Stacy Low from Form and Funktion creates pieces of jewellery that are contemporary treasures; a unique blend of contemporary clean lines with ornate detail. She describes her creative process at its best as a state of ‘flow’ where she is ‘a vehicle for something that is pouring through me and bringing art to life.’ This sense where she, the creator, instead of imposing something on metal and gem, steps back and allows them to speak to her, engenders a sense of connection to the entire world. She herself states that her design philosophy embraces the idea that life is enriched by detail, and by the way that people notice the details in even everyday things. In this way, she strives for pieces with several layers of detail, ‘treats for the eyes’, so that every time you look you notice something different. This can be seen in this beautifully tactile silver and topaz ring (right) with its layering of textures, combination of polished and oxidised surfaces and judicious choice of stone. Both this and the silver and aquamarine ring (above) fascinate with their clean lines and ornate detail and cause the observer to look twice; are they heirlooms, or pieces that are utterly now? The truth is, a bit of both. You can find more about Stacy’s work as well as information about where to buy at her website, www.formandfunktion.com.

This looks like something Winnie the Pooh might write, in which case there should be a little song, but I won’t attempt that…! I have such difficulties photographing pale stones; the hardest being pale blues and aquas. Stones which are a intense, bright hue in real life, such as Swiss Blue Topaz and Apatite, turn out pale and washed-out looking. Pale stones such as sky blue topaz and aquamarine are even harder. One of my customers tells me that it is due to to the wave length of the colour blue and it is notoriously hard to shoot in print media. This sort of thing is common, pictured left are Swiss Blue Topaz 4mm cabochons. It isn’t horrible, but Swiss Blue Topaz is a very vibrant stone and this makes it appear soft and pale. In addition, the background is a murky greyish colour and there are bright white reflective patches on the stones. If I twiddle with the levels I can get the background whiter but then the reflective patches get very extremely white and the colours begin to look very unreal. I have recently developed a new technique – can anyone see what I’ve done here? These are Swiss Blue Topaz, 6mm cabochons (right), and Apatite 6mm cabochons (left), and here you can see that the colours have remained deep and intense. I’m much happier with these, as there are none of the white patches and the colour is much more true to life. My only problem is that the image is now quite stylised, and sometimes I suspect almost cartoonish. What do you think? I would love to hear from anyone who has the same problem and who has found a solution. If you share yours, I’ll share mine!

Is it only Brits who know what that means?! If so, and you aren’t one, I’m sure you can find it on Youtube,  but you’ll probably be none the wiser!  You might guess that I’ve been looking at Pantone’s colour report for this season. When I was making beads I always used to get stuck trying out new and innovative ideas, tending to return to tried and trusted, combinations, or rather, those that I loved, which in my case tended towards the blue, purple, teal, aqua end of the spectrum. So when I saw that Pantone had picked out Tangerine Tango (17-1463) as their colour of the year, I was interested, because this is a colour that would normally scare the life out of me. What does orange say after all? 1970s wall colours; Southwestern style jewellery; Irn Bru; celebrities who’ve had a run-in with the fake tan, and yes, that ‘you’ve been Tangoed’ man from that ridiculous advert.

And then I thought, actually this shade of orange is closest to Hessonite Garnet, of which I sell rather a lot; a deep, burnt orange as opposed to a really bright in-your-face orange like, say, Carnelian. Pantone themselves describe it as “a bit exotic, but in a very friendly, non-threatening way”, which got me to thinking about what might go with it.

Purple and orange is an obvious one, I guess, like a sunset; the colours a bold pairing that would work year round – intense and Mediterranean in the summer, and cosy and rich in the winter. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to wear it in an outfit, but jewellery, yes definitely. Above is hessonite garnet 6mm rose cut round and Brazilian amethyst 6mm rose cut round.

I then thought to myself; what colour would I never, ever put with orange? Got to be pink, but but I love this combination (right);  it’s just fab! Here we have hessonite garnet 6mm round with rubellite tourmaline 5mm round and pale pink tourmaline 6mm round. It’s not like pink with bright orange, which would be a bit much; here the bright pink of the rubellite contrasts really well with the burnt orange and the whole thing is tempered beautifully by the pale pink tourmaline. This is punchy and unusual without being brash.

Finally, this shade of burnt orange is just the kind of colour that will work really well with neutrals. I tried it with some pearls; left we have hessonite garnet 4mm rose cut round cabochons with white freshwater pearls, 4-5mm half drilled buttons. Warm, subtle and sophisticated, this is an elegant combination that will look great with summer neutrals; ivory, cream and beige linens and so on. Again I can see it working across seasons, adding a warmth and glow in the colder months. I love the combination of textures and the way the light plays off them; the lustre of the pearls and the sharp, faceted edges of the hessonite.

All of the above stones are available from my shop: www.joopygems.com.

There’s some interesting stuff out there. I found these rings made by British designer Rachel Colley as part of her ‘Subdevision’ series. Stating her desire to challenge traditional perceptions of jewellery and the idea of them being lifelong objects, she has created a series of rings using unconventional (to say the least) materials such as British beef, flour, dried blood, jelly and Whitby jet dust. Above is her ‘Beefin’ Up’ ring made of gold plated silver, British beef, flour and egg white. Below are her U-R-N series, made of gold plated silver, Whitby jet dust, flour and dried blood, and beneath those, the red rings are made of gold plated silver, Swarovski crystals, double-sided tape and raspberry jelly. I don’t think I’m going to be stocking chunks of dried beef anytime soon, but they certainly make you think!

They are not very similar on the face of it, but in many ways, gem fairs are very much like Ikea. Very big, full of products of very varying quality and many, many opportunities to get side-tracked. Someone once told me that when you go through Ikea you should always say to yourself ‘it’s nice, but do I want it in my house?’ Except in my case it’s more a case of ‘it’s nice but do I want it in my shop?’ Because if you’re not careful you end up with the gemstone equivalent of the giant potato masher made of flimsy metal so it bends on the first attempt. Or the dirt cheap draining rack that collapses/tips over when a quarter full etc.. So whilst it’s lovely to browse and look out new suppliers and products,  it’s wise to take a list and make some attempt to stick to it. Anyway, the road to hell and all that – I ignored my own advice and bought a whole load of new things I’d never intended to buy. First of all, pearls. I went with the intention of just stocking up on some keshi purple pearls. The pearl section is absolutely mad; row upon row of suppliers selling what appears to be identical trays of pearls. How to begin?!! Well, I spent hours in there, looking through the stock in very great detail and I did get the purple keshi, but I got an awful lot more as well.  First of all I bought these gorgeous pink peanut pearls (above left). I just fell utterly in love with them – such a pleasing, round organic shape and fantastic lustre. I’ve got them in white as well (right) and you can find the pink ones here and the white ones here. They look great around a neck – the pearls just kind of naturally jostle themselves into position.

I also could not resist these very pretty butterfly Biwa-type pearls. Not actual proper Biwa pearls but in that style with the superb high lustre you would expect. I have these top drilled and side drilled. These are really fun and I can see the top drilled ones working really well as earrings and the side-drilled ones in a necklace, brilliant for children as well. Find them here.

As for the purple keshi – these were actually quite hard to find. Every colour but purple, and I had some suppliers telling me they had none because they were so popular and others telling me they had none because they were so unpopular, which was very helpful and informative but I suppose it is possible for both scenarios to be true. Finally I did find some really nice ones. Lovely shades of pinky-purple with touches of gold and great lustre. They are not like keshi cornflake pearls; they’re much thicker and more rounded, very beautiful indeed. You can find them here.  And that’s not the end of it! I also have more to list so I’ll be back with an update in the next couple of days…

Here’s something for those of you creating something a little less regular! The labradorite and bronze sapphire are what is known as ‘polki’ cuts, which is to say, they are rose cut on one side with a table on the other, so they can be set either way up, and tend to be most often set in what I think is called a window setting. That is, open on both sides, and certainly the stones look equally good on either side. The bronze sapphire is a new stone for me, but I love it. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but it is really lively, with a metallic shimmer. The labradorite is just fabulous; the blue flash spectacular and any of these would make a fantastic focal piece.

Also, we have eternally popular watermelon slices; wonderful, bright hues and great polish. I love the hexagonal green one; it’s rather unusual and the way the colours spread and blend into each other reminds me of painting on silk.

All of these available as usual from my website – www.joopygems.com

As a special deal to my blog and newsletter readers, I am offering a one-off festive discount of 15% on any order placed between now and December 25th. All you have to do is enter the following code as you go through checkout:  Christmas15%

It applies to everything in the shop so why not give yourself an early Christmas present!!

I was just reading one of the various jewellery trade newsletters I get sent, and I saw an article about men’s engagement rings. Apparently a British jewellery firm; Dower and Hall, has launched a proposal ring for women to do the asking, created in time for the leap year in 2012, and called the ‘Take the Leap’ ring. This tradition of women proposing began in 5th century Ireland when St Bridget complained to St Patrick about women having to wait for men to propose; Patrick finally set February 29th as the day for allowing women the right to propose (which couldn’t have been less generous if you think about it – choosing a day that only comes every four years!). The tradition then continued in Scotland when in 1288, Queen Margaret decreed that on February 29th women had the right to propose, and men who refused were faced with a fine (much more like it). The ‘Take the Leap’ ring is a plain, engraved band (not the one pictured above) which is then redeemable against the cost of the ring. Good idea, I wondered to myself, or marketing gimmick? Probably a bit of both. I think I quite like it.

Anyway, it reminded me of the time, many years ago, when I was working in a theatre and my boss decided she was going to propose to her boyfriend (also working in the theatre) by announcing it on the theatre tannoy. We thought this was brilliant and egged her on to do it, so she did and was met with…complete silence. As the afternoon wore on, her mood became darker and darker. I have no idea how it was resolved, or what the atmosphere was like in their house that night…but she was not engaged the next day. Even after all these years I can still remember how awful it was; how crushingly humiliating it must have been having announced it to the entire theatre effectively and have everyone know he didn’t want to do it.

Not that I want to put anyone off…

When my husband and I went to buy my engagement ring, we went to a very smart jeweller in Bath, in the UK. The kind of place where you have to ring the bell to get them to let you in. I had been saying to my husband, ‘Oh, I don’t need anything flashy, just a small symbol of our love etc, etc.’ Well, that was until they brought out the rocks and then I was thoroughly dazzled. We eventually picked one I liked and as I was looking at it, I said, ‘My only concern is that it looks like Princess Diana’s engagement ring’ – which obviously did not have happy connotations to me. The very smart, very groomed sales assistant looked at me and without missing a beat, replied, ‘Princess Diana’s was much bigger.’ At which point we probably should have left but it was a very nice ring and who knows, perhaps she was joking rather than being purely offensive…!!!

I’ve had a bit of a time of it! First of all, I woke up one morning two weeks ago with what felt like shards of glass in my throat, or perhaps a metal spike. Temperature, shivers and shakes, headache etc. After suffering for a day I caved in and went to the doctor. Not the usual person I see due to it being a Sunday and emergency and all that, this chap was the bounciest doctor in the world. After examining my throat he announced ‘You have toncillitis!!’ in the kind of tones you’d normally used for someone who’d, say, won the lottery, or aced their exams. Toncillitis? I thought; isn’t that some kind of kiddy disease? Well, perhaps, but I can’t remember feeling worse. I couldn’t read, watch television, or even sleep. My throat hurt so much it brought tears to my eyes every time I swallowed; even water was too painful. I lay propped in bed, my eyes half open, contemplating my own misery. I had antibiotics, but as I had left the surgery, the doctor had joyfully called out, ‘If it doesn’t clear up in four days, come back!  It could be glandular fever!!!’ (Mono to you chaps in the US I think).  Then added, ‘Of course, we normally see that in teenagers, and that’s not you anymore is it??!!! Sorry!!!’  Seriously, that bloke was so lucky I was feeling so mouldy.  So. Lucky.

Anyway, I am feeling better now, but the past week I have been just catching up with myself; listing and listing and listing more and more stones, so keep your eyes peeled because I’ll be blogging about those in the next couple of days…