Archive for April, 2006
Jewelry and Gemstone Care & Cleaning Tips
LiveArticles.org, CA
earrings, emerald rings, ruby bracelets, sapphire pendants; no doubt about it everybody loves beautiful gem stone jewelry. Gemstones are quite literally hard as rock, buy they can be damaged from careless handling and negligence. Here are some tips for keeping your gems and jewelry looking fabulous for years to come. Mothers Day Gift 1. Remember, even the hardest gemstone variety can be vulnerable to breakage if it has inclusions that weaken the crystal structure. Exercise common sense: if you have a ring set with a softer gem variety or an included stone, take it off before strenuous exercise.
Even the hardest gem of them all, diamond, can shatter in two with a single well-placed blow. Never remove rings by pulling on the stone: that habit may result in a loose, then lost, gem. 2. Most importantly, store each piece of gemstone jewelry separately so that harder stones don’t scratch softer ones. Almost every gemstone is much harder than the metal it is set in. Gems can scratch the finish on your gold, silver or platinum if you throw your jewelry in a heap in a drawer or jewelry box. 3. Rings in particular tend to collect dust and soap behind the gem, particularly if you wear them all the time. You need to clean them regularly to let the light in so your gems can shine. To clean transparent crystalline gemstones, simply soak them in water with a touch of gentle dish soap. Use a bowl of water rather than the sink to eliminate the risk of anything going down the drain. If necessary, use a soft toothbrush to scrub behind the stone. Rinse the soap off and pat dry with a lint-free cloth (you want to make sure threads won’t catch on the prongs) For diamond, ruby or sapphire, a touch of ammonia in the rinse water won’t hurt a bit and can add extra sparkle (for platinum and gold only, not silver!). Think twice before putting gems in an ultrasonic cleaner. Diamonds and rubies and sapphires will be fine but many other gems many not be, in particular emerald, opal, pearls, peridot: when in doubt, leave it out. 4. Organic gems like pearls, coral, and amber should only be wiped clean with moist cloth. Due to their organic nature, these gems are both soft and porous. Be careful about chemicals in hairspray, cosmetics, or perfume: they can, over time, damage pearls in particular. Opals also require special care. Never use an ultrasonic, never use ammonia, and avoid heat and strong light. 5. Opaque gemstones like lapis lazuli, turquoise, malachite, require special care because they are rocks, not crystals of a single mineral like transparent gems. There gem materials should just be wiped clean gently with a moist cloth. These gemstones can be porous and may absorb chemicals, even soap, and they may build up inside the stone and discolor it. Never use and ultrasonic cleaner and never use ammonia or any chemical solution. A little care and common sense can add life, luster and longevity to your precious jewelry and gems. Protect your investment by following the above guidelines. More Information can be searched on Google, Yahoo, Msn and other Search Engines. http://www.giftsronline.com
April 20th, 2006
Program draws bead on jewelry, culture
Durango Herald, CO
April 19, 2006
By Thomas Munro | Herald Staff Writer
For a group of white pre-teens, it was an unusual argument.
REBECCA DROKE/Herald
Bennett Thompson, a Southern Ute tribal elder, talks about beading to a seventh-grade class at Bayfield Middle School on Friday. From left, the students are Ben Christner, 12, son of Becky Bauer and Tim Christner; Dwayne Lizer, 13, son of Byron and Dottie Lizer; and Caleb Rael, 12, son of Amy Daniels and David Rael.
“Males make (chokers) and they’re better than girls’,” Jimmy O’Brien said.
Some of the girls disagreed.
“It depends on the boy,” Kayla McCann argued.
“Boys are more into sports, and girls are more into jewelry,” Patty Powers insisted.
The children were participating in a new program at Bayfield Middle School, which invites the school’s largely white student body to learn methods and traditions of Southern Ute jewelry-making from some of the tribe’s most revered artists. The ties binding American Indians and Europeans have, from the earliest days, been strung with beads. This latest cultural exchange challenged white students’ ideas about who and what jewelry is for.
“I think it’s a really joyful way to learn across cultures,” said Scott Kuster, the sixth-grade Spanish teacher behind the cultural interchange, the first of its kind in the middle school.
Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum Director Lynn Brittner, exhibit technician and artist Tim Ryder, education consultant Dan Cieloha and tribal elder Bennett Thompson converged on Kuster’s class Friday to teach several classes of 12-year-olds the basics of American Indian choker construction.
The choker is a necklace, broad as a belt, worn tightly around the neck. It is made of alternating white bones and colored beads strung on thin leather straps.
“The tying is complicated, but the rest is to enjoy,” said Morgan Box, daughter of Southern Ute Vice-Chairman Matthew Box and the only tribal member in the class.
Box said she was learning the skill, traditionally a male specialty, for the first time.
“I’m learning how to bead, and I’m also sharing about what I know,” Box said as she tightened a row of beads and bones under Thompson’s jovial eye.
Thompson, who has been a museum board member for 15 years, creates intricate beadwork, miniatures, tomahawks, pipes and bows and arrows. He regularly shares these art forms with students at high schools, Head Start classes and the Southern Ute Academy, all on a voluntary basis.
“I used to work with medicine men,” Thompson said. “They told me never ask for any money.”
While Thompson said he gladly teaches beading to anyone, male or female, the differences between traditional gender roles in Ute and non-Indian societies made the jewelry-making project an interesting departure for some of the students.
But with the way perhaps blazed by the popularity of men’s puka shell necklaces, several boys in the class proudly donned their finished chokers, seeming to appreciate the masculine force of the traditional ornament.
To others, the jewelry may simply have been pretty. McCann said she already had an outfit in mind to go with her choker.
Kuster has been spearheading the effort to develop a curriculum for culture instruction at the middle school. In one project, he asks students to write out their own cultural history.
For 12-year-old Powers, that cultural history might include the different tradition of beading she learned from her grandmother. Box’s cultural history would be more difficult to write at a time when the danger is growing increasingly real that traditions like Southern Ute beadwork will become confined to museums.
Cieloha, among those working on the design of a new Southern Ute cultural center and museum, said his educational mandate now includes teaching Southern Ute children to be conservators of their own cultural traditions, even while he continues to reach out to non-Indians.
“The contact is positive - it builds a foundation,” Cieloha said.
Kuster was pleased with his first effort.
“The kids loved it and appreciated it,” he said as class ended and white boys wearing elaborate chokers walked proudly out, into the judgmental halls of middle school.
tmunro@durangoherald.com
April 20th, 2006
INDIA EXPLORING POTENTIAL OF GEM AND JEWELRY SECTOR
18 April 2006/Tacy, Israel
Kamal Nath, India’s Minister for Commerce & Industry, is setting up an expert body to look into the potential of the country’s gem and jewelry industry, and the prevalent taxation practices in the sector both in India and abroad, says Bakul R. Mehta, Chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) of India.
The expert body is due to make suitable recommendations to enable India to be a hub for this sector.
According to Mehta, the announcement has given support and confidence to the local industry to perform with full zeal and take the industry to great heights.
“It is only with conscious multi-pronged and multi-dimensional efforts by both the government and Council that India will emerge as the global hub for quality gem and jewelry,†enthuses Mehta.
April 19th, 2006
Company lets brides lease jewelry for big day
National Jeweler, NY
APRIL 18, 2006 - Liberty, Mo. — Something old, something new, something…leased?
A new Web-based company hopes brides will make this their new axiom when getting dressed on their wedding day. Adorn Brides allows brides-to-be to lease fine jewelry—featuring precious metals, diamonds and pearls—instead of laying out cash to buy pieces or settling for costume jewelry. The company promises to deliver the jewelry to the bride’s doorstep in time for her wedding.
A recent visit to the site, AdornBrides.com, shows an array of nonbranded bracelets, necklaces and earrings. The rental fee for most pieces runs a few hundred dollars.
“Imagine the fun of opening the jewelry box and seeing the beautiful pieces of jewelry for the first time, knowing that you’ll get to wear that magnificent piece on your wedding day,” Bert Stouffer, founder of Adorn Brides, said in a statement. “It’s the crowning touch…the excitement and confidence that comes with wearing a real piece of fine jewelry. The best part is Adorn Brides offers a luxurious experience that’s affordable, convenient and practical.”
April 19th, 2006
INDIA’S GEM AND JEWELRY EXPORTS UP 6.32% IN FY 2005-06
Tacy, Israel/17 April 2006
India’s gem and jewelry industry has witnessed a growth of 6.32 percent for financial year 2005-2006. Total gem and jewelry exports reached US$16.67 billion as compared to US$15.68 billion in the same period last year.
The growth in the sector was primarily driven by the cut and polished diamonds segment, which witnessed an increase of 6.07 percent. The export sales of cut and polished diamonds grew to US$11.86 billion during financial year 2005-2006 from US$11.18 billion in the corresponding period in financial year 2004-2005, while total volumes of cut and polished diamonds increased to 43,272,000 carats during financial year 2005-2006 as compared to 47,947,000 carats in the corresponding period in financial year 2004-2005.
Gold jewelry exports registered a growth of 1.28 percent with exports recorded at US$3,861.57 million in financial year 2005-2006 as compared to US$3,812.88 million in financial year 2004-2005. Colored gemstones grew by 21.05 percent to US$233.32 million in financial year 2005-2006 as compared to US$192.75 million in financial year 2004-2005.
“Industry through its consistent efforts has shown immense fortitude and has managed to maintain its year on year growth of the total gem and jewelry exports. The gem and jewelry sector continues to be the frontrunner and highest contributor to the total value addition of the country, contributing US$3.5 billion in FY2006. Industry for last few years have grown consistently at 15 percent to 20 percent. The last two quarters of FY 2005-06 have witnessed diminishing exports. This is primarily because of market slow down in USA, the largest export destination for Indian gem and jewelry sector. Industry has achieved remarkable growth in its previous years and now it has reached a stage where it needs to consolidate and focus on value addition and increasing the value chain. Industry marks the year 2005-06 as ‘year of consolidation’ and looks forward to transform and establish itself as a trading hub for gem & jewelry globally,†says Bakul R. Mehta, Chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) of India.
The United States, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates were the top export markets for India’s gem and jewelry products accounting for 28 percent, 21 percent and 15 percent of the total exports followed by Singapore and Belgium accounting for 9 percent and 8 percent respectively.
On the import front, total imports of gem and jewelry grew by 11.79 percent with imports increasing from US$11,640.21 million in financial year 2004-2005 to US$13,013.11 million in financial year 2005-2006.
Rough Diamonds were imported to the tune of US$8,708.98 million, while cut and polished diamonds were imported to the value of US$3,009.02 million.
April 18th, 2006
Harga Minyak Melangit, Emas Melejit
Selasa, 18 Apr 2006,jawapos
TOKYO - Harga emas kembali menembus rekor baru. Di pasar New York kemarin, harga emas bertengger di level USD 606,80 per troy ounce (satu troy ounce ekuivalen dengan 31,1 gram). Melesatnya harga emas ini dipicu memanasnya hubungan AS-Iran yang dikhawatirkan mengganggu suplai minyak mentah dunia.
Rajini Panicker, head of research Man Financial Commodities India Ltd, menungkapkan bahwa banyak investor yang mengalihkan dananya dan mengambil posisi baru di emas saat harga minyak melonjak. Sebab, melejitnya harga minyak bakal membuat inflasi negara-negara besar terdongkrak. “Dalam sepekan ini, ketegangan AS-Iran membuat harga minyak naik ke level USD 71,05 per barel,” katanya seperti yang dilansir Bloomberg kemarin.
Ro Seung Hwan, assistant manager Tong Yang Futures Trading Co, menambahkan bahwa inflasi negara maju bakal semakin tinggi menyusul tingginya harga minyak. “Para investor melakukan lindung nilai asetnya dari inflasi dengan membeli emas atau perak,” katanya. Investor lainnya melakukan diversifikasi portofolio untuk memperoleh return yang tinggi.
Sementara itu, harga perak menembus titik tertinggi baru dalam 23 tahun pada awal perdagangan di Asia, melebihi rekor sebelumnya USD 13,01 per ounce. Angka ini mengalami kenaikan 50 persen dibandingkan awal 2006 dan hampir dua kali lipat dari tahun sebelumnya. Meski sadar harga emas dan perak sudah terlalu tinggi, investor enggan melepasnya ke pasar. Sebab, ada tren yang menunjukkan harganya semakin tinggi.
“Saat ini belum ada yang berani melawan gold bullish trend, sehingga harga terus naik,” komentar Takashi Ogura, risk management section manager di Kanetsu Asset Management. Jika dalam akhir bulan ini masalah antara PBB dan Iran mengenai fasilitas nuklir tak kunjung selesai, ada kemungkina harga minyak terus merangkak naik. (aan)
April 18th, 2006
Designer’s live jewelry a curiosity
By DEBBIE HUMMEL - Associated Press Writer - 04/16/06
Helena Independent Record
SALT LAKE CITY — Designing for his first fashion show, Jared Gold understood that a unique piece of jewelry could draw a lot of attention to both his work and the wearer.
His eye-catching creations are alive. And they’re cockroaches — 3-inch-long Madagascar hissing cockroaches bejeweled with Swarovski crystals and attached by a chain to a pin.
The ‘‘roach brooches’’ are free to crawl around on a blouse or jacket, attached to a limiting lead. They hiss when upset and, unless the wearer is careful about the roach’s feeding schedule, they can soil your couture clothing.
A curiosity for sure, but when Gold revived the idea this year for his Salt Lake City boutique even he was a little surprised by the result. He can’t keep them in stock.
‘‘Oh, there they are,’’ exclaimed Linda Sanders, who teaches fourth graders at Lehi Elementary School, as she gently picked up a roach. Sanders had made the nearly hour-long drive from her home in Orem to see the brooches at Gold’s Salt Lake City store.
‘‘I love all animals,’’ Sanders said, as a roach climbed all over her denim jacket. ‘‘The teachers would hate me.’’
But within 10 minutes, Sanders was signing a receipt for the purchase of her roach, attached to a chain and pinned to her lapel.
‘‘The kids will love it,’’ said Sanders, who has a tarantula and two chinchillas in her classroom.
On a busy Friday evening, many of those visiting the Black Chandelier clothing store were there to see the roaches.
LeAnn Kay, of Salt Lake City, saw a story about the brooches on television and came to see them for herself. Gold and his cockroaches also were recently featured on an episode of the reality show ‘‘America’s Next Top Model’’ on the UPN network.
‘‘Initially I was taken aback, and I was appalled. The more I looked at it, the more interesting the idea became. You know, art for art’s sake. It’s a very intriguing idea,’’ Kay said.
Taking the mundane or grotesque and making it pretty or taking something pretty and making it slightly disturbing, is what Gold says interests him as a designer.
It takes about an hour to decorate a cockroach. Gold’s head seamstress, Aja Davis, is the design studio’s ‘‘roach wrangler.’’
‘‘We have our secret way that we prep them. They excrete this wax that no adhesives will stick to,’’ Gold said. ‘‘After months of trial and error, we finally figured out how to get jewels to stick to them.’’
The jewels and clasp are attached to the roach’s hood, or carapace, a hard shell that covers its head. Gold says they are all very gentle with the roaches, and he doesn’t even like to make them hiss.
The roaches’ hissing is a defense mechanism, a noise they make when they feel threatened. Touched or pushed along unexpectedly, they sound like snakes.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals finds the roach brooches an inappropriate form of human decoration.
‘‘It gives a new, sad meaning to the term ‘fashion victim,’ ’’ said PETA spokesman Michael McGraw. ‘‘Roaches will inherit the Earth, and if it’s between the desperate people who wear them and the roaches, our money’s on the roaches.’’
‘‘These roaches may not be as cute and cuddly as puppies, but they have the same ability to feel pain and suffer,’’ he said.
Gold says he hasn’t heard any complaints from animal rights activists. The roaches are treated well and sold more as a pet than jewelry, he said.
‘‘They’re your friend, and they’re a pet,’’ Gold said. ‘‘And they’re also really beautiful and fascinating.’’
Gold only uses male roaches — females bite — which he gets from a Los Angeles breeder.
The roaches are fairly hardy and can live up to four days without food or water, Gold said. He recommends giving them a nice dark place to live when they’re not being worn. They eat fresh fruit, bananas are a favorite, and they drink water from a saturated paper towel or cotton ball. The most common cause of death is dehydration, Gold said.
If well cared for, the roaches can live for up to a year. However, they do molt, and it’s possible you could end up with a plain old hissing cockroach after it’s shed its shell.
Gold recommends against feeding the roach a day before wearing it — to avoid any unwanted excretions.
The roaches sell for about $40 in the Salt Lake City store or $80 on the Internet, including overnight shipping, for other parts of the United States. Gold doesn’t ship them overseas.
A native of Idaho Falls, Idaho, Gold traces his interest in design to a fascination with pop artist Andy Warhol in high school. He started by making patterns for clothing from thrift store fabric. After moving to Utah in 1994, he made party dresses for ‘‘proms and drag queens’’ in a makeshift basement studio.
Gold moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to attend Otis College of Art and Design on a scholarship. He had his first full collection in 1998. After years in Los Angeles and New York, Gold returned to Utah in the intermountain West, where he says he feels more inspired, calm and relaxed.
‘‘To try and insulate yourself from other design is very smart, and Utah really helped me do that,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s better for me personally. It’s definitely not as easy for the business to operate here.’’
Gold’s work is heavily influenced by Victorian designs so it’s not surprising that he came up with the idea of a roach as decoration. In the late 19th century bejeweled, taxidermied beetles were worn as brooches and women’s hats might have displayed a stuffed hummingbird on the brim.
Gold wants his stores to be styled as ‘‘curated centers for design.’’
‘‘It’s a little utopian, but it’s the idea of being able to provide these things for people that makes you feel creative that makes you want to be creative with other people,’’ he said.
‘‘(The roaches) fit because everything we make has this concept of being special and kind of different. And obviously people are buying them, which I shouldn’t say surprises me, but it kind of does sometimes.’’
On the Net:
Jared Gold Designs: http://www.blackchandelier.biz
April 17th, 2006
USA : Ross-Simons teams up with Lauren Koslow
April 15, 2006/Fibre2fashion.com, India
Leading luxury fashion brand and retailer of fine jewelry Ross-Simons is teaming up again with Lauren Koslow, the gorgeous and accomplished actress who plays Kate Roberts on Days of our Lives in a series of on-demand web videos.
Although Ms Koslow’s fans know her as the stunning Kate Roberts in Days of our Lives, she really is a ‘designing woman.’ Her interest in design and jewelry began when she was a theater art major at Virginia State University, where she doubled as an actor and a costume designer.
After college, she won a design award at the prestigious Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival in Washington, DC. Her roots are in New England, having been born in Boston and raised in the area, not far from Ross-Simons’ headquarters in Cranston, Rhode Island.
She said, “For many years, I’ve been a great admirer of Ross-Simons. In fact, I’ve bought some of my favorite pieces of jewelry through the catalog and the Web site.”
She continued, “I’m delighted to have an opportunity to share my passion for beautiful design and great value, especially in advance of Mother’s Day, with both my fans and with Ross-Simons’ customers.”
Ross-Simons is a leading luxury fashion brand and specialty retailer of fine jewelry, tabletop, gifts, collectibles and other home decorative merchandise. Founded in 1952, the company mails over 60 million catalogs annually and provides online shopping. In addition, it operates a total of fifteen stores in nine states.
Ross-Simons
April 17th, 2006
Friedman’s gets a fresh start
Washington Business Journal, DC
Big jewelry retailer relocating to Addison after emerging from bankruptcy
After more than 85 years in Savannah, Ga., Friedman’s Inc., the nation’s third-largest specialty jewelry retailer, is moving its corporate headquarters to Addison.
The company, which recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has signed a 10-year lease for 85,000 square feet at Addison II, a two-story, 180,000-square-foot building near the Dallas North Tollway and Addison Road.
About 100 employees will relocate to North Texas in June. Friedman’s plans to hire another 200 people in the immediate future.
Dallas real estate brokers and brothers Al Leon and Art Leon, along with Al’s son Trip Leon, represented the jeweler in the deal.
“These aren’t clerk jobs, but high-paying jobs,” Al Leon said. “Many of them will have salaries of $100,000 to $200,000 annually.”
Friedman’s, which caters mainly to younger, low- and middle-income buyers of diamonds and gold, has 450 stores in 20 Southeastern, Southwestern and Midwestern states. It has 38 locations in Texas, including seven in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Its first store opened in Savannah in 1920.
“Savannah is a nice place to retire to, but it’s not a major destination point if you have to travel on business a lot,” Al Leon said. “Friedman’s was having a hard timing keeping people and recruiting people.”
That wasn’t the company’s only problem, though.
The relocation to North Texas will give Friedman’s a fresh start after emerging from bankruptcy in December 2005.
Last year also saw the company hit with fraud allegations, executive turnover, earnings restatements and multiple lawsuits.
April 17th, 2006
Put jewelry where your mouth is
Wilmington Morning Star, NC
By Sam Scott
Staff Writer
sam.scott@starnewsonline.com
DaRon Baldwin, a.k.a KYD, could already turn heads with his mouth. The junior at New Hanover High School is a member of Young But Grindin’, a local rap group that has performed all over downtown.
But he has another lure now: a molded white gold mouthpiece that gives him the glinting grin that is much revered in today’s hip-hop fashion.
“Everybody keeps complimenting me on it,†said Baldwin, who limits wearing the jewelry to performances and other special occasions.
Metal and bejeweled “grills†have been around for years. But hyped by rappers like Nelly and Paul Wall, the snap-on jewelry has been a surging trend around the country – and by trickles in the Wilmington area.
“Everybody is asking about them, especially after that song from Nelly,†said Shan Ali, manager of Jasmine Diamonds in Westfield Independence mall, which has a catalog of designs on its counter. Prices begin at $150.
“There’s no end to it,†he said. “The more you want, the more we can do to it.â€
The trend has been limited in Wilmington by difficulty in ordering. Customers have to go to a dentist first to pay for a mold of their teeth, in line with legal requirements, Ali said. Molds can cost $50 to $150.
In bigger cities, some jewelers take the mold themselves, sometimes ignoring rules in certain states that consider taking an impression of someone’s mouth to be unlicensed dentistry. Baldwin got his in Atlanta where the jeweler took the mold and made the jewelry.
Real dentists don’t always smile on the fashion, saying grills risk trapping bacteria, causing gum disease as well as scratching teeth. Matthew Messina, a dentist and spokesman for the American Dental Association, cautioned about reactions to cheap metal and jewelry cleaners, which can burn gums.
“Anytime you put anything on your teeth that are going to slide on and off you have the potential for a multitude of different problems,†said Mark Janosky, a dentist
with the New Hanover Community Health Center.
Brandon Hickman, a local radio disc jockey and Murray Middle School teacher, said the roots of grills go as deep as grandmothers with gold crowns. Flavor Flav, of rap legend Public Enemy, made them big in the 1980s, he said.
This go-round has been fueled by the added ease of ordering on the Internet, Hickman said. The trend probably hit its peak earlier in the year, but any time it seems to be fading, he sees someone new wearing one, he said.
“A lot of cats wear grills,†he said.
This report contains material from the Associated Press.
 
April 17th, 2006
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