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Another great Cultural Crawl is done and dusted! Thank you so much for everyone who popped by! It’s so lovely to meet new people and catch up with familiar faces.
You can view what’s left of the collection at Good Omen in New Westminster, BC. Website link is here. Lia has already set up the display (and graciously sent me the above photo)!
Here is a sneak peek! You’ll have to come visit me to see the rest of the collection!
My theme this year is STARS! I have always loved them! To me stars represent magic, wonder, and infinite possibilities. Making this collection felt like I was weaving little pieces of magic together for other people! And honestly, who doesn’t want a little more magic in their life?!
This is the biggest crawl collection I have ever created, coming in at 31 pieces!
October babies are always so happy to find out that opal has an alternative birthstone, tourmaline, and that said stone comes in various colours! I really love tourmalines. They come in a lot of beautiful colours like sapphires. That being said, they are softer than sapphires. But I guess you get what you pay for!
Opals are beautiful but they are soft! They make great pendants but I try to avoid making opal rings as it doesn’t take much to smash an opal set in a ring! I love black opals and recently made myself a ring with one and every time I wear it, I’m worried I’m going to smash it.
If you are going to get an opal, try to stay away from doublets/triplets. They are slices of opal glued between layers of glass or quartz and some type of black stone or man-made material. With time, the glue compounds break down and they can fall apart. If you have a doublet/triplet you want to use, I would highly recommend making a pendant! And remember to take it off when submerged in water!
Guys, I got it together! In terms of my 2025 Cultural Crawl collection that is. This summer I fully committed to several designs and got them done!
I even had my friend Michele Mateus of Mateus Studios take some photos and I feel like everything is coming together. You can see her incredible work here.
A few years ago I read a book (have no idea which book it was) and the author asked: what are a few things you can immediately do to elevate your business?
Holy cow, I feel like those photos were the thing I didn’t know I needed to elevate my perception of myself as an artist. The design process I opted for this year of drawing each piece out in detail, the photos, the social media planning…it really made me feel like I was putting together an art exhibition. Which is interesting given that this is my 6th year doing the crawl yet the first I’ve come at it from this perspective.
I’ll be sharing those photos, my crawl theme, etc soon!
The 2025 New Westminster Cultural Crawl is a month away!
I’ll be stationed at Good Omen from 11-5 both days. Please check out Good Omen before you head down so you can mentally prepare yourself for all the cool stuff the shop has to offer. Website link is here.
You can also view all the crawl artists and check out their locations on the crawl website here.
One might argue that sapphires are the new king of gemstones, trumping diamonds! They come in an array of beautiful colours and although they can be very pricey, they are usually less than their mined diamond counterparts.
I would love to get my hands on a light peachy-pink-champagne sapphire. What a dream!
September babies have SO many options to pick from! Birthstone aside, which colour would you pick?
Peridot is the #1 least liked birthstone! The few who love it, REALLY like the colour green.
Although you can find peridot’s in lighter shades of green, it’s usually pretty consistent in it’s colouring.
When it comes to peridot, you need a nicely cut stone or it will look like you have a piece of snot on your hand! I also think you need to wear it large or in a colour-coordinated group. By large I mean LARGE cocktail ring or necklace that has some serious wow factor. By colour-coordinated group, I mean pair it with more greens or blues that can balance the brightness of the peridot and make it look less booger-y.
Much like emeralds, the only variance in rubies is in the hues available. They can be more red or pink, more opaque, heavily included, etc.
I like the classic red hues but also like the opaque, cabochon varieties. I also like setting rubies in yellow gold as it brings out the richness of the stone.
A fun fact on rubies, they are from the same family as sapphires! And, rubies were often referred to as the king of gemstones for being favoured by nobility.
The last few months have passed in the blink of an eye!
It felt so great to finish a ton of work before going on holiday! I actually didn’t leave a ton of work with my stone setter like I thought I would! And it was kind of nice that I didn’t because I didn’t find myself worrying about having to get a bunch of jobs out when I got back. I had nothing to think about other than starting a fresh batch of jobs when I got home!
To no one’s surprise, I am woefully behind on making my Cultural Crawl jewellery. I thought for sure by now I would be halfway done. I haven’t made a single thing.
My kids will be out of school soon and as such, summer hours will begin! I’m going to take some extra time off this summer as I have family visiting from out of town. So since I’m working less, I’m not quite sure when all this crawl jewellery will get done!
Believe it or not, June and it’s classic pearl birthstone, is one of the least liked birthstones! Most people don’t care for pearls and even if they do like pearls, they can be tricky to work with which is a bummer for people!
For the most part, pearls are glued into settings. With time, the glue compounds wear down which loosens the pearl from it’s settings. If you find the pearl, you can glue it back on but it’ll eventually happen again.
You can opt for claws or MAYBE a really, really thin bezel as an option.
I never recommend making everyday jewellery with pearls, especially rings! An alternative for something you can wear everyday is Alexandrite. Only issue with alexandrite is that it’s rare and very expensive. I recently purchased a few and they cost more than their mined diamond equivalent! And the more colour-change it has, the more valuable it is!
Emeralds are green! The only variance is in the hue which is dependent on where in the world the emerald is from. It’s also common for emeralds to have inclusions. The cleaner the stone, the more expensive it will be!
I personally prefer to set emeralds in yellow gold. Not only does the yellow gold make emeralds look richer in colour, it’s a softer metal which makes the stone easier to set!
They are part of the beryl family along with aquamarines.
What shade of emerald do you like…light, medium, or dark?
Diamonds can come in ALL colours, but finding the colour you want in a mined, natural colour diamond might be nearly impossible or cost you an arm and a leg! Good news is that lab-made stones are getting nicer by the day and you can find more and more colours.
Diamonds that range from the white to black are easiest to find and readily available. And some of the colours they come in are just…WOW. No wonder diamonds are a person’s best friend!
When it comes to diamonds in jewellery: white diamonds look whiter when set in white gold but there is more contrast when set in yellow gold.
If you could pick any diamond colour, which would it be? And would you consider buying a lab-made diamond?
Photo from pinterest.
I have never been a person to post updates but this year, I thought maybe I would try it out. Mostly to hold myself accountable I think. Wouldn’t I sound like a dud if I promise updates and then have nothing to say!
I started planning my crawl collection for this year! I finally learned that I need to start way before I think I do so I’m not super behind! On that note…I’m very much struggling with inspiration, so although I have a loose theme idea for the crawl, that’s about where my planning ends…
I’m going on holiday soon which means I have to get one large wave of custom jobs done and another one started. Why start custom jobs before going on holiday you ask? Because I leave them with my stone setter so that when I get back, I immediately have another batch of custom jobs going out the door!
That’s it for now!
Aquamarine is a client favourite, whether it’s their birthstone or not. Although in the picture above you can see different shades of blue, the light blue is the most common to find in gem-cut stones. In cabochons, I have quite a few green-ish blue and medium-blue.
My favourite are green-ish blue gem-cut aquamarines! They are hard to find and whenever I spot one, I buy it! The irony is that they aren’t considered desirable because they aren’t the perfect shade of light blue!
I find that blue stones like aquamarine look great in both yellow and white gold.
Photo from pinterest.
Purple is one of those colours that either people love or hate! And for those who hate it, there is a green alternative: prasiolite! I LOVE prasiolite. It’s such a pretty green!
The only issue with prasiolite is that it usually comes in large stones. The smaller stones are pretty washed out and can look almost white.
Are you a purple lover or hater?
Photo from Pinterest.
More often than not, I supply gems for my clients when they don’t have any they want to recycle from old jewellery. I use several local suppliers who purchase stones from all over the world.
That being said, I do get clients who bring in their own loose gems, that weren’t previously in jewellery.
I have lots of clients who buy themselves gems when they travel and I am happy to use them to make new jewellery! I think it’s cool to think fondly of your adventures every time you see that special piece of jewellery.
I also have clients order gems online. I can still use the gems but always warn my clients that you get what you pay for: don’t be surprised if the photo was better than the product that arrived, especially if the price seemed to good to be true!
If a client is really keen on sourcing their own stones, I suggest checking out local gem shows over purchasing online, unless the online option comes from a reputable source.
I know many stores and jewellers don’t work with client stones and it’s usually for two reasons: 1) they don’t make as much money and 2) there’s a risk of damaging a client’s stone. It’s rare for stones to get damaged but it can happen!
Poor garnet, no one seems to like it. That’s until I tell them garnet comes in several colours! And if I have to be honest, I was never a big fan of garnet either but now I love it! Even the red variety! I especially like it in yellow gold as it brings out the warmth of the stone. That being said, I’ve made a few red garnet rings in white gold lately and I’m really liking how clean and crisp they look!
The easiest for me to find are green (tsavorite), red, darkish pink (rhodolite). I also have a few peach (hessonite) and purple/green (colour-change) in my collection! I’ve seen a few light pink, yellow, and orange as well!
If garnet is your birthstone, what colour would you pick?
Photo from Pinterest.
I mean, yes…we all want sales! But, we get that it’s not always in everyone’s budget so I’ll tell you what I tell everyone when I want them to come visit me at the crawl:
Just pop in to say hi and tell your friends about it!
Honestly, it feels so great to see familiar faces or meet new ones who tell me their friends sent them down to see my work. And most often, no one buys anything at the time, but I know that I’m top of mind and word is spreading about my business which eventually leads to sales!
On social media, you can send your friends posts to things they might like from local businesses or share posts on your stories. You can pop into local markets just to say hello to vendors who worked their assess off to fill those tables!
And please know, there is ZERO judgement if you buy all your gifts at big box stores because those stores employ people in our local community. So it’s also a win, just a smaller one!
I wasn’t going to make another set of rings this year but I COULDN’T HELP MYSELF.
So many pretty stones stare at me everyday just begging to be turned into a beautiful little ring. How can I say no?
This collection features yellow, white, and rose gold, with salt and pepper diamonds, pink sapphires, and teal tourmalines. Check them out in my online shop!
The crawl is here! And so is my one of a kind cultural crawl collection!
This is only half of the collection so you’ll have to come see me in person to see the rest!
Why the peacock?! It all started with a peacock-carved fluorite that I have sitting in my collection (photo below). When I went on Pinterest to search for peacock inspiration, I found the peacock photo above and new I just had to use those colours and make big, gemmy pieces of jewellery! Peacocks are exuberant and confident about it! As such, they are usually associated with self-expression which is quite fitting as we usually accessorize to express ourselves. I had so much fun working with this colour palette and this big beautiful stones. Hardest part of making this collection will be selling it!
More details on the crawl here.
