January 16, 2004:  We have a winner in our Win a Gemstone Necklace and Help Martha Bear Contest - Congratulations, Colleen!

I just found out Canada is the third largest producer of diamonds in the world.  Botswana comes first and then Russia, but Canada?  Well, yippee.  Canada is a country that isn't known for traffic in stolen diamonds and where the workers aren't exploited.  I hope. 

January 20, 2004:  I recently received an e-mail from a reader who took me to task for lumping crafting in with beading.  The gist of her message was that the higher levels of the beading art have nothing to do with the hobby of crafting.  While I can see her point - beading is to crafting as the works of Michelangelo are to the products of paint by numbers kits - there are a few of things I've been considering.

• The making of something is a craft.  The making of something beautiful is an art.
• The work of the world's best beaders is museum quality and should only be worn to state dinners, opera balls and coronations.
• Anyone can string beads or macaroni and produce something wearable for lawn mowing or a quick trip to the dry cleaners.
• Both degrees of creation or crafting exist in the real world as do all the points in between.  We generally know where we fall on the skill level scale of these things.
• The world needs macaroni bead necklace makers - especially the small ones - to evolve into true beaders.

January 30, 2004:  As you can tell, we're in the midst of a long-term website remodel.  The old jewelry pages contain some very weird code and the pictures have to be resized so I haven't jumped right in to do them first as I should have.  But last night's work on the Boudicca page showed me the error of my ways.  I won't recount the problems - just know the jewelry pages have moved up to number one in terms of need for improvement.  Of course, I'd rather be beading.

February 6, 2004:  I always have an excuse as to why I haven't been writing here or putting up new jewelry pictures or whatever, but you know how it is - more to do than any three people could work on and do well.

I'm planning another weird contest for which I haven't made the prize (necklace, what else?), getting Jane Marie's new romance novel, The Goodbye Lie, ready for the printer and cleaning up the site in odd moments.  You've heard this all before in some form or another.  Or you've said something similar yourself.  We're all too busy.

What ties this all together is the e-mail I got yesterday with yummy pictures of beads in all the Valentine colors.  This led me to remember Valentine's Day and the people I love.  I'm guilty of neglecting those I care about in favor of work that I could put off for an hour or a day.  And that's not a better thing.  So in the spirit of the holiday, here's a big public hug for my family and friends.

Carolyn recently wrote about soldering sterling silver.  I made some references to this last year and never followed up with the fact that I'm not thrilled with the results produced by silver solder and a soldering iron.  Sometimes, I just junk findings that aren't up to standard.  One day, I will sell my sterling scraps and make big bucks.  If you need to solder, you really need to torch the piece in question to get a secure bond.

February 15, 2004:  Whew!  the Valentine's Day rush is over and it's time to think about the next jewelry holiday, which would be Mother's Day.  I don't do charms or rings that represent children, but there must be something I could design that would remind mothers of their children AND look good.  The problem with all the stuff on the market is the colors representing birth months don't always look great together. 

What if ... ?

February 18, 2004:  I had to turn down the opportunity to make a necklace to match a bracelet that was given to a kind friend to our site.  There is so many beads out there from so many sources that perfect matches aren't as easy as we would like.  On the other hand, complementary matches are often possible.

February 21, 2004:  Daughter Jill and I made our annual pilgrimage to Oklahoma County's Friends of the Library Book Sale this morning.  I understand it's the largest of its kind in the country.

I have never seen beading books or magazines there, but this year I was either thorough or lucky.  I found 20 back issues of Gems and Jewelry.  Now I just need a quiet moment to see what I can learn from all those dusty pages.

February 29, 2004:  It's Academy Award night and the stars are getting paid to wear fabulous jewels.  Something isn't right there.  Wouldn't you wear them for free?  (Yes, I understand the value of publicity - don't write.)

There's a new public awareness campaign called "No Dirty Gold."  It has two main points:

• Gold mining pollutes
• Gold miners - especially in the Third World are generally exploited

Professional Jeweler quotes mining activist Daniel Owusu-Koranteng of Ghana, "Our people have suffered beatings, imprisonment, and murder for standing up for our community rights against multinational mining companies."

I, personally, would rather pay a little more and know the people who scratch gold and precious stones from this planet have a decent lifestyle. 

For more info on a particularly nasty portion of the whole sorry mess, read Glitter & Greed: The Secret World of the Diamond Cartel.  The mini-review is in the right hand column of this page.

March 4, 2003:  I've been trying to clear up loose ends, but until the taxes and the site overhaul are done (yeah, right), forget it.  I did, however, finally finish the prize for our newest contest:

We Can't Give You A Car

So We're Giving Away a Second Goodbye Lie Necklace

click on the photo of necklace #2 to enlarge it

this contest has closed

March 18, 2004:  Yesterday's flying trip to Dallas yielded a bonus visit to the Dallas Museum of Natural History to see the Duval Collection, a fantastic raw gemstone exhibit.  While the rest of the museum didn't thrill us, the huge hunks of gorgeous rock were just that.  Yum. 

See rock photos at right →

April 1, 2004:  This is not an April Fool's joke.  I just discovered you can download some of the work of P. G. Wodehouse, my very favorite author, at Project Gutenberg.  This includes The Gem Collector, which I have never read.  I am so excited.  Now I really want an ebook reader.

April 9, 2004:  I seem to have been spending a lot of time lately pondering the international gem trade.

While almost everyone likes pretty things, there is a big difference between the simple bead lust that sweeps over me when I go to a bead show or a bead store or even get a new catalog and the terrible greed that causes some people to kill and maim and exploit to get their hands on the portable wealth of the gem world.

Gemstone miners and their families depend on the limited benevolence of mining cartels and unstable governments to survive at very bottom of the food chain.  The good news is some progress, aimed at limiting the exploitation of these miners, is being made via "the Kimberley Process, a United Nations-backed scheme to halt illicit trading by compelling all trading or producing countries to issue a certificate of origin for every diamond, to guarantee it does not come from a conflict zone," according to Peggy Jo Donahue for Professional Jeweler. 

While I skeptically muse about the ease of counterfeiting certificates and bribing officials, it eases my conscience to know something / anything is being done for the people who labor so hard to give us beauty.

April 17, 2004:  Last year, we set off on a bead store hunting expedition and came up short.  Today, we went to Edmond, OK in search of a sandwich shop that was having a grand opening in some location or other.  We don't get to Edmond everyday and had no trouble at all in missing the grand opening.  But we literally stumbled into Bead Attic, a small bead store I've been wanting to visit for a long time. 

And they just happened to have a few beads I actually needed.  That's the beauty of local shops.  They may be more expensive, but they are right there when you need them - once you locate them in the first place.

May 2, 2004:  I went to Friendze the other day and was, as always, stunned by the prices.  However, I found some pineapple quartz I couldn't live without and bit the high cost bullet.

Pineapple Quartz is very pale yellow hand cut glass.  [Strawberry quartz is reddish pink hand cut glass.]  These manmade "gemstones" are part of a several thousand year old trend that spoofs Mother Nature and can fool the uneducated buyer.

If you know what you're getting and you like what it looks like, pay your money and enjoy your purchase.  Just be aware:

• Some fake diamonds are so good jewelers can't easily tell they aren't real.
• Many natural gemstones, such as citrine, are heat treated or lasered to improve or change their color.  Some, like turquoise or emerald, are "filled" with oils or polymers, to enhance their color.
• Special effect gemstones can be beautiful. 
• Certificates can be forged.

May 20, 2004:  From time to time, we carry vintage jewelry on our Martha Bear's Favorites page.  There are basic criteria for buying older pieces.

• Don't overspend - keep to your budget, feel comfortable with the purchase price and know the value of a high priced piece before you plunk down your hard earned cash.
• Check the quality and condition carefully - repairs decrease the value.
• Ask the seller what he or she knows about the piece.
• Decide if you're going to wear the piece or hope to make a killing on a resale down the road.

May 25, 2004:  Would you believe that less than two days ago I was walking down Broadway (the Broadway) when I glanced across the street, saw a fabulous looking bead store and kept on walking?

Yes children, we were so tired from our whirlwind weekend (details in July 2004 issue of Gracious Jane Marie, the newsletter) I not only didn't have the energy to convince my family to cross the street to look at beads, but I also didn't have the strength to do it myself!!!

This will haunt me forever.

June 1, 2004:  With summer's bright colors and brief clothes, I'm seeing more anklets among the friends of the CDO and her sister.

Since I've never made an anklet in my life, we are fortunate to be allied with Exotic India, a company that carries all kinds of jewelry and jewelry making materials.

Suggesting affiliated companies is one of the ways we supplement our offerings to you.  It also helps our bottom line just a little and doesn't cost you a penny - always a good things since this site is expensive to run.

June 11, 2004:  Now that school is well and truly out our CDO is faced with several tasks: 

• summer reading
• finishing her room (see right column) so I can turn her old one into my new office and jewelry workroom - I won't gain any space, but I will be able to put everything in one (white-painted) location (except, of course, for the finished jewelry that lives in a safety deposit box).  Then, with a GPS device, Jane Marie will be able to know the exact location of our World Headquarters.

Once the big move happens, I'll be able to concentrate on building up the jewelry inventory for the holiday selling season.

June 19, 2004:  I just opened an e-mail from Professional Jeweler telling me the movie Catwoman will showcase right hand diamond rings.  This is part of a larger campaign to get women to wear diamond rings on both hands.  The Hollywood tie-in goes back to the beginning of the the film industry as Jane Marie tells us in her article about engagement rings.  The idea being that if actresses wear something, we should too.  And this PR works.  Who doesn't want more and better jewelry?

Sadly, the same e-mail mentioned the country of Congo Brazzaville has admitted to diamond trafficking, which they can't control.  Since this fuels political instability and bloodshed on the African continent, the announcement is beyond depressing.

June 25, 2004:  Bactrian Gold Found: Good news for the world of precious stuff.  Somehow a 2000 year old golden treasure survived the war and looting in Afghanistan since it was hidden away to save it during the Soviet invasion!  There aren't any pictures yet, but when there are, the possibilities for design inspiration are huge.  And think what it will do for the Afghan economy and national pride in a country that lost those magnificent giant Buddhas to the idiocy of the Taliban. 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/2004/06/27/MNG6M7BT2J1.DTL

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11341

June 26, 2004:  There's a lawsuit in the works because Tiffany alleges 73% of the "Tiffany" jewelry on eBay is counterfeit.

July 7, 2004:  The OKC Zoo opens at 7:30 a.m. in the summer so we got to the see the birds and fish before this morning's heat was oppressive. There is nothing like a look at zoo inmates to stimulate the creative juices.   All I could see were feathers and scales in great color combinations for new jewelry.

We followed up the outdoor fun with an opening day showing of King Arthur.   My mini-review is located on our Guinevere page, but just in case you didn't know, the not quite full circle necklace Guinevere wears in the film is a torque. 

More on torques / torcs:  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~archaeology/hilites/snet.htm

July 10, 2004:  I get a weekly e-mail from Professional Jeweler.  Mostly it's about people and conferences that aren't relevant to any of us, but I like to pass on warnings and interesting bits.

It seems the glass-filled rubies are now on the loose.  If ruby is the stone you crave, beware.

And now, Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park, where you can mine for real diamonds and KEEP any you find may find, will have some sort of competition in Canada's Northwest Territories.  That part of Canada is the third largest producer of diamonds in the world, and its government is set to exploit all possible tourist potential.  You can head off for a nature trip and shop, though the area has yet to fully capitalize on touristy stuff.

The DF and I have wanted to do a road trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park for a long time, but who knows when that's going to happen.  And we've only had the opportunity to visit eastern Canada, so I don't have any special tips on vacationing in the Northwest Territories beyond the idea you get to fly into Yellowknife - and how cool is that?  That leaves our TRAVEL department with a great big hole. 

Note:  For more information on worldwide diamond mining, do check out the mini-review of Glitter and Greed on the right side of this page.  (Scroll up just a bit.)

July 16, 2004:  I spend more time than I'd like just maintaining and upgrading this site.  This includes adding deleting the ads of the companies we work with as affiliate partners.  (This means if you click on a link on our site and make a purchase, we get a nickel and you get our very great thanks.)

July 26, 2004:  A miner in Guinea recently found a rough diamond the size of a computer mouse.  He turned it over to his government in hope of receiving a percentage of the stone's value, and keeping his life and freedom.

August 1, 2004:  Just got a very nice e-mail from Steve at Walsh Brothers Clocks Watches and Jewellery.  They have a jewelry shop in Beckenham, Kent, England with a very wide product line and international delivery.  As our own Caryn Kamp reminds us, "You can't have too much jewelry."
 

Ok, I could be nuts, but I swear I saw a news feature on Prince William in which he was wearing a black potholder loop around his neck à la our own CDO!

August 20, 2004:  Professional Jeweler tells us luxury shoppers shop for the experience.  I'm pretty sure we offer more of an experience than most sites since we have so much good stuff on this site as you can see by scrolling to the links at the bottom of the page.  And since I never make exactly the same piece of jewelry (or generally even anything too close), I believe the long-term ownership pleasure should satisfy even the most  jaded shopper. 

August 25, 2004:  There used to be freshwater pearl farming in Tennessee, where pearls are the official state gem.  I'm pretty sure the pearls produced were baroque or misshapen.  This irregularity of shape makes for interesting jewelry like the pieces in our Goodbye Lie Collection (see photo in the right column), but the whole concept of pearl farming is fascinating.  A tiny piece of shell is inserted into each pearl oyster or mussel.  The oyster grows the pearl to protect itself from an irritant.  Wow.

September 5, 2004  We drove over to Shawnee, OK today to the only US museum showing Etruscan Treasures, an exhibit of over 200 pieces of Etruscan jewelry from the collections of Prince Fabrizio Alliata and the Vatican. 

The prince acquired his collection from his father-in-law whose life deserves to be made into a movie - among other things, the late count escaped from a Nazi concentration camp!

I didn't even attempt to make arrangements to take photos of the jewelry in advance so I wasn't allowed to take any.  I was struck by the beauty of the the pieces and the quality of the workmanship.  There was a lot of repossé [relief] work as well as intricate use of wire and gold beads in a number of shapes.  The Etruscans, who preceded the Romans in central and northern Italy, liked sun and animal images and borrowed the scarab beetle design from the Egyptians.  They were also influenced by the Greeks. 

Semi-precious gems included carnelian, pearl and several types of greenish stones, but mostly what we saw was gold.  It was glorious. 

our TRAVEL pages including links to our visit to Rome, Tivoli and other Italian cities

 

September 24, 2004:  The latest jewelry trends are right hand diamond rings, long chains of diamonds, stacked diamond bracelets and precious stone pins in animal designs.

October 8, 2004:  I've been so busy moving into my shiny fresh office one bead and one piece of paper at a time I haven't taken the time to report on my latest project, which is pretty much the same as last year's fall project. 

I need to make a pretty necklace in red and green that you would want to buy.  So far everything I've tried looks garish, but there's a bead show at the end of the month in Norman, OK.  If I'm not successful by then, I guess I'll haunt the display halls until something catches my eye.

The good news is our CDO has announced a desire to take up painting pictures again.  Her wall-type painting can be seen up and to the right on this page. 

October 13, 2004  Several years ago, I interviewed the respected Dr. Ralph Wilson for an article about, well, I can't remember and that's not the point. 

Dr. Wilson has been around the net for a long time.  His website is a treasure trove of useful info for those who have an online business.  Today's ezine brought the Code of Business Ethics Pledge, which is not only a good idea, but also a wonderful marketing idea since I just gave you a link to website.  You can check out the book, Principle Profit, via the Amazon link in the right column of this page.

I signed the pledge because Jane Marie and I try to give you our best every day.  And as the busiest shopping season of the year approaches, we want you to know that.

October 21, 2004:  Over the next week, I hope to get the jewelry portion of the site in good shape for the holidays.  I just got a look at the projected best sellers this season, which are:

• linear or drop earrings
• pearls
• cocktail rings
• diamonds

One out of four is better than none, and we do have some fine affiliates with quality products at reasonable prices.  And that is a better thing.

October 30, 2004:  This is a good news, bad news kind of entry. 

The good news revolves around the bead shows in Norman, Oklahoma (this weekend) and Olathe, Kansas (next weekend).  I love bead shows.  For tips on how to make the most of your bead show visit, check out the lower right column in last year's diary.

The bad news is courtesy of this week's Professional Jeweler, which has an article on the sorry state of the diamond trade with regard to blood or conflict diamonds and worker exploitation.   Basically, the controls to insure consumers are getting diamonds from reliable sources aren't being enforced.  And, as always, the people in diamond producing countries are getting screwed while the bad guys, like terrorists and dictators, get the profits.

November 16, 2004:  I missed both bead shows listed above and would be sick about it, but I have strangely managed to accumulate a large stash of beads from various sources that are screaming to be made into jewelry.

Also, the DF and I just got back from San Francisco, where we took in a special exhibit on the Mayas, Courtly Art of the Maya, at the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum. 

The Maya used huge chunks of jade to make very dramatic necklaces.  My favorite piece was a huge necklace purified in a cenote, or sacred well, at Chichen Itza in Mexico's Yucatan.

related pages

• Doña Malinche bio and jewelry
• Mama Oello Huaco bio and jewelry

• Slavery Today
• Story - It's a Better Thing to Give

click on the photo to enlarge the photo of our prize from VeryShinyObjects.com

this contest has closed