Sun-In Not Required

I love it when people ask, “What kind of jewelry do you design?” All kinds of beautiful jewelry, actually—from very simple to very elaborate. A few years ago I created a line of tiny pendants (called “pendientitos”) in porcelain, Venetian glass, and gemstones for the “Tiny” show at Studio Gallery. They were so much fun to make! But I also love multi-strand necklaces and great big pieces my friend Jane would call “show-stoppers.” It’s all about the customer’s taste. 

There are wonderful pieces in the collection that I could never wear. They’re either not in my colors, or not my style. That’s one of the things I love about designing jewelry—the variety of it, and the fact that it’s all tailored to the customer.

As a teenager, I so wanted to be blonde. Honey, did I ever!

"Blondes have more fun!" people notified us regularly. "If I've only one life to live, let me live it as a blonde!" said a woman on TV.

"Sign me up!" I thought.

Alas, my brief fling with Sun-In did not yield the desired result. My hair turned orange—and not an orange that worked for me. Take my word for it.

But I sure do love red hair. It's so beautiful! For you redheads out there, and those of you who have a friend or loved one with red hair, here are some gift ideas.

First, let's talk about gold tones vs. silver ones. The gold shimmers next to that red hair, but white gold, platinum, and sterling silver all provide a nice contrast. Think about what the redhead on your list chooses most often.

Carnelian sings on redheads. I paired it with hematite in a bracelet for a great look. It's available in both deep orange (in clothing, the color is called "rust") and a lighter shade, too.

For those who favor earth tones, "flower agate" or striped agate is wonderful.  Red tiger’s eye is terrific, with that chatoyan (the band that shimmers a bit), as is mahogany obsidian.

In the green family, unakite is a great choice, since the green is flecked with a russet color; labradorite is lovely, too. Green tourmaline and emerald are also fine choices.

Redheads who love blue look wonderful in aquamarine, blue tourmaline, lapis, larimar, sapphire, and Swiss blue topaz.

For a sparkly look that will pick up that red hair, choose yellow sapphire or Spessartite garnet. (Yes, it’s a garnet—a gorgeous orange one.)

There are many more choices, of course, but these will get you started.  Call 415/796-3969 and let’s talk about the redheads on your list.

©2012, 2014 Laynie Tzena.

"White Turquoise," or What's The Big Deal, Really?

Lots of ads this year, as usual, for the Big Sales, the Big Deals. And who doesn’t love saving?

But what exactly do you get?  One of the major retailers has been under fire for selling rubies filled with glass. To the untrained eye, they look absolutely fine.

A customer loved the white gold pendant we designed for her. She thought she’d just get a chain at the mall.

“Why doesn’t it match?” she asked me.

“Do you know where it came from?” I asked.

She didn’t. We just know what’s on the tag, half the time. So I asked one of my team members why she thought white gold didn’t match white gold.

She laughed. “They’re plating everything,” she said, “to make it shinier.”

Nothing wrong with plating, often called “dipping.” I do it all the time for my customers. But here’s the problem when you buy something at that Big Sale, or from someone you don't know. How do you know what the metal is under the plate?

It’s not the fault of the person behind the counter. Those people work really hard, especially this time of year.  But they generally don’t know the details about the jewelry they sell, except what the markdowns are.

“So you’re telling me I have to pass up all those good deals?”

Not at all.  I just want to know that you’re getting a good deal.

One of my customers asked me if I could make something to go with some “white turquoise” she had bought on a trip.

"'White' turquoise? Sounds like howlite.”

Nothing wrong with howlite—I’ve used it in designs. But it’s not turquoise.

“No, no, he said it was turquoise.”

Another customer was going to Morocco. Did I want her to bring something back for me? I usually say no, since I have sources for whatever I need. But I said sure, bring back malachite, if you see it.

She put it out on the table. Fossil.

“But he said it was malachite,” she said. 

 “Why is my gold necklace turning dark on my neck?” my customer asked me. “They told me it was gold.”

Asked one of my team members. “Probably 10 karat, not 14 karat.”

It’s still gold. Nobody lied. But what exactly did you get, and how much did you really save?


©2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Laynie Tzena.

Opportunity Knocks

Yes, it's true: Gold is at $1722 today, the lowest it's been since August 10. (Silver and Platinum are down, too.) What's on your wish list?

Publish Post

The Doctor Prescribes Reality

So let’s talk about gold. Notice any changes lately?

Uh-huh.

And how does that affect the average jewelry buyer?

Not much.

What?

Not much. And here’s why. Even a bump of $100 or more in the gold market price—which happened this very month—makes a small difference in many purchases.

How on Earth can that be true?

Because the market price is for an ounce of gold. That’s a lot of gold. If you think about it, most people are not spending, say, $1800.

I thought perhaps we should talk about this. So I spoke with one of my sources the other day and asked them to price a diamond pendant mounting (“mounting” is jewelry lingo for the metal part of the jewelry, before you polish it and add diamonds and gemstones to create a finished piece of jewelry) on August 1 (before the "big increase") and August 15.

The big difference?

$40.

If you then waited three days, it would have bumped up about another $20. It then went up smaller amounts three more times that week, before dropping below where it was on the 15^th.

So the moral is watch the metal markets every day, right?

Well, how much do you like the taste of Maalox?

A much better solution is to work with a jeweler you trust (for example, the Jewelry Doctor). Tell your jeweler what you’re looking for, and let her keep an eye on things and do your buying for you, bearing in mind that in most cases you’re not looking at a big difference in the price of your jewelry.

©2011, 2014 Laynie Tzena.

Darling, I Love You, But Give Me Park Avenue

In the theme song from the television series Green Acres, of blessed memory, we learn that Lisa Douglas (played by Eva Gabor) loves her husband Oliver (played by Eddie Albert, first name pronounced by his better half as "Aw-lee-vuh!" [last syllable rhymes with the "oo" in "good"]). Loves him dearly, but she is a city girl and feels out of place in the country.

This has been known to happen in the world of jewelry, too.

Here’s a nice necklace.

Nothing wrong with it. In fact, the center portion is jazzy and that foxtail chain above it is straight up gorgeous, if you ask me.

But the fact that the center is pretty and so is the chain doesn’t mean they belong in that necklace. In fact, the chain certainly didn’t belong on that necklace. Because it was Nancy’s necklace, and that chain didn’t sit right when she wore it but rolled around and drove her bananas. Plus, she thought the chain didn’t really go with the rest of the necklace—which, if you look closely, has a different, more contemporary feel to it.

Now, where’d I put my magic wand? Oh, there it is.

We also had enough chain for two—count ’em, two—necklaces, one for Nancy and one for a friend of hers, plus more chain that will be transformed into earrings and other goodies.

This necklace wasn’t bad, either.

Pretty amethyst. But it’s hidden by those (also fine) sterling silver spacers. The necklace just didn’t have much oomph.

Drumroll, please.


What’s that? You say that chain looks familiar? You are so right. It was the top of that other necklace we were talking about. But doesn’t it look happier here, surrounded by its new family?

We think so.

©2011 Laynie Tzena.

Geometry After All

As a little girl, I was smitten with algebra. X and Y go to the store.
(a + b) + c = a + (b + c). Coordinates. Axes. Happiness.

Geometry was another story. Didn’t interest me one iota.

So of course today I love geometric shapes, work with them all the time, think geometry is absolutely the bee’s knees. Life does that. (And I still love algebra, too. Go figure.)

But nobody loves everything, everywhere, at all times. This necklace has plenty of interesting shapes. Some would say it has a lot of movement.


But it bugged Nancy no end. Sure, the intersection of the shapes was great, but the piece also felt "busy." You know how sometimes at a crowded party there might be a dozen conversations going on at once, all interesting, but it gets so you can't really decipher or take part in any one of them after a while? Like that. Plus, it always got twisted. So it ended up sleeping in the jewelry box.

Fine. I waved my magic wand. And looky-here: Two for the price
of one.



Well, three, if you count the earrings, which don’t photograph well.

And now you can see the shapes even better. This time around, less really is more.

©2011, 2013, 2014 Laynie Tzena.

Do You See What I See?

I took one look at these metallic beads and it was love.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh!" I said.


Aren’t they gorgeous?

Nancy did not share my feeling.

“Oh, that necklace," she said. "I don’t know if I want to even work
on that.”

People sometimes ask me, “Should I even bring this to you?” I always tell them, “It’s completely up to you. But it’s not about what you originally paid for it (lots of people bring in family jewelry, for which they paid bupkes), or if anybody else sees the value in it." My rule for design and restoration (and life) is quite simple: “If it's important to you, it's important to me.”

This works both ways. I see potential all over the place. But other people don’t always see it, and the customer’s the boss. We were already working on a number of other projects (yes, you’ll see them soon), so I just said, “Okay.”

But I still loved those beads. When I would look at the necklace from time to time, they just shimmered. Every so often I would say to Nancy, “I know we’re not doing anything with this necklace, but I still love it.”

“Uh-huh,” she said.

I left it at that. Lots of other fish in the sea.

One day Nancy said, “Okay. Go ahead.”

So I designed this.


“I’m going to wear that all the time!” she said.

“Told you,” I said.

©2011, 2014 Laynie Tzena.