Color and Line

Two important elements of jewelry design are color and line. Let's start with color.

Part One. What About Value?

People sometimes ask, when we’re discussing redesigning a piece of jewelry, “Does it make sense to invest in a really nice setting for such an inexpensive stone?”

A perfectly reasonable question, right? 

Sure. But let’s dig a little deeper.  

First, did you think, “This is an inexpensive stone” when you bought the original piece of jewelry, or when it was given to you?  

Probably not. If the jewelry was a gift, it’s likely that you thought what a lovely gesture it was. If you selected the jewelry yourself, you might have just loved the look of the piece, and enjoyed wearing it.  

But perhaps over time your style has changed, and you’re ready to have a piece of jewelry designed that reflects who you are now.

Say it with me: jewelry is personal. Which means it’s not about what someone else thinks of the stone, or how much it cost. It’s about your connection to it. Related story here.

http://myjewelrydoctor.blogspot.com/2011/04/do-you-see-what-i-see.html)

But there’s more to the story. Many of us have a dynamic friend, someone who is the “life of the party,” really funny, fun to be around. And we love that friend. But we probably don’t want to spend all our time with that friend and, chances are, we don’t want to have a party consisting of lots and lots of people like that friend. It would wear us out. Instead, we like to spend time with (and balance gatherings with) lots of different kinds of people, some outgoing and some a little quieter.

In the world of food, the seafoods of choice when a chef wants to show off an elaborate sauce are often cod, flounder, and sole; halibut is also a great choice. Tuna or another strongly flavored fish, however delicious, would steal the show.

With these things in mind, let’s look again at those lighter colored stones. Salmon coral, Swiss Blue topaz, rose quartz—the color here is not as saturated as these gemstones’ sisters, oxblood and London Blue, or cousins, rhodonite and rhodochrosite. But they are every bit as lovely. 

Remember, when it comes to color, the word "value" just refers to shading. http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/element/color/color.htm A lighter stone may have a lower price tag (though not always). It will always have its own winning qualities.

The question isn’t, in the end, about the grade of gemstone (many pieces of jewelry are set with "A" stones, some with "AA," and some with "AAA"), but what you do with that stone. For the customer, it’s all about finding a stone that’s just right for you (related story here http://myjewelrydoctor.blogspot.com/2015/07/just-right-ruby.html) or working with your jewelry designer to make the most creative, beautiful use of the stone you have.

Thinking again about cooking, some designers might say the “lighter tones” offer a certain freedom in design. More about that next time.

©2018 Laynie Tzena. All Rights Reserved.

Hard to Shop For? Not Anymore!

“My wife never wears the gifts I give her,” say some men.  

Your Jewelry Doctor creates a lot of gifts (and provides others from her sources). They always get rave reviews.  Now yours can, too.  

What’s the secret?  Well, remember the “reconnaissance mission”? 

“If you’ll excuse me, Doctor, that operation is used in war.  We’re talking about love.”

True.  But “gaining intelligence”—here, about your special someone’s taste in jewelry—makes the difference in both worlds.

Here’s how it works:  on a date, or across the breakfast table, notice what kinds of things your sweetheart loves to wear.  

Color

Earth tones or jewel tones?   Warm colors or cool colors?  Pastels or true colors?  Does she wear a lot of black?  Does she like colors that blend, sharp contrast, or a bit of both?

Shape

Now let's consider the outline of the kinds of jewelry she loves.  What kinds of shapes does she choose?  Round?  Oval?  Pear-shaped?  Triangular?  (We call those "trillion.")  Rectangular? (We call the long ones "emerald," and the square, "princess.")  Does she prefer soft lines, or crisper ones--more "Art Nouveau," or more Deco?

Environment (and Personal Style)

Let's think about how she likes to wear the jewelry.  Does her style tend toward suits, or a more casual look?  Does she wear necklaces with a lot of texture or a mix of shapes, or something simple and elegant, like a solitaire pendant or a strand of pearls?  Are her earrings flush against the ear—we call that a “button post” or a “stud”—or a dangle?  How long a dangle does she like? 

When Lights Are Low

You’d be amazed how much information you can pick up over breakfast.  And if you want to step up your game, go out for a romantic dinner.  Does her jewelry change?  Obviously, it’ll be dressier.  But does she also choose different colors and/or shapes for special times?

What She Chooses for Herself

Next time you’re home alone, take a look at her jewelry box.  Notice any patterns?  Just as men often buy the same kinds of ties with slight variation, women often favor, say, a simple gold pendant on a chain.  You might see three or four of these, each with a different gemstone.  Look to see if there are coordinating earrings.  Does she prefer matching jewelry, or what we could call “counterpoint”—i.e., jewelry that coordinates, but doesn’t repeat the same exact pattern?

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Make some notes.  And take a picture of your special someone, if you don’t have a recent one.  It not only feels great to have that with you, it makes a big difference when you shop.  I’ve helped people choose gifts for loved ones across the country, using the clothes they’re wearing in a snapshot to determine their style.  (And those clothes are usually in the colors they prefer, too.)

Putting It Into Practice

So don’t be afraid to shop.  You’re no longer groping around in the dark.  Now when you go looking for gifts, you’re halfway there:  you already know what she likes!

What’s your next special occasion?  Anniversary on the horizon?  Is her birthday coming up soon?  Or is the woman in your life a mother?  Mother’s Day is just two weeks away.  Call your friendly neighborhood* Jewelry Doctor at 415/796-3969, and let’s put our heads together. 

San Francisco Jewelry Doctor.  We make gift-shopping fun.

*If you can read this, we’re in the neighborhood.

©2014 Laynie Tzena.

The Jewelry Doctor Knows Santa Personally

“Please don’t tell me I have to go over to the stores in this weather or else I will be a Really Bad Person*.”

Not to worry, Honey. We’ve got plenty of beautiful handcrafted jewelry for you and yours: pendants, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, in porcelain, Venetian glass, and gemstones. You can have your gift today or tomorrow.

Now, if you feel a tinge of a need for that certain ambiance, just ask and we’ll put on some of that nice holiday music and see if we can get anybody to yell and scream in the background. You’ll have to get someone on your end to spray the perfume and other memorable fragrances, though.

Escape from the stores. We’re friendly—and we have jewelry! Call the San Francisco Jewelry Doctor at 415/796-3969. Reindeer standing by.

*Honey, don’t be silly. Going to stores at this time of year doesn’t make you a better person. (It might make you something else, though.) Becoming a better person only happens through a lot of soul-searching and giving great gifts from the Jewelry Doctor.

©2012, 2013, 2014 Laynie Tzena.

Last-Minute Miracles

Yes, of course, we’re open today. Grab that list (including something for you, of course), pick up the phone, and call 415/796-3969. Your shopping will be done in a jiffy and you’ll be free to, you know, have a Saturday. (And yes, we gift-wrap.)

And if you start to feel guilty for not sitting in traffic or standing in those lines, just sit quietly for a moment and visualize last year or the year before and how a loved one or two said afterward, “Fine! Then don’t give me a gift next time!” and stormed out of the room. That ought to do it.

Call it “family therapy.” Call it “couples counseling.” Just call us. 415/796-3969.

But I live in Ohio.

We're sorry.

Just kidding. We love Ohio. (How could you not? It has those "O"s on both sides.)

For you, honey, we have beautiful handcrafted jewelry, in Venetian glass, porcelain, and gemstones. Here's how it works:

a. You choose your gift from the collection. (Yes, we accept PayPal, as well as MC and Visa.)

b. We wrap and ship it via UPS, FedEx, or Express Mail for next day delivery.

c. Your treasure arrives on your doorstep on Monday.

Presto! You're a hero. Plus, you get to watch TV (or whatever you usually do on Saturday).

415/796-3969. No charge for the halo.

Veronica Has the Floor

Sorry, Betty: a British study investigating “hair color and the intensity of attraction” (we’re all ears, Wikipedia), found that a sizable portion of the male population favors brunettes. (Okay, 51 percent, but we’ll take it. 62 percent said that we were stable and competent, 67 percent said we were independent and self-sufficient, and 81 percent noticed we were smart.)

You say there are brunettes from the Americas to Asia and Africa, and how on Earth can you generalize about so large a group? You may be right. So here are some pointers when shopping for jewelry for your favorite brunette.

Those with fair skin are ravishing in red; choose ruby or garnet for her. The right purple is wonderful: amethyst comes immediately to mind, but have a look at iolite, tanzanite, and grape garnet (yes, the color is natural, and stunning), too. Sapphire—from Ceylon blue to indigo—is a great choice, and so is lapis. In the green family, consider emerald, malachite, and jade.  Smoky quartz, red tiger’s eye, and mahogany obsidian are good choices in brown; in gray and black, choose hematite, gray labradorite, black diamonds, snowflake obsidian, and onyx.

The chatoyan in both tiger’s eye and red tiger’s eye catches the light and will be lovely on a brunette with honey-colored skin; moonstone and labradorite are great on her, too. Citrine, carnelian (especially the light one that looks like melon), yellow sapphire, yellow jade, and amber are fine choices, along with two different garnets: Mozambique, and that Spessartite garnet we were talking about for redheads.   

If her skin is a deeper, richer color, diamonds and pearls are stunning, and she is oh, so pretty in pink, whether it’s a ruby, a pink sapphire, pink tourmaline, rhodolite garnet, rhodonite, or rhodochrosite. Tsavorite garnet, a beautiful green gemstone, is wonderful on her, and so is peridot. If she loves blue, choose aquamarine, a sky blue topaz, or larimar. Both blue and green turquoise are also great choices for her.

Oh, and thanks, Wikipedia, for reminding us that Leonardo’s mysterious friend, the one the world has been trying to figure out ever since she sat for that portrait, was, let us say it in unison: brunette. No information has been recorded as to what kind of jewelry she favored. Just another part of her allure.

©2012 Laynie Tzena.