A Word from Our Sponsor, or Remember Those Cookies and Coloring Books?

Your friendly neighborhood Jewelry Doctor would like to remind you that you are only reading this because someone brought you here, and there is a day devoted to that very person.

"Do you mean Mother's Day?  I already got her a couple of cards and some flowers."

What a wonderful beginning.  A bit like what would have happened if your Mom, say, had given you a nice breakfast but decided you didn't really need lunch and dinner.

"Are you saying I have to buy a gift to show her I love her?"

Absolutely not.  And she didn't have to take you to the doctor with that ear infection, either.  Chances are, it would have healed perfectly fine on its own.

"Ah.  I understand.  Well, does San Francisco Jewelry Doctor have any Mother's Day gifts?"

As a matter of fact, we do. 

"We both hate hearts."

No problem.  We have lots of other gorgeous jewelry.  But how nice that you have that in common.

"Also, I'm in Pennsylvania."

Well, that's wonderful.  Philadelphia and everything.  I understand UPS and FedEx both serve Pennsylvania, and of course you have post offices.  Just don't leave it to the last minute.

"What's your phone number?  I'm calling you now."

415/796-3969.  Oh, there's the phone.  That must be you.  Hello!

San Francisco Jewelry Doctor.  Helping you with great jewelry for every occasion, so you don't spend the next year hearing about how it's not really that big a deal, it just would have been nice.

©2014 Laynie Tzena.

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.

Building Your Jewelry Wardrobe, Part One: T.L.C.

I love helping people build their jewelry wardrobe.  As you might imagine, “building a jewelry wardrobe” doesn’t mean buying everything in sight, anymore than most people would take that approach when it comes to clothing or furniture.  We buy things we love that complement things we already have, fill in gaps, and sometimes we decide we want to expand a bit, too.  Nothing wrong with that. 

Let’s talk about taking care of the jewelry you already own and love.

Part One:  Taking Care of Your Jewelry:  A Little Maintenance
Goes a Long Way.

When you have things you love, you take care of them.  In the case of clothing, that means a regular trip to the dry cleaner and shoe repair.  Furniture doesn’t ask much—a shine now and then, perhaps a little T.LC. (“tender loving care”) to repair a nick on the surface.

Jewelry not only attracts attention when you wear it—especially you :>; it also needs attention at home.  Let’s take a look at jewelry set with prongs.  Well, you can take a look at it—the light shines clear through it.  That’s the magic.

But where a diamond or other gemstone with a bezel setting is protected on all sides (or, with the half-bezel, the stone is partially protected) from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, those prongs we were just talking about don’t cover all that much of the stone.

At the beginning, that’s not a problem, assuming you bought your jewelry from a reputable source:  the prongs in the setting hug the stone.  If the prong jewelry in question is a pendant, you’ll be fine for the foreseeable future. 

But think about a ring.  Some people sleep with their rings on.  Most people wear them at work.  So you turn in bed and the prong catches on the sheet, just a little, and you gently pull it back and maybe in the morning look, and it seems fine.  Or you’re talking with John or Kim about that project and your hand bumps against the phone as you’re checking something. 

A fly on the wall would tell you that both times the tip of the prong was bent, and in one case part of it broke off.  Tiny.  Easy to miss.

Another night tossing and turning, more projects at work, games with the kids, presentations, camping—so many opportunities for the tip of the prong to snap off and the prong itself to get yanked (just a bit each time), and then “Where did the stone go?”

Tip:  Write the date you bought your prong jewelry (or the date you received it) on your calendar.  Put it in the media you use for keeping track of appointments.  Now add a reminder every three to six months (depending on how active you are) to have the prongs checked to make sure they’re intact and see if they might need to be tightened or the tips or whole prongs might need to be replaced.  (You don’t want to overdo the tightening—remember, the prongs put pressure on the stone—but you want to be sure the prongs are strong and secure.)

Enjoy!  Prong jewelry does require attention, but seeing the light through the stone—doesn’t that make it worth a little effort?

©2014 Laynie Tzena.

Crowds Not So Pleasing, or Time to Call the (Jewelry) Doctor

“Oh, no! I'm toast! Why didn't I call Laynie at San Francisco Jewelry Doctor in time? I'll have to sit in traffic and stand in line--and maybe lose one of my toes, the way Sammy did!”

Not to worry, honey. Our handcrafted jewelry (you know, the pendants and necklaces and bracelets and earrings everybody raves about) is available until tomorrow afternoon. And if your loved ones are, shall we say, ever so slightly challenging to shop for, we have gift certificates.

As for Sammy, someone substantial did step on a toe or two at that big box store. But you know, he has that dramatic side to him. We saw him dancing later that night.

San Francisco Jewelry Doctor. We make people happy.

Okay, it's true, we can't make you happy. But we can help. 415/796-3969.

©2013 Laynie Tzena.

Make it Merry--and Have a Sunday, Too!

"Oh, I really want to stand in line today!"--said no real person ever.

Good news:  You can call the Jewelry Doctor and get great gifts before brunch!  (Or after; we're flexible.)

We explained it all at this very time last year, and the result was a lot of very merry people.  http://myjewelrydoctor.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-jewelry-doctor-knows-santa.html

"What's that number, again?"

415/796-3969.  The reindeer are all antlers.  And the Jewelry Doctor? She's pouring another cup of tea and can't wait to hear what's on your list.

"I thought they drank eggnog at the North Pole.  And how would the gifts get here in time?"

a.  The Jewelry Doctor loves eggnog--after your jewelry has been delivered.  Didn't you see the pictures from last year?  Oh, right.  They disappeared somehow.  Well, take our word for it.

b.  Read "The Jewelry Doctor Knows Santa Personally." http://myjewelrydoctor.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-jewelry-doctor-knows-santa.html

(Yes, she does.  He's a great guy.)  And call us at 415/796-3969.  Unless you really like coal in your stocking--

©2013 Laynie Tzena.

Such a Deal--Or is It?

New posts on the way.  But in the meantime, here's something to read that never gets old, with tips you can put to use immediately.

http://myjewelrydoctor.blogspot.com/2012/11/white-turquoise-or-whats-big-deal-really.html

And remember:  when you see something that looks fabulous and want to be sure it really is, call the Jewelry Doctor at 415/796-3969.

Happy Holidays!

Breaking Pots

I probably shouldn’t say this, but I love amazonite. There. I said it. This is how prices of gemstones go up: one person loves it and then another and then, next thing you know—

Except that’s not really how it works (outside of Hollywood). I’ve been in stores where someone holds up a bead and says, “Isn’t this great?” And I say “Uh-huh,” because it is great—to her. To me? Okay. Meanwhile, I’m going bananas over something else.

Is everything, in the end, like dating?

So you might not like amazonite. But you still need to hear the story about my amazonite rondelles (roundels, if you want to be French about it). Think flat discs.

I have loved that stone ever since I first laid eyes on it a few years ago. Opaque. Marbled. Aqua. At a show a while back I found some puffy rondelles around 5/8 inch in diameter and 3/8 inch deep.

Think hockey pucks. Kind of chunky. Don’t really go with anything. Trust me. I’ve tried. But as we have established, I am stubborn (some would say persistent), and recently I’ve been thinking, “Turn it on its side.” The other night I decided to give that a try.

I’ve been doing various kinds of wirework for many years now, so I thought I knew how this operation could work. Tilted the rondelle, wove the wire through a couple of different ways, put it atop an agate cylinder—

And it was wobbly. I tried various techniques to stabilize it.  Nothing doing. This is what I call the “science part of the program” (it’s actually physics, usually found in the “math” section, but if you ask me physics is where math meets science). The construction did not work and would not work, no matter what I did.  (One reason: veddy small opening in the bead. Yes, theoretically you could drill it further, but no. Another time, we’ll discuss why not.) Before I got into metal fatigue—where the wire snaps because it’s been bent one too many times—I took it apart.

I started to feel bad about it, and then remembered my friend Rosalie’s wise words, from the time she was a potter (most of my friends have done many things; yours, too?): “You have to learn to break pots.”

Also true in Jewelry-Land. Now, don’t get me wrong: I don’t want you to break jewelry. I really wish you wouldn’t pull those necklaces over your head instead of taking a minute to use the clasp, because you are inviting the necklace to break.

But I also have to tell you that the reason handcrafted work—at least, custom work—costs what it does is that you have to break some pots. You have to pull out the stitches. You have to unwrap the wire and do what you can to return it to its earlier shape and then use your tools to straighten it, if you’re lucky and haven’t moved into the MFZ (metal fatigue zone).

Then you might, as I did, create a brand new pendant design using that very same agate that has been a problem child forever, a design that knocks you on your keister because it is so beautiful. (Or you might not. It might just be a disappointing day. I was lucky enough to study with the wonderful writer Richard Hugo, who told us, “The poems that come easily are a result of all the times you sat there and nothing worked.”)

And if everything came easily, worked every time, would we ever know the exhilaration that comes precisely because it doesn’t happen every time?

Mark Rothko said, “The most important tool the artist fashions through constant practice is faith in his (or her) ability to produce miracles when they are needed."

True. But maybe not in the way one might think. Miracles happen all the time—the amazonite rondelles are still on the table, waiting for theirs—but if you want to say we “produce” them, we do so in the way one might produce a show or a film: we create the conditions that allow the miracles to happen. It’s not brute force, or the artist’s will, that makes something come to fruition.

So what does?  Call it chance. Call it grace. Whatever it is, it’s what most of us live for. And breaking pots is a time-honored way to get there.

©2013 Laynie Tzena.