Polly Wales' Amazing Technical Wonder World

Last January, I was very excited to have found a new British designer, Polly Wales, for the store. Her work has finally arrived and the long wait was well worth it. Miss Wales is working with lost wax casting in an amazing way. She is taking  the wax models of her original pieces and then manipulating them by pushing gemstones into the wax and then casting the wax into sterling silver or gold. The metal replaces the wax and sets the stones in place. 

My interpretation is that she draws inspiration from both ancient Greek and Roman as well as Victorian styles, creating classic shapes and forms with a modern twist. The result is a sort of structured deconstruction, a rough handled classicism, a precious sloppiness. This marriage of style and technique are like nothing I have ever seen in my fairly long spell of jewelry making and selling. (It is so exciting!!)

 

Sometimes in the process of casting, things go wrong. Stones are lost, metal shifts around, finger prints are left behind. These mistakes add to the exciting process and product. Neither the jeweler nor the caster know when something will succeed or fail. She calls the ring above The Decay Ring. Black diamonds are set in sterling, some are lost and some sink down into the 'remains' of the ring.

Black sapphires are set in oxidized sterling silver in the large pendant above. A bit of Miss Wales' fingerprint was left as an impression in the wax. The holes were left behind when other stones blew out during the casting. A perfect example of the exciting unpredictability in her jewelry.

 

She often works more wax on the top of the model. The resulting piece has gemstones trapped in layers of metal. A few seem to be sliding out from their frame in the gold ring above. Below, light passes through pink sapphires and a single ruby in a sterling ring.

The raw surface of the cast metal below will mellow and shine with wear so that these sterling and crystal rings grow even more special over time.

If you are interested in metal working and of course, beautiful jewelry, I encourage you to stop by and visit Polly Wales' Amazing Jewelry in the shop. She has managed to mix incredible designs with fairly affordable materials in a way that fits our favorite store credo: "Jewelry for the People!"

                                       

Comrade Gidget

I am doing my best to write about our new jeweler Polly Wales, but I keep running into technical troubles. Instead of losing my patience, and in lieu of ignoring the blog for far too long, I would like to introduce you to the simple peasant girl who works here in the store. Her name is Gidget.

Intent in her aim to shake off the shackles of Capitalistic tyranny she is forced to wear, she spends her off hours participating in various worker's organizations. And napping, of course.

Pepita!

You know summer is coming when Pepita arrives in the store! We couldn't stop staring at the wall once we put all these gorgeous and colorful necklaces up...take a peek.

How to Make a Ring

It's wedding season and Lori's been busy carving wax for wedding bands. We thought we'd show you how it's done.

The method we use is lost wax casting. That means first we have to carve the ring out of wax and then send it to the caster who replaces the wax with metal.

First, you slice a ring of wax from a long wax tube. This should be a bit bigger than the width you'd like the ring to be.

These are the wax rings ready to be carved down into the shape of the ring to be cast.

This electric tool helps to grind away the top of the ring quickly.

When the wax form is getting closer to the size you want it to be, you use less aggressive tools like a hand file. See all the pink shavings!?

The inside of the ring is a size five, so you have to use this sizer with a blade to slowly carve out the center of the ring until you reach the size that you'd like.

It's important to carve away all sides evenly to slowly arrive at the perfect size, width, and height. There are finer tools that resemble dentists tools and picks that allow you to add detail to your ring or to smooth out the surface of a plain band. Anything you can carve into the wax can be carved!

When you're finished, you have a wax version of the ring ready to be sent to the casters. When it comes back you must cut off the sprue (a metal bit left over from where the molten metal was poured into the mold) and polish the metal.

In the end, you may have something like this platinum wedding band by Lori McLean herself!

A Video Tour of Lori McLean's Jewelry Shop!

Here's a quick little video tour of the shop!

Alexander Stadler Draws on Our Wall!

Alexander Stadler, author of the brilliant book, What Willie Wore: Scenes from the Life and Wardrobe of a Very Fashionable Dog comes to draw his dog Wilhelmina on our wall as the seasons change. Depending on the time of year she is depicted having a picnic on Governor's Island or delivering Chanakwanzmas gifts to Lena Horne. Sometimes she is accompanied by our shop dog Gidget. See the progression to gorgeous wall-art below. To catch up with Alexander himself check out his blog here.

The wall, pre Alexander. Lori put up these embroidery hoops to hang lovely long Dennis Matthews necklaces. But they needed some company from the glorious Willy who, sadly, recently passed away. The wall is in honor of her and her amazing dog-ness.

Getting started...

A winged Willie emerges to look over the jewelry and the shop...

The finishing celestial touches...

And...voila! Our beautiful wall. Thank you Alexander!

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Mother's Day Personalized Jewelry!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

We're excited about anything personalized for mother's day this year as well as modern takes on timeless pieces! Check out a selection of what's in shop below:

Personalized Keys

Keys have been a big trend lately and a designer we carry, Emily Rosenfield, can make you keys that say anything you want! Engraving children's names and dates of birth is always a good option or a sweet message of appreciation. We have ones in the shop inscribed with "XOXO," "Love," and "Mom." It's also a nice idea to pair a larger key with a smaller key and have two words together. Or a key for each child, the largest key being the oldest child and so forth.

Timeless Lockets

It's also a timeless gift to give a locket with an engraving. We like these 14K gold ones with a little star set diamond. You could have the back engraved with fancy vintage style letters. On the tiny ones that seem a bit small for a photograph we like the idea of engraving the inside with initials and a date. A locket like this is will become an heirloom, passed down and remembered always.

Updated Pearls

Pearls are a traditional motherly gift, but why not give her something more updated like these pearl drops and pearl necklace in a star-like 14k gold setting from our dear friend and jewelry designer, Carla Caruso.

We also think a simple pearl teardrop on a 14k gold chain is a modern take on the traditional pearl choker and a bit easier for a modern mom to wear.

If you do want the traditional look of knotted pearls we like them long, almost flapper style. You can tie them in a knot or wear a few layered together. The ones we have in the shop are high quality glass pearls which means you can buy them in the bunches! (Let me preface the picture below, by saying, yes, the lady wearing all the pearls is a smidge scary, but she's a very cool old lady that we use for display. It makes more sense when you see her in context, I promise.)

Over-sized studs are coming back and a large, unusual colored pearl stud would be a great look for a Mom. It's easy-style!

We'd love to help you pick out something special for mother's day so drop by and see what we've got.