CyberMonday deal

This is going to be active through today until midnight. 15% off AND free shipping!

Go ahead :).

New photos of new work

I took some photos of my Amuletos collection. I like the contrast of the bright colors against the grey background. I used to take pictures on white only, and now I’m rethinking it.

000

And also there’s some new photos of previously sadly ignored Atenea neckpieces. They look quite nice right (for a non pro)?

There’s still a box of unphotographed items, but I’m making progress. I’ve been trying to take pictures and price all my pieces that for one reason or another (read: I hate setting prices, so I ignore them until I can’t anymore) have been left behind.

I found I have a few of older rings and things lying around that I might put in my store under a ‘sample sale’ category, sort of a cleansing sale. These pieces need a home, they’re all sad inside a box. I’ll keep you posted!

Metal & Mineral: new tumblr image blog

There are so many great images of jewelry and related subjects that I come across that I would like to share (and also some of my pictures that don’t have a proper sharing site) that I got my arm twisted into creating a Tumblr image blog. It’ll be a nice dumping ground for all images (and maybe videos) concerning jewelry, gems and the like. It’s different from this blog because there will be hardly any text accompanying the images, and most of the work featured will be other people’s, and in the case that it’s mine, it’ll probably be a random image that doesn’t take part in a larger blog post like the ones on onmyworktable. It’s a work in progress for now, and the rules are fuzzy still, but I’m excited.

Let me know what you think. Or if you’d like to see something specific on there. I’m all [virtual] ears.

Click here.

Atenea: a new collection

000

I’m happy to be posting about these pieces finally. They are inspired by Greek and Roman mythology, specifically Athena, the “goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Minerva, Athena’s Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes.^“ I have a soft spot for ancient jewelry and ancient techniques, and that’s what I wanted to recreate with this collection.

I made these from brass sheet and silver half jump rings with balled up ends. The brass, with its temperamental attributes, seems to interact with the person wearing the necklace, reacting to body chemistry and changing colors. The warm golden and reddish tones in the metal were a product of the heat from the torch when I balled up the silver wire unions. I decided to embrace the patinas that the metal naturally obtained, and have been pleasantly surprised by how much I like its changing nature.

These pieces are very flattering and comfortable. And there are more coming.

Here’s the link to my store –> Jimena Bolaños on Etsy.

000

*quote from Wikipedia

Conveyor belt pin making, and some news

I needed about a million pins for a few new pieces, so I had to resort to MacGyver tactics. See the photo on the left: I made a tube that measured the same length as the pins I needed, and soldered it to a piece of sheet. Then you just insert the wire into the tube and cut all your pieces the same length and save a lot of time. The only flaw in the design is that the tube was too thin so the pieces got stuck inside and that messed up my flow a bit, but nothing major. All in all, I was pretty happy with my little invention (although I’m sure there’s a tool that does that in some catalog somewhere).

—

As for the news: there are some pretty amazing posts coming this week. We will be getting an insider look into some artists’ work and studios, so stay on your toes because they are really good. They will be a part of a new section in this blog, so hopefully I will keep them coming. Can’t wait to publish the first post and see what you all think!  **EDIT: it will happen this afternoon!**

instagram favorites

Over the past few weeks I’ve grown to really enjoy Instagram. I found a lot of new interesting people to follow, and a good lot of them post pictures of jewelry making, gemstones and workshops! Here’s a selection of some of my ‘hearted’ images over the past few weeks. If you have the app on your phone and you’d like to follow the owners of these photos, here they are:

@777bryan777 (great photos of gemstones, rough and some cut stones) // @amerrymishap (lifestyle blogger and polymer clay jewelry maker)

@topnotchfaceting (stone cutting process photos = drool) // @lisacongdon (art, painting and dogs)

@jaquelinelitchi // @topnotchfaceting [again, yes] // @cali_d (snow and adventures) // @ronaboat

@michellelattner (ceramic art process photos) // @joyeroamarillo (jeweler and stone cutting student)

@aina_joies (barcelona based jeweler) // @crystalgentilello (rue magazine editor in chief)

Hope you enjoy their photos as much as I do.

Brass and dots

The little guys are new in my Etsy store. Hope you like them.

xo

Images from the past few days

I haven’t been too constant posting here, but I always take pictures when I work.Some of these I’ve shared through Instagram (@jimenab).

Here’s a couple weeks’ worth of images of what I’ve been doing. Hope you enjoy.

1. coils for jump rings – 2. cutting solder – 3. etsy order packaged – 4. coconut water on a sick day – 5. scrap gold to make a friend’s wedding bands, in the crucible – 6. big torch melting the gold – 7. etsy orders and gold ingot – 8. start for woven chains – 9. tomato soup

1. chain test – 2. the pieces and the chain – 3. pulling the chain to even out the shape – 4. fusing fine silver jump rings – 5. more fusing – 6. still more fusing, and how the chain should look when finished – 7. about 500 jump rings in peanut form – 8. beaded necklaces for wholesale order – 9. new brass stacking rings for the shop

Table jewelry

I bought this pyrite and quartz specimen a while back and it’s unfortunately unfit for jewelry purposes. Sooo I made it into a piece of ‘table jewelry’, so it wouldn’t have to live in a zipper baggie forever and ever.

Good thing I didn’t make it into a ring because it would’ve crumbled in a thousand pieces in a second – it cracked in half when it was being set here.

This was an exercise in full-on procrastination. I’m glad my avoidance of actual work produced something tangible, instead of just randomly searching the web. There’s a really good term I learned recently that fully describes this type of work: go here.

*most of my images come from my handy phone, so sorry for the iffy quality.

Gemstone and jewelry museum visit

While in Rio, we went to a museum/jewelry store called H.Stern. They’re a very well-known company and they mine stones in Brazil and sell jewelry all over the world. If you’re in Rio and want to visit, they will arrange to pick you up at your hotel and drive you back.

I really enjoyed the museum part, as we got to see everything from rough gemstone specimens, to jewelry designs and actual pieces.

Below is a map of all the mining regions in the whole country and the gemstones that are extracted in each place.

Stone cutting stations:

In order to cut the stones, the piece of mineral is attached to a stick with the red gooey thing called shellack. Shellack is melted using the alcohol lamp seen here and when it cools it gets really hard.

Sanding wheels. Notice how all these have basins to hold water. Stones have to be wet at all times so the friction and heat don’t make them crack.

Imperial topaz: Cut stones on top, bruted (overall shape cut) in the middle, and rough on the bottom.

Faceting wheels. Once the stone has been bruted on the sanding wheels, the stone cutter has to add the facets. Water is always involved and the wheel is covered in diamond dust.

Here you can see the different abrasive compounds used when faceting and how the cutter can hold the stone with the help of the wooden stick.

Another gentleman cutter (they were working while museum visitors stared at them through a window, not awkward at all).

Amethysts cut in different styles.

Their gemology lab. Gemologists are always consulting books.

Gem lab equipment.

Microscopic images of synthetic emerald inclusions and natural emerald inclusions. They look exactly the same to the naked eye, beware!

The jewelry design artists!

Beautiful hand painted earring design layout.

Necklace design.

Finished necklace and framed designs.

Mr. Jeweler and his tools.

Diamonds laid out for a necklace, earrings and ring ensemble.

Different diamond cuts (very hard to see in this photo).

Emerald rough and cut stones. All stones have to be color matched in order to be used in a piece of jewelry together. It’s important that they are as close as possible in hue and saturation.

All in all, a very instructional afternoon. Did you learn anything new?