Father’s Day is coming up and even though it isn’t a big jewelry holiday, something jewelry related could be the perfect gift for your father. Of course, you have to be careful with how you spend you money. Choose something that he will love and wear everyday. A few simple suggestions that I would recommend for fathers are:

1. Watches:
There are so many nice and technical watches for men these days. Whether your dad likes something sassy with diamonds or something really simple or something really technical looking, there is a watch out there for him.

2. Gold Chains:
Some men really like simple gold chains. Look at what your dad likes and choose either a heavy or a small chain to fit his personality.

3. Something weird:
Think crazy silver paper weight or fun silver key chain that reminds him of you.

Whatever you choose, have fun with your father on the day set aside to honor him!

You obviously do not have to buy your mom jewelry, flowers are awesome too, but it is a fantastic, everlasting way to show her how much you appreciate all that she does. A couple ideas for Mother’s Day Jewelry:

1. A Mother’s Ring or Pendant.
Mother’s jewelry usually incorporates all of her children’s (or grandchildren’s) birthstones. It’s a fun way for her to have something that honors her children and you buying it for her, honors her. Some jewelry stores have mother’s rings options available but for the most part, they are outdated. Don’t just buy off the shelf when you are buying something for your mother. Really consider her tastes and preferences and find someone (like me) who can make you exactly what you have in mind for your mom.

2. Hearts
Hearts are popular for Valentine’s day, but don’t discount them for Mother’s day too! Mom’s love to know they are loved and what better way to show your love then by buying her a piece of jewelry with the universal symbol for love–a heart.

3. Any other kind of jewelry.
You probably don’t want to buy your mom an engagement ring, but anything else is game. Mother’s love diamond studs, or gemstone ring with their favorite stone or color. Just keep in mind what your mother will like and try to find it, or custom make it, for her.

If you are thinking custom for your mother, start thinking about contact someone (preferably me of course) RIGHT NOW!!! If you choose to celebrate without jewelry, just make sure you let your mother know she is loved!!

Recycled metal is definitely a hot button topic and it is something that a lot of my customers ask about. I thought I’d write a quick post about an experience I had recently with recycled metal.

When I was in school–both college and the Gemological Institute of America–I recycled metal all the time. I didn’t have a lot of money for supplies and even silver casting grain doesn’t come free so I’d melt down pieces that I had previously cast to use in new projects all the time. In college I had one experience where I had a MAJOR issues because of recycling metal too many times.

The piece in the picture at the beginning of the cast looks good enough for a college project right? Not really.

The picture above shows clearly the pits under the stone. Also, the hole in the bottom of the shank was not initially an intentional design element. There was a pit there that was so big I ended up drilling a hole through the piece and trying to incorporate the major flaw into the design. It wasn’t the best experience.

When I was at GIA, I never had any experiences where I had super visible pits in my castings but I also never tried to finish them, until recently. A couple of weeks ago, I took a bunch of castings I had from my days in California to the jewelry to have them polished so I could hopefully sell them. A few days later, I got a call. The jeweler told me some of the pieces had pits in them. I told him to do the best he could but I didn’t want to sink a lot of money into something that wasn’t going to be sale-able. He completely understood and said he would use his best judgement.

In this case, the pieces turned out really nicely with no real visible flaws, but you never know what the pits are going to do to the integrity of the pieces.

If you are recycling metal for something fun like a silver fashion ring that you aren’t going to wear everyday and will probably only really keep your interest for a few months, this structural weakening is probably not that big of a deal. But, if you are looking at something like an engagement ring or a wedding band that you are going to hopefully wear almost everyday for the rest of your life, this could be an issue.

If you want to be environmentally responsible but still buy jewelry follow these tips instead of getting it in your head that you HAVE to have recycled metal:
1. Buy smartly.
I love jewelry as much as the next person, but I don’t own a ton of it because I only have 10 fingers, 2 ears, and one neck. Only buy pieces that are perfect for you and that you think you will really wear.
2. Sell your old Jewelry.
I know the guys buying gold are making money, but they are also helping reduce the need for gold mining by giving customers an easy way to get rid of their gold, for some money. The gold your sell will go to a refinery and get made back into casting grain. In essence, you are RECYCLING your gold by selling it back.

I try to be as environmentally responsible as I can both personally and as a business, but making recycled gold pieces is not something I want to do or can do because I want to give my customers a piece of jewelry that will last forever.

The other day I was watching Rachael Ray and she was talking about gifts and things and she had two jewelry professionals in her studio talking about jewelry and what to look for if you don’t have a huge budget but still want something pretty. I was interested but had low hopes for her segment since usually people don’t say anything of real interest about jewelry on their shows. I was really impressed! The women that were brought on to talk about specific things to look for said everything I’ve ever said (it’s always good to be validated.)

The first thing they touched on was, of course, diamonds. They really focused on the cut of the stone. She said that if a stone is cut well, it can compensate for a slightly lower clarity and color. If a stone is well cut, it will sparkle so you don’t see the other things.

They also talked about gold and what to look for when you buy gold. I haven’t ever really talked about gold but I thought they hit every important point. A big determination for price of gold is the karatage. 24 karat gold is pure gold and you will probably never see jewelry made of 24 karat gold because it is too soft. The most common karat you see in the US is 14 karat gold. You will also see 18 karat gold in higher end stores and 10 karat gold in slightly lower end stores. In other countries you will see both 22 karat and 12 karat gold but those are generally not seen in US stores.

Gram weight is hugely important with gold, especially right not when gold prices are so high. The heavier the gold weight, the more expensive the piece. This generally means that if you are looking for a big flashy piece, it is going to cost a little bit more. You can find some chains with hollow links that will give you a big look without the weight.

It was kind of fun to watch a show with good information about jewelry that wasn’t too overwhelming but that was 100% accurate!

For a complete synopsis of the jewelry segment on the Rachael Ray show go to http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/save-vs-splurge-jewelry/.

My husband brought to my attention that sometimes I use terms in reference to how stones are set that need some extra explanation so I thought I would write a post dedicated to all of the ways to set stones in jewelry.

Read on for pictures and explanations of prong settings, basket settings, pave, channel settings, bezels, partial bezels, and gypsy settings.

Prong setting is probably the most common type of setting. Under that heading of “prong setting” there of several options though. The first would be a die cast head which is how some jewelers prefer to set large center stones. The reason they prefer this particular way of prong setting is that it is the most secure type of prong setting. It is more secure for several reasons. The first is that the actual metal is stronger. The process for Die Casting leads to a head with metal that is dense without any “bubbles” that create weak spots. Also, for round stones, die cast heads often have 6 prongs. If 4 prongs are good, 6 are better because there are just that many more prongs to hold the stone in case 1 or more prongs are damaged.

Another type of prong setting is a “basket” This type of head if often cast with the rest of the ring. The nice thing about basket heads is that there are horizontal rails that the stone sits on which stabilizes the stone. Baskets are most often used for center stones but variations can be used for smaller side stones.

Pave is another type of prong-link setting. Real pave is not considered to be prong set because there are no prongs when the jeweler starts setting the stone, he has to dig the metal out to create prongs which is very difficult. These days, pave setting is often just another way of prong setting because the prongs are part of the ring before the jeweler starts setting. Pave is a term used to refer to a lot of stones set very close together on the surface of the a piece of jewelry, “paving” the surface of the metal.

Channel setting is a very popular type of setting where the stones are held with tension between two bars of metal. This type of setting can be used for both large and small stones. The difference between a channel setting and a true tension setting is the band of metal underneath the stone or stones that prevent the bars holding the stone(s) to be pulled apart.

Another type of setting for both small and large stones is a bezel. Bezel set stones have metal all the way around the stone that is bent over the edges of the stone slightly to hold the stone in place. This is my personal favorite type of setting because it is clean and VERY secure. The downside to bezels is that they are more difficult for the jeweler to do well so you have to trust your jeweler to keep the metal thickness around the stone even and smooth.

There is a variation on bezel setting called a partial bezel. This type of setting something between a bezel and a channel. It is like a bezel that doesn’t go all the way around the stone or like a channel that curves to fit the edges of the stone.

The last type of setting that I use is gypsy setting which is also called flush setting. This type of setting is used for smaller stones generally but does not have to be. Gypsy setting is like bezel setting without the bezel. The stone is set down into the metal and the metal of the piece is bent over the stone all the way around to hold the stone in place.

Ideally every type of setting will hold your stone in place forever, but jewelry is not always ideal. Make sure you trust your jeweler to do their best work and also have your jewelry checked periodically to make sure that your setting are still secure to prevent stone loss.