jocelynbroyles original designs and jewelry: Initial Charms

Monday, August 17, 2009

Initial Charms

well, when an idea comes at me from more than five different directions, i tend to stand up and take notice, or at least mull over the pros and cons for a few months before i dive in. the idea in question is initial charms. everyone does them, everyone loves them. just not necessarily me. but when my LA rep asked me to do a collection for his showroom, i decided his was the straw that broke my camel's back, or at least got my camel thinking about its back, or something like that.

i spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to make them mildly original, totally handmade, and affordable. here's what i came up with, and low and behold, i love them! i'm wearing all my samples today. (i didn't make 26.)

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How to Clean and Polish Sterling Silver

i get asked all the time about the best way to clean and polish sterling silver. i've got a few answers for you:

1. If you live here in Tamarindo and your jewelry is plain silver or gold with few or no stones, I will happily tumble-polish your pieces for you for a very nominal charge. They come out super shiny and brand-new looking!

2. Recommended for flatware and hollowware - I'll try it on jewelry and let you all know how it works: "In an aluminum pot (or a pot lines with aluminum foil) mix a dilute solution of equal parts of bakin soda, salt and liquid soap. A quarter cup of each to a gallon of water would be a typical mixture. Set the sterling into the pot, bring the mix to a boil and allow to stand for a few minutes. Oxides are transferred to the aluminum. Rinse in water and wash before using." From Tim McCreight's,"The Complete Metalsmith"

3. I use this method all the time on my jewelry: Boil 2-3 Cups water. While the water is boiling, line a glass or plastic container (i use a tupperware container) with aluminum foil. Lay out your jewelry on top of the foil, sprinkle in a generous amount of baking soda (you don't have to burry the jewelry, but give it a light dusting). Pour on the boiling water to cover the jewelry. Let sit for a few mintues to a few hours, depending on how tarnished your pieces were. Rinse in water.

4. You can buy a commercial cream tarnish remover. My favorite is Wright's Silver Cream. You can find this in most hardware and grocery stores in the US.

5. You can also buy a polishing cloth from your local jeweler. They work well and are probably the easiest way to polish jewelry, though the results are not usually as shiny as the other methods.

Today's Favorite Thing

after three weeks of city, i find my treehouse-like view of forest and ocean with narry a buidling, road or person in sight to be utterly calming and utterly beautiful.
the lightening tonight is fabulous, lots of long streaks and few overhead clouds, so you can really see each strike. we get lots of lightening during the wet and it (and it's accompanying thunder) are some of my very favorite things
we discovered the bird's nest seen from out kitchen window is a type of oriole, but not the Baltimore variety

Today's Quote (or quotes if it's a busy day)

"be happy and make choices that allow you to be.. everything is a choice, you just need to accept the choices you make and savor the positves about that choice." -Dan Caplin
"I am old enough to know only too well my good and bad qualities, which were often one and the same." - Lisa See's Herione, from Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
"Your are getting a woman who somewhere along the line misplaced whatever slight faith she ever had in the social contract, in the meliorative principle, in the whole grand pattern of human endeavor." - Joan Didion, from The White Album
"There was always more in the world than men could see, walked they ever so slowly; they will see it no better for going fast. The really precious things are thought and sight, not pace. It does a bullet no good to go fast; and a man, if he be truly a man, no harm to go slow; for his glory is not at all in going, but in being." - John Ruskin, 19th Century artist. From Alain de Botton's, "The Art of Travel"