jewelry.

Thank you very much to all of you who entered. Your creativity and hard work was remarkable and showed through in every single video. There was no plan for runner-up awards, but things change….

Jade Doheny is our first runner-up. Jade is only six years old, yet she memorized a long and detailed script, performing it in one continuous take. Amazing! Her viewers thought so too, because her video is second only to Rose’s in popularity with many views, likes, and positive comments. Jade will also be offered the opportunity to model for Distinction Jewelry and a 6-month listing with Ellie Bean.

Both Rose and Jade are listed with Ellie Bean & Models.

Designing Jewelry for Men

jetflair — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:32:23 +0000

For some time now, I’ve wanted to make jewelry for men. It’s proven problematic for a number of reasons. First, I’m a girl. I’m good at getting into the heads of my fellow females and designing what they want, not so much with the male of the species.

There are certain basic facts about what men do and don’t like in their jewelry which circulate on jewelry designer’s message boards, but at the end of the day most people are as stumped as I am. The most popular men’s jewelry seems to be cheap, mass produced earthy trinkets from Asia – not exactly my niche

Ask a guy, and his answer will likely be either “I know what I like when I see it,” or “Whatever looks cool.” Veeeeeery helpful indeed!

I have designed a number of masculine jewelry pieces in the past, and they all sold fairly quickly….to women. I rank among my single accomplishment as a men’s jewelry designer a couple of grainy photos of a very handsome TV actor wearing two of my necklaces.

Enter….the muse. While – ahem – admiring some photos of a male model, I was overtaken with the desire to see him modeling MY jewelry. But, wait. I don’t make men’s jewelry. Hrrrm. Must change that.

The epiphany came while driving home one morning. Forget what vague notions men have about jewelry design. What’s the one thing most men want above all? To be sexually appealing in every way possible.

In that case, my design goal becomes fairly simple: to make jewelry that makes me want to tear a man’s clothes off….and leave his necklace on. And nibble on it.

This proves to be a rather enjoyable research project. I open my file of stills of my favorite actors (What? Yes, I have such a file…so?) and study them. What are the design cues that most inspire me to drag the subject of the photo into the nearest coat room?

Suddenly, I find that it’s no longer hard to come up with designs for men’s jewelry. I’ll let you all know how it works out

CAD/CAM Jewelry Design Services coming this summer!

jetflair — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 03:01:21 +0000

An example of a custom ring rendered in CAD

Have you ever wanted a truly custom ring? A unique design you would never find in a jewelry store? Maybe the perfect setting designed for your own gemstone? Well, get ready, because big things are happening here at Distinction Jewelry!

I’m preparing to invest in a state-of-the-art CAD system for custom goldsmiths that will allow me to design (and with the help of world-class jewelry maker Stuller) produce rings that couldn’t be made any other way.

Photo-realistic rendering including hand shots matched to your skin tone. Custom setting of your own gems. Complete choice. CAD/CAM by CounterSketch is at the forefront of the jewelry industry, and it’s coming right here to my little jewelry store!

I can work with you online anywhere in the world, and send your completed ring right to your door via secure tracked and insured mail. No trying to find a competent custom jeweler in your area! I am a colored gemstone specialist and can even help in this field that so many traditional jewelers are unfamiliar with.

Start dreaming now….and we can make it happen together this summer.

How Big is a 6mm Gemstone Cabochon Earring?

jetflair — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:18:51 +0000

How big is a 6mm stud earring? What does a 6mm gemstone look like? Here are some photos of a model wearing 6mm round cabochon and rose cut gemstone stud earrings to help you figure out what all those confusing sizes actually translate to in real life. Also shown here is a comparison between 6mm and 4mm earring sizes, worn in multiple piercings.

For my American customers, 6mm is about 1/4 inch.

Click the images to view larger and scroll between pictures.

Model: Kristen C
Photos: Photography by Rose

Distinction Jewelry Video Contest

jetflair — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:38:24 +0000

Distinction Jewelry model Kristen

Video Competition: Calling aspiring actresses and film-makers! Get free jewelry, make a video, and get a chance to earn a $100.00 gift certificate as well as an additional year added to your listing on Ellie Bean & Models….a $75.00 value.

Several actresses and celebrities already wear my designs, and you can be next!

How it works:

Sign up to model an item, but instead of a still photo shoot, create a short video to promote Distinction Jewelry. The video can be a product review, advertisement, or even a super-short film with product placement.

The creator of the best video at the end of the month will get a $100.00 gift certificate to Distinction Jewelry, and Ellie Bean & Models will give the winner a free one-year extension to their listing.

1. Sign up between 01/13/11 and 01/20/11 by sending an email to Ellie Bean & Models at elliebeanmodels@gmail.com requesting the video competition assignment. Please include the age of the model/actress.

2. Items will be shipped between 01/20/11 and 01/27/11

3. You will have one month, or until 02/27/11 to create and upload your video.

4. All videos will be live on the Distinction Jewelry youtube channel for one week to gather comments and popularity stats.

5. The winner will be chosen and receive their gift certificate!

All entries will be uploaded to youtube and remain there for one week to gather comments and feedback. Please do feel free to invite friends and contacts the view your film and add their comments and votes; just keep in mind that I will not be choosing the video based on votes alone. I will pick the winner based on professionalism, popularity, and which video I think best promotes my business.

Caveats and addendums:

Please ensure you have the rights to any music or other media used in the video, and feel free to have a credits screen at the end showcasing the talents of those who participated. Models/actresses must have pierced ears as most of the items will be earrings. Although I’ve used the term “actress”, guys are welcome to participate as well.

Recycle your gold and get new jewelry without spending a cent!

jetflair — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:54:55 +0000

Hand forged 22k gold ring made from customer's scrap gold

Have you ever wondered what to do with old gold pieces or broken jewelry? Would you like to get free jewelry from my website, and recycle precious metals at the same time? You can get value out of old or broken gold jewelry without dealing with pawn shops or high pressure “cash for gold” vendors. I offer account credit for your unwanted gold, allowing you to choose brand-new goodies from my shop! Your gold will either be recycled into new jewelry in-house, repaired and re-polished for sale as pre-owned, or sent to an environmentally friendly US based refinery for recycling depending on my needs at the time.

What kinds of gold do you recycle?

10k, 14k, 18k, and 22k solid gold. I cannot use plated, filled, or HGE items. If you have a large quantity of sterling silver you are interested in trading in, feel free to contact me.

Items can contain gemstones, but due to the high cost of verifying the identity of gems from unknown sources, I cannot normally give you credit for them. High value gems such as diamonds *may* be worth sending to the lab to verify depending on size. Gems will be removed prior to weighing your gold to determine scrap value.

How much do I get for my gold jewelry and scraps?

Gold is valued by the actual gold content of the piece; 22k gold will be worth more per gram than 10K because each gram contains more gold. The metals they are alloyed with do not have value. I begin by weighing each quality of gold, then determining the actual gold content by weight of your scrap. The next step is to look up the current spot price of gold to see how much that gold content is worth. I deduct a 25% fee, and the remaining 75% of that figure becomes your credit. That credit can be used to buy new jewelry from distinctionjewelry.com!

Why do you offer less than actual market value for gold scrap?

While I enjoy what I do greatly, this is a business and I need to make a profit on business transactions. It’s like selling used books to a bookstore; they won’t give you the full amount they plan to sell the book for, because they need to be able to mark it up and make some money when they sell it. That is essentially what I’m doing; I need to be able to cover the refining fees and still make some money when the refinery pays me. If you check around and read consumer reports regarding cash for gold outfits, you’ll find I offer a far more generous percentage!

How do I ship old gold jewelry and scraps to be recycled?

Package your gold securely! Use padding and tough packing to prevent sharp corners from wearing through during shipping. Insure and track your package; I am not responsible for items lost in transit to me. Before shipping, contact me for advance approval and post office box address.

Can you turn my old gold jewelry into something new?

I currently do not offer the service of turning your exact gold scrap into new finished jewelry; it’s a trickier and more time-consuming process than one might think. However, if you would like a way to keep some of your gold for sentimental reasons, I can melt it and then make you a small droplet with a bail on it (to hang on a chain) from the melt batch.

I reserve the right to hold shipments and contact law enforcement agencies in your area to verify that items sent to me have not been reported stolen before taking any action or offering any credit. I do not deal in stolen goods! I do not offer cash for gold, only store credit. Precious metals and gems are stored off-site in a secure facility. I also do not offer my services recaiming lost treasures for Nigerian princesses, sorry!

Gems lost their sparkle?

jetflair — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 08:39:30 +0000

Demantoid garnet ring

Never fear, chances are they simply need cleaning. The trick is to access the underside of the stone and remove any buildup from it. Diamonds can be safely cleaned in ultrasonic or steam cleaners, but many colored stones can be damaged in these automated cleaners. For that reason I recommend hand cleaning of colored gems. You can keep what you need near the sink and clean them whenever you feel like.

You’ll want:

Mesh kitchen strainer: Put this below the faucet in the sink prior to washing your jewelry. Soapy hands are slippery and jewelry is small; you want dropped pieces falling into the strainer and not down the drain. This simple step will save sanity, hair, and money Plastic is better than metal, to avoid scratching your jewelry.

Mild, scum-free soap: I use handmade soap purchased from artists on etsy.com but any nice natural soap should do.

Soft paintbrush with bristles capable of reaching into the setting and under the stone: Some people use a toothbrush, but they can dull highly polished finishes. Go with a nice paintbrush from the craft or art supply store.

Warm water: Wash with warm water, soap, fingers, and your paintbrush, paying special attention to those hard to reach places under the stone.

Let dry naturally or use a hair dryer set on low to dry the piece without water spots. If you use a hair dryer, be careful to avoid overheating the stone or blowing your jewelry across the counter to places unknown.

Optional, for tarnished sterling silver:

Haggerty Silversmith’s Wash: Safe for just about all stones except for fine pearls, and anything with nooks and crannies you won’t be able to wash the paste out of. Mild and effective. Use by rubbing the piece with paste using your fingers until the paste turns black with removed tarnish. Rinse and repeat. Use your paintbrush to get under gems, and make sure you rinse off all residue when finished. You can buy this at amazon.com

Optional, for ease and extra sparkle:

Klean Carats Jewelry Cleaner: A commercial jewelry cleaner that comes with a neat little brush and is very effective. Submerge your jewelry for two minutes, pull it out, scrub with the little brush, and rinse.

BE Treated “Songea” Sapphires

jetflair — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 08:19:04 +0000

BE treated red "Songea" sapphire stud earrings

What they are: Real sapphires, mined from the earth, gorgeous, and affordable.

What they aren’t: Naturally the color you see.

Songea is a place of origin for some pretty, natural sapphires, but has been commandeered by the trade as the name for diffusion-treated sapphires, usually in shades of yellow, orange, and red. Diffusion treating involves bringing the gems to high heat (which in itself improves the clarity of the stone) in the presence of beryllium.

If you follow gems and jewelry news, you may remember the “official gem of the Beijing Olympics,” which was marketed as a new find of rare red andesine. These beautiful stones were flooded into the market and sold on television at high prices as natural gems, until an enterprising gemologist dug deeper and found evidence of color diffusion.

You see, diffusion is a treatment that can be very difficult to detect on ordinary gemological equipment, so the scam was perpetuated unknowingly by many honest vendors who simply couldn’t detect it. There are few gem labs in the world with the equipment to make a determination of whether a stone is diffused or not; a SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer) costs as much as two million dollars and was originally developed to analyze moon rocks.

The same thing happened on a micro level within the gem trade when Songea sapphires first hit the market, but fortunately this time gem dealers caught it before the stones were mass marketed to consumers. One dealer had to buy back a million dollar’s worth of goods that he had sold as natural before discovering the treatment, and many other dealers either overpaid or had to issue refunds to their buyers. Unfortunately many overseas vendors are not always the best at disclosing treatments and sell these gems as “heated” or “new heat treatment.” While accurate in that the stones are treated, that’s not the whole truth.

Buying a sapphire?

Is there anything wrong with buying a Songea sapphire? None whatsoever! They are gorgeous, affordable, and the treatment is permanent. The only things I’d like to see my customers avoid is paying too much for them, or being mislead into thinking the color is 100% natural. I think of this treatment as similar to the irradiation process that brings us beautiful blue topazes.

Getting the Gem Lab Set Up

jetflair — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:19:31 +0000

Darkfield loupe and polariscope

It’s been a busy couple of months here at Distinction Jewelry, and one of the most interesting (and sometimes frustrating) activities I’ve been engaged in is setting up my own little gemology lab. I buy my gems very carefully from trusted, reputable sources. I’ve got a sharp eye with a loupe and I can spot many fakes a mile away with my own trusty little eyeballs. I send gems out to my gemologist (A GIA graduate gemologist) for testing and verification.

In other words, I was getting along just fine, until the gemology bug bit me and I decided I wanted to learn the nuts and bolts of gem innards myself. That’s fabulous in many ways, because I love to learn and I love to buy new toys. The downside to this latest obsession of mine is that the toys are expensive, and there is a LOT to learn. There’s a reason people go to long, expensive, and often remotely located schools to learn gemology (I have a hankering to attend one in Thailand), but my low budget and addiction to doing things the hard way demand I do this on my own for the time being.

My initial setup includes the following:

Refractometer
Polariscope
Dichroscope
Specific gravity scale
Darkfield loupe
Jadeite filter and Hanneman PMCF filter
Mini microscope, cheap and tiny but surprisingly useful
Assorted other loupes, lights, and magnifiers
Jury-rigged UV light box

Precision faceted peridot posing with my dichroscope

Just choosing the equipment was an adventure unto itself. I try to keep my expenses as low as possible, because eventually they all have to be built into what I charge customers for finished jewelry. Nothing in this industry comes cheap if you buy quality, and cheap can often be sadistically worthless in incalculable ways. One place I decided to economize was the purchase of the refractometer, for which I opted to pay about $400.00 less than I perhaps should have.

It arrived, and I eagerly delved in with a packet of gems whose identity I was certain of. I looked into the depths of its glowing orange light, read the scale, and compared to to my reference list.

Uh-oh. Unless all of the gems had suddenly decided to undergo a radical change of their internal structure overnight, my new toy was pulling numbers out of its optical prism and watching my confusion with snickers of delight. I sent it back home to live with its mother and obtained a new refractometer, which arrived yesterday. After sternly warning it about the horrific fate of its misbehaving predecessor, I put it to the test.

It worked.

Polariscope, darkfield loupe, and refractometer

I heaved a sigh of relief, identified a few gems, and ran eagerly over to the computer to blog about it, because that’s what any self-respecting dork like myself does when experiencing elation few normal people are likely to share.

Many thanks to GemologyOnline.com and its many helpful experts, The Gemology Project, PrettyRock.com, and Andrea Robinson for their inspiration, education, and assistance.

Of Organization and Traffic Stops

jetflair — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:10:27 +0000

Swiss blue topaz earrings

I recently got a box full of goodies from Levenger to organize my custom orders, gems I need to order, sketches of prospective projects, etc. My inner neat-freak is in heaven! (My neat-freak has to remain an inner one…my house is a Federal disaster area.) Their Circa system lets you add, remove, and sort pages in your notebook on a whim, solving the main problems I have with most journals and sketchbooks.

As an almost entirely online jeweler, the specs of my custom orders are already written out online, but I need something with measurements and such that I can grab and run over to the studio with. This baby is perfect, and I can even pull gems from stock and staple them to the custom order card so that I don’t run the risk of double-selling them or using a stone I promised a customer in a different project by accident. Very slick!

I find myself wishing they sold an automotive documents wallet for the glove box (although it would just get stolen, I suppose – my car has been broken into twice this year, once while I was on jury duty). Most such things are so cheaply made they crack and turn yellow just from the unbearable strain of existing.

This train of thought originates from last night, when I got pulled over by an Oregon State Police trooper on the way to work. It turns out that my car has mutant (and illegal!) factory turn signals that blink white instead of yellow or red like, as he put it, “every other car on the road.”

The pleasant, gently professional officer (I love good cops!) proceeded ask for my driver’s license and registration, and thus should have ensued the inevitable fishing around in the dark for misplaced official documents. That night however, I had the good fortune to know exactly where they were thanks to the latest round of theives – sitting on my dash because I’d had to get new ones to replace those stolen!

Sigh. Now I need to figure out how to turn white blinkers into yellow ones (while resisting the urge to set gemstones in them), and find a decent document holder. Have I mentioned I’d rather be making jewelry?