Organic Gem Materials

Speak Your Heart: Telling Secrets with Acrostic Gemstones

From the JMD archives, here's one of my favorite blog posts ever. Judging from the amount of comments and feedback we received, it was one of your favorites, too! Enjoy this look back... The lovely old acrostic key brooch I saw on Antiques Roadshow
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More, More, More: Our 11 Best Wire Jewelry-Making Tips

Whether it's jewelry making, beading, quilting, knitting, or some other hobby--or even housekeeping--one good tip is enough to make your day and change your world. Friday is Jewelry Making Daily's third birthday (whee!), and here are the 11 most
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Easy Wire Stone Capture: Make Woven Wire Bezels and Cages for Gems, Shells and More

"You can make anything with wire...It's just a fabulous, fabulous medium." This line at the beginning of Janice Berkebile's new jewelry-making workshop, Easy Wire Stone Capture , sums up how I've been feeling about wire lately. It
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Bail Detail: Design Better Pendants with Lexi Erickson

I always like things that are just as pretty on the back as on the front. I know of several professional jewelry designers who put a secret design or tiny gemstone on their pieces as a special little hidden gift for the wearer alone to know about. Nunn
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My Silver Love Affair and the Sterling Silver Alloys: Continuum, Argentium, and Sterlium Plus

Sterling silver has always been my favorite metal to wear, collect, and work with, and like many of you, my fingers are crossed for the day it becomes affordable again (if that ever happens). Meanwhile, I get my little joys from finding a $10 sterling
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My Favorite New Wire Jewelry-Making Tip, Plus Master Basic Wirework with the Pros

Before you master any jewelry-making technique, I've learned that it's important to get a good foundation in the basics. If you start off with sloppy methods or build on bad habits, the problems can just multiply and get so ingrained in your techniques
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What Is Steampunk Design? Plus 3 Free Steampunk Jewelry-Making Projects

Search for Steampunk on Etsy and you'll find over 215,000 results . . . and 35 million on Google. About two years ago, it was only 70,000 on Etsy and 6.5 million on Google. Wow. Needless to say, Steampunk is not going away anytime soon. But what is
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Add Some Zing to Your Earring Designs: Make Asymmetrical Complementary Earrings

Here's a favorite post from Jewelry Making Daily archives a couple of years ago. Enjoy! JMD member freshbakeddesigns shared these mismatched earrings in our member gallery. Love the copper heat patina! Several years ago at the AGTA gem show in Tucson
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Lexi's Gemstone Cabochon Collection: Finding Your Personal Color Palette

This one was way out of my comfort zone, but I had to bring it home. I call it "Leonardo Meets Tim Burton." Do you know what it is? Those of you who have followed my writing on JMD know two things. My absolute passions are writing for JMD and
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Save the Pieces: Recycled, Upcycled Found-Object Jewelry

Whenever something was dropped or broken at my maternal grandmother's house, she'd call out, "Save the pieces!" I never knew what she did with the pieces, but her prudence stuck with me. I love creating recycled, upcycled jewelry with
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Michael Boyd's Basic Stone Setting and Bezel-Making Tips

Setting stones in bezels isn't necessarily hard to do, it just requires more precision and attention to detail than possibly any other jewelry-making technique I can think of, except maybe cutting the stones themselves. Whenever I venture to create
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Beyond Rivets: The Other Cold Connections

I'll be honest: I'd never heard the term " cold connections " until I became the lucky girl editor of Jewelry Making Daily. I'd always just called them connections, cold joins or by their "given" names, like rivets, screws
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Lexi Goes to Europe: Tour Kristallwelt, the Swarovski Crystal Museum

Sensory Overload: Falling in Love with Innsbruck, Swarovski, and Everything Baroque by Lexi Erickson, "Foreign Correspondent" Even thought I live in the Rocky Mountains of the US, I must say that driving into Innsbruck (which means "bridge
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Goodbye February! Everything's Coming Up (Mixed-Media) Roses…and Poppies, and Daisies, and…

Do you find yourself returning to one motif over and over in your jewelry making? For me, it's flowers and stacking about three flower or flower-like components, which I usually make into rings. Whenever I'm in a bead store or at a trade show
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Getting Ready for Tucson: Jewelry-Making Products I Love and Making Way . . . for More Products I Love

As I've been preparing for the Tucson gem, jewelry, and bead (and fossils and minerals and tools) shows this week (I'll be arriving just as you see this, yay!), I've been making a shopping list. I never follow it, mind you, but it helps me
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The Future of Jewelry Design: Get Inspired by the Fretz/RIT Student Tool Challenge

In a recent issue of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine, we shared the metalwork of students at RIT who were challenged to use Fretz miniature hammers and stakes to create metal jewelry designs. Here are some of their inspiring pieces and enlightening
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Top 12 of 2012: A Look Back at the Best of the Year on Jewelry Making Daily

What a fun year we've had making jewelry together! I hope you've all enjoyed learning new techniques and mastering ones you already knew, learning about new jewelry-making tools and supplies, and swooning over gemstones with me. I've learned
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Getting Ready for Tucson with Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Magazine's 2013 Gemstone Price Index

If you're in the gem and jewelry industry, it's time to start getting ready for Tucson. In just a little over a month, tens of thousands of folks involved in all aspects of the jewelry industry--including beaders, jewelry artists and professional
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Gemstones and Fashion: Pantone's Spring 2013 Color Trends and Color of the Year

The news just came out last week: "Emerald" is Pantone's color of the year for 2013. If "emerald" makes you think more of gemstones than fashion colors, welcome to my world! But it's fun for me to see Pantone and other color
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Bezel-Set Stamped, Textured Clay: Make a Unique and Stylish Ring in Minutes

Here's another great project from our friends at Nunn Design, this time from Becky Nunn herself. I particularly loved this ring because the brown stamped clay looks like embossed leather to me--very Bohemian!--and I love the contrast of the shiny
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8 Ways to Set Stones with Jewelry Making Daily: Bezel Setting and Other Stone Setting Techniques

There's so much info packed in our updated free stone-setting eBook, 8 Ways to Set Stones: Bezel Setting and Other Stone Setting Techniques , I don't know how they found room to update it! You'll learn expert stone-setting tips and tricks
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Stone-Setting Challenge: Make Bezels and Set These Three-Stone Earrings

Fellow jewelry makers, are you up for a challenge? This project shows you how to set three differently shaped, unique styles of stones (cabochons, flat beads, and faceted gems)--and then put them all together for a stunning pair of red-carpet-worthy earrings
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At the Drawing Board: Advice from a Fine Jewelry Designer

I've been very lucky to have generous mentors throughout my career who've shared their wisdom about jewelry making, metalsmithing, jewelry design, and gemstones. For the past decade, much of what I've learned about fine jewelry design and
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Guide to Jewelry Design: Ideas and Tips to Make You a Better Handcrafted Jewelry Designer

Ever notice that after you learn a new word, suddenly you start to see that word everywhere? For me, it has been jewelry design elements. I recently bought an old antique buffet for the dining room and when my professional-jewelry-designer friend saw
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How to Solder Jewelry: Lexi Erickson's Memories of Learning to Solder and Her New Soldering eBook

Even after years of soldering experience and those 1,400 times, I still get frustrated by some projects. So don't ever give up! I remember my first foray into soldering bezels. My teacher didn't give us a lot of info, he just demoed a bezel for
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4 Free Metal Clay Jewelry-Making Projects, Plus Make Metal Clay Tools from Household Items

Our free metal clay eBook has had a little makeover! Now instead of just three free metal-clay jewelry-making projects, you'll get four--from expert metal clay artisans Hadar Jacobson, Noël Yovovich, Paula Bastian-de Leon, and Lis-el Crowley
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5 Rings, Unlimited Possibilities: Ring-Making Projects for Every Skill Level

Rings are my favorite jewelry to make . While I was at Bead Fest last week, I made several "tops" to go on rings and bought some metal and lampwork glass components that I intend to wire or solder into rings. "Everything is a ring to me
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 14: Win CraftOptics Telescopes!

Welcome to week 14 of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 13: Win a Wire Jewelry-Making 9-DVD Set from Wire Sculpture!

Welcome to week 13 of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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The Language of Gemstones: Acrostic Jewelry Says It All, In Diamonds, Rubies, Emeralds, Sapphires...

Have you heard about acrostic jewelry? I learned about it watching an old episode of Antiques Roadshow UK a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm fascinated by it. Just what I needed--a new reason to be hooked on gemstones ! The lovely old acrostic key
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Five Things We Love: Great Jewelry-Making Supplies and Tools

As with any specialized hobby or job, the proper tools usually make all the difference. I'm a huge fan of repurposing everyday household items for use in my jewelry shop, and I love finding ways to reuse what might be trash into a jewelry-making tool
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 12: Win Stone Sanding and Polishing Points from Diamond Pacific

Welcome to week twelve of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Practice the Gem Cutter's Magic: Faceting a Gemstone with a Pattern

106.84ct aquamarine Dreamscape TM cut by John Dyer. Photo by Lydia Dyer. Do you have a favorite stone cut? I've always been a fan of the simple understated elegance of the emerald cut, but the magpie in me loves a sparkly round brilliant just as much
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The Big Reveal: My Bead Soup Blog Party 2012 Jewelry Creations

Soup's On! Welcome to the Bead Soup Blog Party 2012 Reveal. (If you don't know what Bead Soup is, check this out first .) First, let me say WELCOME to Jewelry Making Daily , all of you Bead Soup Blog Party blog hoppers who haven't been here
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 11: Win One of Our Best-Selling Jewelry-Making DVD Duos!

Welcome to week eleven of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Over 399 Ways to Be Inspired to Make Great Jewelry: Bead Soup Blog Party 2012

399. Three hundred and ninety-nine! That's how many participants (plus me, 400!) are in this Bead Soup Blog Party (the second one for me). I'm so excited to be participating in the Bead Soup Blog Party again! Last time, I discovered some amazing
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 10: Win a Knew Concepts Saw Frame from Otto Frei

Welcome to week ten of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Polymer Clay Bead- and Jewelry-Making Secrets: Make a Spotted Cane and More

One of the most essential techniques for working with polymer clay is caning, or creating specially designed canes of clay by rolling snakes of colored clay and arranging them together in a particular way to create designs in the cane slices, such as
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 9: Win a Cuff Bracelet from Ad Adornments

Welcome to week nine of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 8: Win a Flexshaft from Contenti

Welcome to week eight of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Make My Wired Pearl Flower Cuff in Under an Hour, Plus More Great One-Hour Bracelets

I've always worked well under pressure. I procrastinate almost all the time and I seem to thrive in timed challenges, such as having to make a piece of jewelry in a specified (short) amount of time. So when we started doing a series of one-hour project
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Polymer Clay Jewelry Artists Share Top Tips, Plus Hot News!

One of the things I love about polymer clay is its versatility. Polymer clay can be used to mimic--or be combined with--just about any other jewelry-making material: wire, metal, found objects, gemstones, mixed-media favorites like paper and fibers .
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 7: Win a $50 Gift Certificate to Fire Mountain Gems

Welcome to week seven of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Metalsmithing How-To: Make Rings for Your Fingers, Rings for Your Toes

Rings for your fingers, rings for your toes . . . I love rings. There was a time, when I was younger, that I wore several rings at once and swapped them out regularly, pairing them up like stack rings on some fingers and even wearing groups of them on
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 6: Win a Resin Jewelry-Making Kit from Rings & Things

Welcome to week six of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Stone Cutting, Carving, and Polishing: 15 Timeless Tips from Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Readers

Stone cutting , carving, faceting, polishing--all lapidary skills that I'm eager to learn. The idea of slicing open a rock to see parts inside that no one has ever seen thrills me! The ability to polish that rock into a gorgeous stone or, even better
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 5: Win the Wubbers Designer Square Mandrel Pliers Set from Wired-Up Beads

Welcome to week five of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 4: Win 25 Sets of 14k Gold-Filled Ear Wires from CGM Findings

Welcome to week four of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! The background: We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 3: Disc Cutter Set from Otto Frei

Welcome to week three of our 22-week-long contest of jewelry-making tools and supplies! We're celebrating Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary by giving away a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most
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Gemstones for Jewelry Making: Why Colored Stones Deserve a Better Name Than "Semi-Precious" Stones

My love of gemstones goes back to my rock-hounding days at about the age of seven. I kept my prized "gemstone" collection in a pink (of course) Styrofoam egg carton, and as I only had twelve spots to work with and many more stones than that
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 2: $50 Gift Certificate for JewelryTools.com

Welcome to week two of our 22-week giveaways of jewelry-making tools and supplies! In celebration of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary, we've gathered a huge collection of jewelry prizes from the industry's most respected
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Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist 65th Anniversary Giveaway, Week 1: Rio Grande's Falcon Diamond Saw Blades

Welcome to the first of a long, hot summer full of jewelry-making tools and supplies Friday giveaways! In celebration of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine's 65th anniversary, we've gathered an impressive collection of new and favorite jewelry
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Chain Making: Take Wire from Functional to Fabulous, Plus 7 Tips on Caring for Chain

Since I've been working at Jewelry Making Daily (good times!), I've gained a whole new appreciation for wire . I used to have a pretty specific view of wirework, but slowly, thankfully, I've realized that wire is everywhere in jewelry making
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Gemstone Adventures: Mine for Moonstone and Learn to Set it in Jewelry

The recent full moon was so large and bright (earning itself "supermoon" status), so pretty in the spring sky, I found myself gazing at it as I traveled around Louisiana over the past weekend. Perhaps it's the gemstone training (or gem geekiness
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Make Easy Molds for Easy and Memorable Metal Clay Designs

In a recent meeting of my local metal clay guild, someone shared the idea of using Play-Doh to make metal clay molds. It's inexpensive and readily available, it's hard when it dries, and it comes in convenient little sealed containers that are
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Polymer Clay Jewelry Making: Learn How to Make Polymer Clay Jewelry with 5 Free Projects

Versatile. That's the first word that comes to mind when I think of polymer clay jewelry making. The other words that come to mind when I think about making jewelry with polymer clay are forgiving, affordable, colorful, fun, and easy, but the first
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Jewelry Design: Taking Cues from the Ultimate Designer, Mother Nature

Ask any jewelry designer (or designer of most anything, for that matter) what inspires them, and I bet more often than not, they'll say nature. I find myself picking up random things in the wild everywhere I go because they have a neat pattern or
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Look What I Found: Faceted Polymer Clay Beads Tutorial

Photo by Eugena Topina of Polymer Tutorials . I recently came across a great faceted polymer clay bead tutorial that was too good not to share. I rave about polymer clay as a jewelry-making medium because it can resemble just about anything you want it
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Part Two: Patina and Texture, a Jewelry Maker's Essential Tools by Ronna Sarvas Weltman

Editor's note: Ronna Sarvas Weltman is a contributing editor for Step by Step Wire Jewelry and author of Ancient Modern: Polymer Clay and Wire Jewelry . She teaches workshops in polymer clay and wire jewelry making . Ronna creates artisan jewelry
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Stone Setting: Basic Bezel-Making Tips and Techniques from Michael Boyd

by Michael Boyd In our shop, we make hundreds if not thousands of bezels each year--sometimes twenty, thirty, and even up to fifty bezels for one piece of jewelry! Bezels offer the jewelry maker a nicely integrated gemstone setting that is secure as well
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Learn How to Make Wire Jewelry: Designs for Making Wire Jewelry with 6 Wire Jewelry Making Techniques

I've gained a new passion and respect for wire jewelry in the past two years, and it's largely due to discovering how versatile wire and wire jewelry making is. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there's almost no jewelry to be made without
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Lampwork Glass Beads: Favorite Jewelry Projects

Sometimes we just get so enamored with jewelry-making goodies that we have to put ourselves on a stash diet for our own good. For metal clay enthusiasts, I think it's probably texture sheets (if not metal clay itself). There's always a new color
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Quick and Easy: Modern Polymer Clay Earrings

Are you looking for a forgiving, easy to use, versatile, affordable medium to add to your jewelry-making repertoire? Let me introduce you to my friend, polymer clay. Surely you've heard about him, but do you realize what he can do for you? Polymer
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Fun Gem "Facts": Add Color and Intrigue to Your Jewelry Designs with Meaningful Gemstones

I didn't think I could get even fonder of gems, but when I saw all the gemstone slices all over Tucson, my (already substantial) passion for them grew even greater. I've seen gem slices before, of course--who hasn't seen watermelon tourmaline
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Part Three: Make a Custom Reticulated Silver Cabochon Bezel

Continued from part two of Make a Custom Reticulated Silver Cabochon Bezel. 24. Clamp the spread end in a vise and bend to a right angle. 25. Using your hands, bend the square wire 180° around a 3/8" diameter steel rod clamped in a vise. 26.
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Part One: Make a Custom Reticulated Silver Cabochon Bezel

To follow up on the introductory cabochon-cutting tutorial from last week , Tom and Kay Benham also created a custom bezel to fit that freeform turquoise cabochon that features reticulated silver. Reticulation uses a torch flame to add interesting, natural
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Setting Stones in Bezels: Tools and Tips from Expert Tim McCreight

Creating bezels and setting stones in them are among the most difficult and rewarding skills to master in metalsmithing. The key to a successful bezel lies in making very precise measurements and then making very precise cuts to match those measurements
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Unlimited Possibilities: Making Jewelry with "Delicate, Organic, Exquisite" Polymer Clay

Having spent so many years working in the craft industry, I have been familiar with polymer clay for a long time--but hardly ever in terms of jewelry making . And after spending so much time working with gemstones and the cool hardness of metal, the versatility
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Gemstones for Jewelry Making: Pantone's Spring 2012 Color Palette

I'm passionate about color and all of its little nuances. I'm fascinated by the different appearances a single color can have based upon the light it's viewed under, and I get satisfaction from identifying multiple hues in an object that appears
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Bronze Metal Clay: My First Impressions and the Charm Swap

I participated in my first metal clay charm swap last month during our L'Esprit du Metal guild's holiday party, and now I have a beautiful bracelet full of talent, friendship, and special memories. If you're a member of a metal clay guild
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Resin Confessions and Foolproof Solutions: 15 Resin Jewelry-Making Tips and Fixes

I have a confession to make: I get nervous when I'm going to make jewelry with resin . My fears are totally unfounded--I was taught by experts, use the best materials, and follow instructions exactly--but I still inexplicably hold my breath when I'm
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Polymer Clay Jewelry Making Tips from Clay Expert Lisa Pavelka

After over a decade of working in the crafting industry, I can't think of polymer clay without thinking of Lisa Pavelka . She's a polymer clay designer, teacher, author, television personality, and product creator--in short, she knows her stuff
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Lights, Camera . . . Gemstones: Lighting Tips for Gem and Jewelry Photography

by Merle White, Editor-in-Chief of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Shoot--it's hard to shoot gemstones ! Everything that makes them so interesting to look at also makes them challenging to photograph. Each of these stones alone has its own photography
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My Favorite Gemstone . . . at the Moment: Cutting a Spinner Quartz

by Merle White, Editor-in-Chief of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Viewed face up, my spinner quartz shows the same needle of rutile reflected around the stone. Am I ever going to do something with that spinner quartz I bought at last year's Tucson
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Guide to Jewelry-Making Techniques: How to Make Jewelry with 5 Free Jewelry Projects

I love being able to share my passion for jewelry making with new makers, especially ones who are learning new jewelry techniques such as wirework and even metalsmithing, including fun techniques like texturing, doming, and soldering metal, bezel making
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Selling Handmade Jewelry Online: Tips for Great Photography

It doesn't matter how long you've been making jewelry and getting compliments on it from friends and strangers--it's still scary to sell your jewelry , to put your work out there for the world to see! I'll never forget the last few days
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Trash-to-Treasure Jewelry: Make Art Jewelry With Me Using Gifts from the Sea

Beachcombing has always been one of my favorite pastimes. Through years of family vacations and girls' weekend trips, my mother and I have visited dozens of beaches on the east and gulf coasts--including nearly every beach from the Outer Banks of
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Gem, Jewelry, and Lapidary Classifieds

Gem, Jewelry, and Lapidary Classifieds E-mail our Classified Advertising representative for more information. How to Search the classifieds with Internet Explorer or Netscape ANTIQUE/ESTATE JEWELRY AUCTIONS BEAD SHOPS BEADS/BEAD SUPPLIES BOOKS & VIDEOS
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Jewelry Classes

Jewelry Classes Welcome to our Jewelry Classes listings. Find the finest jewelry workshops, courses, techniques and instructors at a jewelry program near you. If you would like to list your school or jewelry workshop, please contact Monica Turner at 1
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Tell Me A Story: Fun Facts About Gemstones Add Interest to Your Handmade Jewelry

I love being able to tell people a little something about the gemstones I use to make the jewelry they buy from me. I think a fun response to "What a pretty necklace!" would be "Thank you, it's aquamarine--did you know that sailors
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Customer Favorites and Editor's Picks: The Best of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Magazine

Since I started here at Jewelry Making Daily about a year ago, I've slowly but surely doubled my collection of back issues of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist magazine. Every once in awhile I get a happy email from a coworker that goes something like
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Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers: A Million (okay, 17) Silver Jewelry-Making Tips

I've been like a kid awaiting Santa Claus since I learned about our new silversmithing book, Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers: A Handbook of Techniques and Surface Treatments. (Is it here yet? Is it here yet?) I couldn't even get my hands on
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6 More Silver Jewelry-Making Tips from Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers

Enjoy these six bonus silversmithing tips from Elizabeth Bone's book Silversmithing for Jewelry Makers: A Handbook of Techniques and Surface Treatments , a must-have comprehensive silversmithing resource! Create unique surface treatments in the texturing
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It's Sparkle (Jewelry) Season: Make Earrings for the Holiday Party Season

I looove this time of year. Leaves falling, warm bright blue-sky days, crisp chilly nights . . . and when all that natural beauty gives way to dreary cold, dark days, there's still something else to love about autumn: the beginning of the holiday
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Mixed-Media Jewelry: Using Found Objects in Handmade Jewelry

By Ronna Sarvas Weltman I love mixed-media jewelry. I love that it flaunts any rules of what goes with what. Diamonds with Legos? Fair game. I love that it points out possibilities, showing us that this chipped game piece or that faded ribbon can take
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6 Reasons Not to Miss the Newest Series of Beads, Baubles, and Jewels

I get excited every time a new series of Beads, Baubles and Jewels comes out. Each one gets better than the ones before, and there's so much to talk about, I never know where to begin. The newest series is packed full of dozens of handcrafted jewelry
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The Versatility of Metal Clay: Making a Customized Rosary

I made a rosary for a very dear friend's birthday about a year ago, and I believe I learned as much making it as I have in any other jewelry-making endeavor I've ever had. I am not Catholic, so I had to do a bit of research to learn how to make
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Wire Wrapping with the Cougar: Wire Jewelry Q&A with Dale "Cougar" Armstrong

Even though I've written about wire jewelry many times and even this author in particular, I've never done an interview with Dale "Cougar" Armstrong. High time, don't you think? When I heard she was a rock hound like me, I couldn't
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Part One: Patina and Texture, A Jewelry Maker's Essential Tools by Ronna Sarvas Weltman

Ronna Sarvas Weltman is a contributing editor to Step-by-Step Wire Jewelry and author of Ancient Modern: Polymer Clay and Wire Jewelry . She regularly teaches workshops in polymer clay and wire jewelry making. Ronna creates artisan jewelry using sterling
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Jewelry-Making Inspiration to Revive Your Stash

Every time I try to clear out my stash of jewelry-making supplies, it's the same story. I'm too attached, even to ones that I've had for a long time and still not used. I can't give them away just because I don't know what I want to
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My First Bead Swap: Mining Our eMags for Inspiration

I'm so excited to be taking part in my first bead-swap blog party! I was thrilled to be invited to Lori Anderson's 2011 Bead Soup Blog Party (there are over 300 participants this year!) and couldn't wait to join in. I sent Lesley turquoise
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Add Some Zing to Your Earrings: Make Mismatched Earring Designs

Several years ago at the AGTA gem show in Tucson, I was shadowing a gem buyer, my friend and mentor, while he was buying high-end gemstones. After he purchased several coordinating but not matched pairs, he said that designers who create mismatched earrings
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Tell Me a Story: Top Designers Share the Creative Tales Behind Favorite Jewelry-Making Projects

Whenever I sell a piece of jewelry, the buyers (and browsers) often ask me the story behind a piece. Sometimes I can tell them where I found some unusual old metal found object I've used in it, or I'll describe the thing--art, other jewelry, flowers
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Behind the Pages of Wire Art Jewelry Workshop with Sharilyn Miller

It's no surprise: I love craft books, and jewelry-making books in particular. Seeing the projects and reading what designers write always makes me want to know more about the authors and the background behind each project. Did you catch my interview
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10 Things to Love About Bracelets and Our New Everyday Bracelets eMag

Do you ever get the feeling that the universe has you bugged? Not in a conspiracy theory sort of way, but just in an "Oh yeah? Well watch this!" sort of way? Because just a few weeks after I wrote about bracelets being mostly special-occasion
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Copper Clay Tips from Arlene Mornick

Since I first discovered it about ten years ago at a craft trade show, metal clay has been my favorite medium ever , for jewelry making or any other craft. I can't talk about it without saying the word "magic" over and over. I thought silver
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Bezel Settings Love Stones

You can set faceted stones of any shape and flat gemstone slices equally well in bezels. Helen Blythe-Hart's "Watermelon Parfait Pendant." Photo: Jim Lawson. I Love Stones, So I Love Bezel Settings The first time I saw a faceted stone in
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Soldering Made Simple: Create Easy Textured Silver Stack Rings

Rings are my favorite piece of jewelry to collect, wear, and make. Fortunately, the ring design possibilities are endless when you combine sterling silver wire with texturing tools such as hammers and files. (I prefer standard 8-gauge half-round, but
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Carats of Carrots and Christian Hemmerle's Gemstone Vegetable Brooches

Welcome to Stuff We Love, a fun catch-all sort of place where we can share inspiring jewelry designs and jewelry-making products! Christian Hemmerle's corn brooch. Photo from JCK. I was so enamored with today's topic that I created this new blog
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Using Gems in Jewelry: Tips and Advice from the Pros

My gem-geek-ness is no secret; I'm drawn to colorful gemstones --spinel, ruby, tourmaline, and some garnets, especially, and my beloved pearls, of course--like a moth to a flame. Sometimes when I'm working at my bench, I think that I might make
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Make Art Jewelry Out of Anything: Techniques for Using Plastic, Concrete, and More in Your Jewelry Designs

Based on the cover and the title, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry-Making Techniques was about. I felt like I knew what the jewelry inside probably looked like, what the how-tos and instructional pieces
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Arm Candy: Learn to Make 10 Bracelet Designs

Layering Bracelets in Fashion When I think of jewelry trends over the past few years, stacking and layering seems to be The Big Thing. It seems the fashion world has decided that instead of some specific style, anything goes--and more is more. So people
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Make Quick & Easy Jewelry To Sell: 101 Stylish Wire Earrings and Ear Wires

Super simple, super stylish Carnelian Coils by Denise Peck. I often get asked for advice from jewelry makers interested in making and selling jewelry at craft shows, online, or in local shops and markets. Making jewelry to sell is one of the first things
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Smokin' Stones: The Great "Jasper" Gemstone Riddle

Here's a gemstone riddle for you. When is jasper not necessarily jasper? When it's Red Creek "jasper" from China! And frankly, it's not red either--although there are some lovely red tones in it, along with exquisite shades of yellow
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Nature's Beads: Make Meaningful Jewelry with Genuine Gemstones

I began my jewelry-making hobby (and now, career) with gemstones . Their infinite variety of colors, shapes, and special characteristics like phenomena and texture are endlessly inspiring to me, and I love the "realness" of genuine gemstones
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The Life of a Jeweler's Apprentice

In the past six months or so, I think I've been one of the luckiest girls in the world. I've gotten to learn many new jewelry-making techniques through face-to-face interaction with masters at their arts. I learned to enamel on copper, and I spent
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5 Jewelry Techniques + 5 Must-Have How-Tos = 1 Great Jewelry-Making Library

Crafters in general (jewelry makers too) are notorious for our supply stashes, but working in a "making" industry of one sort or another for over ten years now makes mine different, because I have to have all this stuff for work. Riiiight. I
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Learn the Complete Lapidary Experience: Hunt, Cut, and Set Gems

I've been a fan of rock-hunting since I was a little girl, when I could find quartz, mica, and pyrite just about anywhere. Now there are some interesting mineral specimens and pieces of lapidary rough in my rock and gem collection, and learning to
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7 Ways to Riff on Jewelry Design

Silver-in-quartz in silver bezel setting by Helen Driggs; photo: Jim Lawson One of my favorite effects in jewelry design is echoing some aspect of the main or focal element elsewhere in the piece. I especially love it when a really interesting gemstone
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Behind the Little Paper Strips: 5 Tips from My Jewelry-Making Books

On this, the fourteenth day of my big move, I've found my books. Hallelujah! If there's anything I like about moving, it's unpacking beloved treasures and deciding where they will live in the new house. I usually save books for last, though
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Jewelry Artist Roger Halas Talks About Design and Inspiration

Karla Rosenbusch is the managing editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Through my work on Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist , I've been very privileged in getting to know several top jewelry artists and jewelry makers. One of those artists is Roger
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Where can you learn everything you need to know about colored gemstones?

Karla Rosenbusch is the managing editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Akoya pearls freshwater pearls Tahitian pearls South Sea pearls Pearl photos by Jim Lawson. Pssst! Can I let you on a little secret? Until I started working at Interweave a few
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Polymer Clay Art Jewelry Making: Tips and Ideas from the Pros

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Polymer clay is like an old friend that keeps popping up throughout the years of my crafty how-to career. I'm happy to have it back now in the form of gallery-quality art jewelry, and I've called
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Silver Jewelry-Making for Everyone: Intro to the 5 Silversmithing Techniques

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. If the word silversmithing intimidates you, get ready to get excited! I recently had a discussion with Jewelry Making Daily 's Facebook friends about what we wish someone had told us when we first
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Q&A Part One: Wire Art Jewelry Workshop Author Sharilyn Miller

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Craft books are full of fun anecdotes and other glimpses into the author's personality, and that just makes me want to know more about the authors and the stories behind the projects. So I was excited
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Your First Metalsmithing Project: Create Textured Copper Earrings

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. My first metalsmithing experience resulted in these handmade textured copper earrings. My friend and teacher, metalsmith Lexi Erickson, taught me how to saw and then set me loose, helping me quickly turn
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Easy Wire Jewelry: Make a Wire Ring in Minutes

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Copper Top Ring by Denise Peck Rings are my favorite type of jewelry to make. I think they are easier than earrings (because you only have to make one instead of a matching pair) and easier than necklaces
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Spring in my Step: Tammy's Favorite Jewelry-Making E-Projects

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. It's nearly 70 degrees and sunny here today, and even though it's still February, I've just been hit with a ferocious bout of spring fever! My to-do list is a mile long, but it's all going
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Wireworking Tips: Before I Read Wire Art Jewelry Workshop, I Didn't Know. . .

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. One of the best perks about my job is all of the great jewelry-making books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs I get to review—especially the advance copies. I feel like someone has just told me a wonderful
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Color Design Trends: Hot (and Cool) Picks for 2011

Helen Driggs is the managing editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . Pantone’s regatta and blue curacao would be in this color family. Aqua and turquoise are generally good colors for any skintone. This group of gems includes amazonite, tourmaline
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The Fabulous 5: Tammy's Favorite New (and Inspiring) Jewelry-Making Products

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Didn't we agree we were going to do more silversmithing projects this year? Today January is officially over, and I haven't made a single piece of silver jewelry. I've been savoring all the
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Make A Mokume Gane Heart Pendant

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Mokume Gane Heart Pendant by Roger Halas Roger Halas is a self-taught lapidary, metalsmith, and jewelry designer in southern California. When not making jewelry, he works as a professional photographer
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Gemstones: The School of Hard Rocks—I mean, Knocks

Helen Driggs is the managing editor for Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . I'm one of those students who learns best when I have totally screwed up. In the past year I have destroyed more gemstone than in my entire life before this, out of pure ignorance
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Best Jewelry-Making Blogs of 2010, Best Wishes for 2011—and a Great Sale to Get You Started!

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Hearing all the "year in review" news this time of year always reminds me—time flies when you're having fun, and I've had so much fun being with all of you these past months. Many
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Happy Holidays To You! Save 30% Off All E-Projects

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. The tree is twinkling, my family is nearby, something in the oven smells deeelish, and there's a fire crackling in the fireplace . . . that sounds like a heavenly Christmas Eve, to me. The past few
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Tucson Is Coming! 5 Gem and Jewelry Show Essentials from Karla

Karla Rosenbusch is the associate editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Every year about this time, I start thinking past the holidays and looking forward to the annual Tucson jewelry, gem, mineral, fossil , and bead shows in January and February
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Want It, Love It: Tammy's Top 9 Holiday Gift Picks for Jewelry Makers

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Whew, what a weekend! The turkey was eaten, the tree was decorated, and I shopped 'til I dropped and then some. Now it's time to get serious about jewelry gifts for family and friends. Whether
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Merle's Top 7 Holiday Gifts for Jewelry Makers

Merle White is editor-in-chief of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . Just out, the December 2010 Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist issue is my favorite of the moment. My favorite is always whatever I've just discovered. I still love the old standbys
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Best of Wire Jewelry: 100+ Wire-Jewelry Tips Plus Project Previews

Viking Knit by Kathleen Pierce Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. I had a treat waiting on me when I got home from a business trip this week: The Best of Step by Step Wire Jewelry magazine. I look forward to hearing how much you love your
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Alternative (and Affordable!) Gemstones for Your Jewelry-Making Projects

Karla Rosenbusch is the associate editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Well, I admit it. I'm a stone addict. Yes, that sounds really bad, but what I mean is that I love gemstones . And when it comes to the stones I select for my jewelry, the
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Wire and Gemstones: A Match Made in Heaven

Carol Dean Naukam's turquoise and onyx wire-wrapped bracelets Denise Peck is the editor of Step by Step Wire Jewelry and the senior editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . One of the best things about designing wire jewelry is being able to showcase
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Tammy’s Favorite Gem Resources: Buy Two, Get One Free

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. I've been a rock hound since I was a little girl. I kept my primitive rock collection—which consisted mostly of quartz, pyrite, and mica—in a pink foam egg carton, and it was among my
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Metal Clay Magic: Flexible Textures and Easy Stone Settings

Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. I'll never forget when I first discovered metal clay, about eight years ago at a craft trade show. As the demo artist was working it, firing it and, most miraculously, burnishing it to a brilliant
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Five Free Stone-Cutting Projects and Techniques

Cabochon, Faceting, Inlay, Slabbing, and Trim Saw Setup--Plus Bonus Dopping Tips Tammy Jones is the editor of Jewelry Making Daily. Gemstone faceting has always fascinated me. What optimism and foresight lapidaries must have, to study an unexceptional
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Easily Explore a Year of Jewelry Design

Merle White is editor-in-chief of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . When I read Lexi Erickson's September 24 post on Jewelry Making Daily about the five principles of jewelry design , I immediately thought about a pair of exercises we featured in
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New Jewelry Making Daily Editor and a New Handcrafted Jewelry Special Issue!

Over the past six months since our launch, the Jewelry Making Daily community has grown phenomenally. We knew you’d love our mix of top-notch content—from Helen’s metalsmithing tips to Denise’s insider wire-working how-to's
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Enrich Your Jewelry Designs with the Spirit of King Tut

Helen Driggs is the Managing Editor for Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . When I was in art school, I was privileged enough to see the first exhibition of King Tut's treasures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I marveled at the gold
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Make Masterpieces from Mistakes

Karla Rosenbusch is the managing editor of Jewelry Making Daily and associate editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. My new aqua terra jasper and Canadian jade necklace. See if you can spot the mistakes. I would love to tell you that all of my jewelry
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Karla’s Top Seven Jewelry-Making Picks

Karla Rosenbusch is the managing editor of Jewelry Making Daily and associate editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Happy Labor Day, everyone! Do you have any big plans for the holiday? Personally, I plan to spend the day in my favorite way-curled
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What’s Your Wire Style? Take the Quiz!

Linda Gettings' 3x3 chain maille bracelet. Sara Richardson is a guest editor for Jewelry Making Daily . I'm often asked how I would define my jewelry style. For me, it's hard to define; I've had to explore many jewelry making techniques
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Get Your Free Stone Setting eBook!

Tom and Kay Benham's opal and lapis earrings from 7 Ways to Set Stones: Bezel Setting and Other Stone Setting Techniques . Karla Rosenbusch is the managing editor of Jewelry Making Daily and associate editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. There
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Find 12 Months of Jewelry Making – Fast!

Merle White is editorial director of Interweave's Gem & Jewelry Group and editor-in-chief of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist . Timeless Information The rich colors in Helen Blythe-Hart's Watermelon Parfait Pendant from July 2007, remind me
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Intergem at Idar-Oberstein

Organiser Intergem Messe GmbH John-F.-Kennedy-Str. 9 55743 Idar-Oberstein GERMANY Phone ++49 (0) 6781 568 722 00 Fax ++49 (0) 6781 568 722 72 office@intergem.de www.intergem.de Venue Messe Idar-Oberstein John-F.-Kennedy-Str. 9 55743 Idar-Oberstein GERMANY
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Gemmys

The Gemmys are an annual contest for lapidaries presented by Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. Categories include: Faceted Gems Stones must be flat faceted; concave or convex faceted stones should be entered in the Specially Cut division. Cabochon Gems
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Tumble Polishing Chains

From Tom and Kay Benham, Contributing Editors, Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist If you are interested in tumbling chains to polish/burnish them, but don't like the tangles, here's a simple way to tumble several chains at once without spending hours
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Lapidary World I

Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia 3 Plantation Avenue, 2450 E-mail: admin@search-the-world.com, Web: www.lapidaryworld.com Meeting Information: We have a vast data base of information about lapidary and associated hobbies including: gemstones
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International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA)

19 W. 21st St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10010; (212) 620-0900; fax (212) 352-9054; e-mail ica@gemstone.org. A nonprofit organization representing wholesalers, miners, and cutters of colored gemstones from 41 countries. The association's goal is to
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American Society of Gemcutters

P.O. Box 826, Beavercreek, OR 97004-0826; (603) 632-4826. Rick Ford, Director. Anglic Gemstone is the official publication.
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American Gem Trade Association (AGTA)

3030 LBJ Freeway, Suite 840; Dallas, TX 75234; (800) 972-1162; fax (214) 742-7334; e-mail info@agta.org. Douglas K. Hucker, Executive Director. The AGTA represents the interests of the natural-colored gemstone industry in the United States and Canada
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