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Archive for February, 2010

Barnim Pottery TULIP Sale-March 4,5,6 and March 11,12, 13, 2010.. .

February 24, 2010 | Filed under: Uncategorized

Scott Barnim who is a member of the Beyond the Valley Studio Tour in Dundas, Ontario, is having his yearly TULIP SALE where everything is 15% off (in order to offset taxes). There are two week end dates— Thursday, Friday, Saturday, March 4th, 5th, and 6th from 12 noon until 5 p.m and March 11, 12 & 13, same hours. He is located at 15 Park St. East in Dundas-phone #-905-628-2507. Whether to add to your collection of Barnim Pottery or to see what’s new, this is an event not to be missed.

Richard Fisher, a potter who is also a member of the Beyond the Valley Studio Tour in Dundas, is having his Spring Sale this week end, Friday and Saturday, February 27 & 28 from 10 until 5. He offers 10% off during the sale. Check his website for details. It’s a nice way to end the month!

And then there is my Spring Open House. All the invite cards have been sent out and should have been received by now. Mark the dates on your calendar-March 5 & 6. Check my events page for details.

Posted by Stephanie @ 7:31 pm | Comments

Spring Open House-March 5 and 6, 2010….

February 17, 2010 | Filed under: Uncategorized

My Spring Open House and Sale is in a few weeks. I just received my invite cards which were designed by my son-in-law, a graphic artist. They are beautiful and will be on their way to you tomorrow and Friday. The Spring Open House will only be 2 days-Friday, March 5th and Saturday, March 6th. Do check my events page for the hours.
I have just finished a necklace with pale yellow and grey freshwater pearls. It is long and can be doubled up. There will be an accompanying bracelet and earrings as well. I tend to do complementary pieces. (altho matching is good too!). Turquoise is the big colour this year and on my invite you will see a large aquamarine and silver bracelet. The silver ring is Hill tribe silver which has 95 to 98% silver content. There will be much more aquamarine as well as turquoise (the gemstone) at my Spring Open House. The earrings on the invite card are made up of 3 mm. faceted iolite and citrine pieces that have been woven into a larger bead. A number of jewellery stores in Italy were showing these pieces. I saw them in Rome and Positano. So I was pleased as I already had them in my inventory!
I am expecting my gallery to be updated very soon and you will see the citrine earrings in detail. I think that the aquamarine bracelet will be featured too.

Posted by Stephanie @ 2:30 pm | Comments

Gown Shopping in Toronto!

February 15, 2010 | Filed under: Uncategorized

My oldest daughter and I went gown shopping to T.O. whilst my middle daughter went snowmobiling with her father near Cochrane-many many hours away. T.O. is less than an hour away so our pleasure was immediate. My daughter was looking for a gown for a black tie event in N.Y.C. She initially thought cocktail length which is currently acceptable for such events. Our first stop was Holt Renfrew where she tried on many dresses under the tutelage of H.R. staff member Maher. Who was incredible by the way! She tried on short dresses, then got into long ones-all looked great-especially a raspberry gown that showed off her shoulders and was a wonderful colour on her-but altho she liked it, she demurred, thinking that it was too pink and not a colour that she normally wears. Well Maher offered lots of suggestions and went off into the rest of the store looking for gowns and came back with a Donna Karan that was breathtaking. Just image a simple, fitted gown, with a scoop neckline front and back, sleeveless, slightly flared at the bottom, and covered in sequins and……it was midnight blue!! My daughter has a lovely figure which was shown off beautifully. It was dynamite. But alas it was also an incredible amount of money. But then it was lined with cashmere! This gown and another were put on hold and off we went to lunch where we had to have Bellinis to help us think. Then to The Room at the Bay and finally Prada. There were some lovely gowns at The Room and at Prada but the Donna Karan gown just stood out. I think that she tried on at least 20 dresses.
I am a great believer in cost per wear, and the Donna Karan is a timeless piece which could be worn to many events for many years-my daughter has at least 3 more wearings in sight. So back we went to Holt’s, now with my niece who is a student at U. of T. and met us a Prada.
We had coffee first of course, to discuss “the Gown”. Well, the Donna Karan gown was it and Maher wrapped it up with a pair of high Laboutin black patent heels. Now my daughter will be 6 feet tall and how elegant!! The deed was done-thank you Maher for all your help. Now we had to go off and have drinks to let this all sink in. The Four Seasons has a great bar!! We bid adieu to niece and cousin-she is studying for final exams and off we went back home, with several packages. Now my daughter had to tell her husband!!

Posted by Stephanie @ 11:04 am | Comments

The Travellers!

February 10, 2010 | Filed under: Uncategorized

Today, I received a call from someone who wanted a necklace to match a pair of earrings that were purchased at my Christmas Open House this past December. During the conversation, it came out that the earrings were presented to someone who lived in France. So I got thinking-a pair of earrings in France and what other countries have my pieces gone to? Well at this time, I do know that there are pieces in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, England, Australia, Brazil, Iran, United States and South Africa. I was reminded by one of my clients to add Germany and Austria.
It reinforces the thought that this has become a smaller world. When we were in Italy last September, I met a woman who was travelling with friends, and who lived about a mile away from me.

Don’t forget my Spring Open House, March the 5th and 6th. Always the first week end in March.

Posted by Stephanie @ 6:27 pm | Comments

St. Valentine’s Day is coming! :)

February 6, 2010 | Filed under: Uncategorized

St. Valentine’s Day-February 14th-is a week away. I have many pieces of jewellery that would make a lovely gifts. So if jewellery is on your mind, give your significant other a nudge in my direction. I am always available by appointment and since I have started working on my spring collection, there are a number of new pieces to see.

My Spring Open House is just a month away, so I will be very busy in the next 4 weeks. There will be lovely spring shades of blue, green, yellow and pink, peach, soft grey, and really the list is endless. You will see aquamarine, pearls of various sizes and colours, mother of pearl in different tones and shapes, turquoise, and some glass work. I will have a few pieces with subtle shades of furnace glass and Unicorne glass mixed in with sterling silver and gemstones.

Posted by Stephanie @ 5:34 pm | Comments

PEARLS

February 2, 2010 | Filed under: pearls

Pearls are timeless and have been fashionable for centuries. They come in many shapes, sizes and colours. At one time there were only natural pearls (which were harvested by divers) that were found in oyster beds in the seas. Once it was understood how a pearl develops (an irritation such as a grain of sand in the oyster causes nacre to build in layers around the irritation-a way of minimizing it), oysters were seeded manually and thus cultured pearl farming was started.

Natural pearls are rare and extremely costly and even a necklace of matched cultured pearls is worth a lot of money. But oysters require unpolluted water to survive. As a result, it has become more difficult to farm oysters and this means that cultured pearls have become progressively more expensive. But people are innovative and creative. Improvements were made to the farming of freshwater pearls These are grown in mussels but in the beginning they were not of very good shape or size but were inexpensive. Now, the farming of freshwater pearls has produced beautifully shaped pearls that are still obtainable at a reasonable price. In the 1990’s more uniform round pearls were developed. Thus you can purchase a freshwater pearl necklace of 16″ with about 6 mm. round pearls for less than $300. A cultured pearl necklace from oysters could be 5 times that much. And a natural pearl necklace would be an incredible price, perhaps in the hundreds of thousands if the pearls were matched. The best way to tell the difference and know what you have is through X-ray. To differentiate between artificial pearls and the real thing, rub the pearl against your teeth. A rough feeling indicates a real pearl and a smooth feeling on your teeth means that it is artificial. Barring that, you should know and trust your jeweller or supplier.

The value of pearls is based on their lustre, size, lack of flaws and symmetry. Of these lustre is most important. Pearls come in a number of identifiable shapes–round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, oval, baroque and circled. Circled pearls have what look like lines around the middle of the pearl.

Pearl necklaces also have names which denote their length–

Collar (sits against throat)——-10 to 13″
Choker (sits at base of neck)—-14 to 16″
Princess length——————17 to 19″
Matinee————————-20 to 24″
Opera—————————28 to 35″
Pearl Rope———————–45″ +
A necklace may also be described as uniform in which the pearls are the same shape but in a small range of sizes, e.g. 6 to 7mm. Or graduated which was popular in the 1950’s.

Pearls are often treated and their colour enhanced. Freshwater pearl harvesters will add a small quantity of metal to the water so that pearls with colour will develop. Pearls are also bleached to lighten their colour and flaws are lessened through gentle tumbling.

Pearls should be the last item that you put on when dressing as sprays, cologne, make-up etc. will affect the lustre. They should also be stored apart from other jewellery to prevent the surfaces from being scratched.

Pearls, birthstone for the month of June, symbolize purity, honesty and wisdom.

Check my previous blogs for other gemstone information:
AMETHYST- March 11, 2009
ONYX- February 19, 2009
JADE- February 10, 2009

Posted by Stephanie @ 6:03 pm | Comments


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