Diamonds are a girls best friend...

I've been getting a lot of questions regarding buying diamonds for an engagement ring. What's the right one? How do we pick? What's not good?

For the first time buyer, or even if you’re seasoned, buying one is daunting.  So I've put together a handy guide using the 4 C’s to help you.

Probably the most important of the C’s is Cut, determining your stones shape.  Whether it’s round or the popular Princess cut or even a fancier one, such as Pear Shaped, each stone is uniquely cut make the most of it's shine and maximise its potential.

 

The Colour's Chart is probably the most daunting one.  The whiter (colourless) a stone is, the more it’s worth.  Stones that are valued less have a slight yellow tinge. You also get ones with a very vibrant colour called fancy yellow and the rarest of all Diamonds can be coloured pink, blue or even red. Just keep in mind, the fancier the colour: the rarer the stone and thus more the more expensive.

 

Clarity refers to stones having flaws.  Most of these you can’t see with the naked eye, the less of these, the higher your stones value.

 

And then Carat.  This refers to the stones size in terms of weight, the higher the carat, the rarer the stone is and the more expensive it is.  The closer the stone becomes to a true carat the more you’ll pay.   For example a 0.48ct is much more affordable than 0.5ct which in turn is much less than 1 Carat Diamonds.

For more in depth information please go here.

Hopefully this helps a little.  The more you know, the easier it is for your jeweller to help you and the less stress for you.  Think of it as buying a new car (talking to you boys), you want to check the horsepower before you take it for a test drive.

:)

That little piece of paper.

Yesterday I picked up this:

Finally I have the piece of paper that proves I worked my arse into the ground...
Reason why for 2 years most of my friend didn't see me...

I am working, I promise!

An exhibition came and went... A degree finished up... 7 years came to a close... All good things come to an end right? Correct and so the door opens for better and bigger things.... And with that I have to start bragging about the new member to my jewellery family... Florence the fly press.... Isn't she just too green? This is my absolute favourite tool by the way and I scored an old vintage one... YAY!!! Now to make things...

And I swear I am working.... Look at my design book... or rather my new one... Soon I will have an exciting new range of jewellery available... and guess what they will be exclusively available from the Fringe arts... okay and directly from me.... Keep an eye out kids... next 2 weeks... gonna be intensely exciting....

all good things must come to an end...

With a heavy heart, but also very much relieved mind, I have the pleasure of telling you all... I am now officially no longer a student. After 7 grueling years, 5 of which were spent at CPUT, I am finally done and will now devote my time fully to the making of pretty shiny things for you all to buy (hint hint).

It's been an amazing time and I've had a swell time, but the swelling has gone down.

So just to give you guys (and gals) the update of whats been happening, seeing as I've been a bad blogger...

These last few months, I've been working on my graduate body of work for my degree... I've been doing photo shoots, collaborating with a band, working with fringe and doing the odd commission. But most importantly, the degree...

I had to present my body of work in some manner (pictured above), to tie in with my thesis, my presentation was turned into a bar/nightclub. My photo shoot I did was set up to look like people having drinks, these you can see on my facebookpage

As of tomorrow you can also go have a look at the graduate exhibition at CPUT, it's open from 8:30 till 4pm and runs from 23 November until 27 November. Lemme know what y'all think...

Busy busy busy

So many things have been happening on this side, jewellery, life, money, love (okay not so much)

Between finishing Btech, trying to have a life and keeping up with my dear stockist, The Fringe arts, who are my exclusive stockists currently (besides from me directly)

Work has been going on, aside from the fact that I've had a nasty car accident, but that adds to manufacturing fun, put your heart into the art. So many designs in my head, Btech, for Fringe and for clients... Where to start?

So to date [4 October 2010] I now have 11 pieces done for Btech. Above is one of my pretties. you'll just have to come inspect this one at the exhibition. Oh dear I need to plan my presentation as well... Fun times!

working hard....

So after my last blog about how hard I am working I felt I should give the latest update.

I've been designing up a storm. I discovered on Tuesday (24 August 2010) that I have 9 weeks left until my body of work needs to be done. So I need another 15 pieces before then... sadly my goal of 40 pieces has been forgotten as this year has been so hectic, well yeah I just have to forget about it... for now... So here's just a pic of my latest piece in production... stringing 8 metres of pearls, coral and moonstone... yes I have bitten off a bit much to chew... stay tuned for more insanity...

and so the hunt begins

Amongst my work and my degree, I have also found myself teaching at CPUT. I tutor the 2nd year group and I have to say I enjoy it immensely. I learn a lot of patience from them and also learn from their enthusiasm.

So here I have to brag about my little monkey's. They are finishing off their 1st semester and at the time of writing this, are getting ready for their 1st moderation (exam) of the year.

They just completed a project I set them and here I have to show off 4 of my favourite pieces that they made.

The aim of this project was to carve a deers head out of wax and cast it into metal and then mount it on wood.

Impressive. Even thought they didn't think they could do it, they pulled it off beautifully. Just shows you what you can do.