Criss Cross Canvas Blog

Virtually all of us are interested in jewellery. There are many people who really like jewellery and also people who adore creating jewellery. Some individuals have passion for creating jewellery and for people like that jewellery creating could be a good career. The world of jewellery designing has just about as many career options as it does various jewellery creating techniques.

You may be surprised to find out that there’s more to the jewellery entire than just Online Jewelry Auctions, creating and selling finished jewellery and items, even though most jewellery designers become primarily concentrated on promoting their creations. There are different kinds of career options on the market ranging from the classic bench jewellers to the high end accessories purchaser. This article contains a few of the jewellery associated jobs you might want to think about if you have been thing of becoming a member of the working market as jewellery expert.

Bench Jeweler
Bench jeweler is the backbone of any fine jewelry shop. Bench jewelers are the person who do restoration work of jewellery. The bench jeweler primarily works on repairs however is also highly skilled craftsperson and can make virtually any sort of jewellery style request. Normally bench jeweler should have some sort of technical training and accreditation.

Jewelry Sales Representative
Jewelry sales rep is the retail stores that most big manufacturers and independent manufacturers employ to sale and project them. Although some representatives will focus on jewellery, most will even offer associated accessories like belt, hats and shoes. Their job is to locate and secure accounts from retailers which consist of department stores and privately own business. This job needs knowledge of the latest fashions as well as the items being sold and of course, sales savvy.

Jewelry Purchaser
Since the name implies jewellery consumers are hired to purchase jewellery. Most big department stores or chain shops will have employees that focus on purchasing Fine Jewelry to be sold in their shops. This is a salaried job which not only demands jewellery and trend knowledge but also a sense of future fashions since goods should be purchased several months ahead of time to be available while in particular shopping times.

Business Jewelry Designer
The job of company jewellery designer is a challenging and most coveted one. Firms employ the company jewellery artist to create jewellery and artist does not have to take care of selling the end items.

These are a few of the job you can select in jewellery making industry. In case you love jewellery and have passion for designing and creating jewellery, than you’ll find lots of jobs in jewellery creating occupation that pay well and goes well along with your interest.

If you have never noticed a bit of jewelry produced from Mokume Gane, you are definitely in for a surprise. Mokume Gane is a mixed-metal laminate that functions beautiful designs, resulting in jewelry which makes a unique impression. Mokume Gane isn’t ordinary, and it certainly isn’t as common as gold or silver jewelry. What it is, nevertheless, is one thing totally various, visually arresting, and, for the intrigued, really worth investigating further.

Mokume Gane comes from a noble 17th century Japanese tradition, utilized for sword fittings at first, and then later for ornamental products. The inventor of Mokume Gane was a man named Denbei Shoami, who known as his creation guri bori. Mokume Gane has also gone by other names, including kasumi-uchi (cloud metal), and itame-gane (wood-grain metal). These names are a clue to the visual charm of Mokume Gane, evoking the changing daylight sky and the beautiful designs in good wood carvings.

The authentic process of producing Mokume Gane involved a skilled metalsmith operating in gold, copper, silver, as well as other metals. These metals were stacked and heated, following which forging and carving could intensify the resulting pattern complexity. Modern Mokume Gane utilizes a temperature-controlled furnace and unique hydraulic equipment to apply the compression required to yield the specified designs. Additionally to conventional metals, modern Mokume Gane uses such metals as titanium, iron, platinum, brass, and impeccable.

Mokume Gane rings are ideal for wedding ceremony and engagement rings, not only due to the sheer elegance and distinctive character with the rings, but also due to the symbolism with the “marriage of metals.” Different metals coming together to form a cohesive whole is a wonderful image and metaphor for the commitment of marriage.

Different metal formulations create various appears in Mokume Gane. By combining white gold, palladium, platinum, or titanium in numerous formulations, one can create the icy white appear that’s so popular in engagement and wedding ceremony jewelry today. For some thing rather less monochromatic, one might choose a Mokume Gane formulation featuring rose gold, yellow gold, or green gold. Different jewelry designers will come up with their own distinctive appears. That is one of the things that’s so exciting about Mokume Gane, every ring is a singular creation, unlike any other.

Mokume Gane is an ideal metal option for all those looking for a ring that isn’t another ordinary ring, available anyplace. The Mokume Gane option will be the option to put on some thing really extraordinary, handcrafted for elegance and durability.

To see a selection of this jewelry for yourself, and all of its many variations, you should check out Chris Ploof’s website, a talented mokume craftsman. Or, feel free to give the Studio a call at 401.725.RING.

Marquetry is the wonderful art and craft of applying thin wood veneers designed to form decorative patterns. It became very popular in the 17th century. Artisans were quite skilled and their designs were exquisite. Objects created from marquetry were quite expensive and ordinary people could not afford them.

There are various types of veneers used in the crafting of marquetry products. They are classified according to the type of wood used and they are priced accordingly as well. Depending on the wood, veneers are cut and designed with different and exclusive patterns.

To decorate the veneers, materials like bone, ivory, turtle shells, brass, and mother of pearl are used. They are used to create amazing inlay and wonderful designs in marquetry. Inlay work, when done beautifully, takes time and effort to be perfected.

One can find light wood veneers, medium wood veneers, soft wood veneers, hard wood veneers, and even dark wood veneers. The wood that they use is being classified as less valuable and valuable and they are priced accordingly. Marquetarians are very particular about the type of wood they work with and in some cases they choose only wood veneers that they particularly like.

Mahogany, rose, burl walnut, fire side walnut, and circassian walnut are considered valuable types of wood. Each of these types of wood has varying grain patterns and they are being sawed in different ways. The marquetry work done on them is quite elegant that’s why they are sold at higher prices.

Categorized as less valuable include elm, pine, oak, and spruce. Hard and soft wood veneers are being used in products more often. If a wood has straight grains, it is referred to as soft wood. Pine and the pale knotted wood are good examples.

The hard type of wood has grains which are closer and the wood itself is usually dense. Rose wood and maple wood are excellent examples. Grains are coarser in hard wood. Hard wood is mostly used in making furniture.

Tools utilized for marquetry include the fret saw, knives, scalpels, various types of blades, and more modern laser tools. With advanced technology, more modern tools are being used in creating marquetry art. Traditional tools used before have also undergone major improvisations.

Today, they use the double bevel marquetry technique. With a scroll saw, the table is tilted at a particular angle in order to achieve this technique. Another art, parquetry, uses straight lines and geometrical patterns. The Boulle technique involves cutting the elements of the pattern along with simultaneous creation of the background.

The classic technique is done with patterns created separately from the background. Wood used in creating these designs are carefully chosen. Burl wood is the common type used for this purpose.

In the past, the hammering veneering method was used to cut veneers. The same tools were used for different types of wood but the way they are handled vary according to the desired designs.

Nowadays a technique called braided wood veneering is used. It uses both matt finished and laminated veneers. The rarity of this type of marquetry work in veneers makes it very expensive.

If you love marquetry, there are lots of guides that can teach you how to create your designs. Tools can be purchased and you can take a look at some books for great ideas. Museums also display a lot of exquisite marquetry work.

Go ahead and embellish your wooden box with exotic marquetry designs or you can also buy one that’s already crafted.

This article was written by Rachael Celia Berlie and Oliver Ocampo of MarqART Gift Shop. Our wood designs are original works of art, no two creations are the same. Each wood shown has its own unique wood grain pattern and color. MarqART comes from combining the words marquetry (wood inlay) + Art (a creation of beauty) an apt name for our products. A fine addition to your dressing table or as a gift. Please visit http://www.marqartgiftshop.com to browse & buy marqart wood boxes that will give you a lifetime of pleasure!

It’s a delightful fact that jewelry boxes have been featured in movies, plays, and books. They have been the crux of several Hollywood movies. There are many movies that have a jewelry box as an important part of their theme.

‘The Black Swan’ is one example in which actress Natalie Portman gave an Oscar-winning performance. Each night when she went to bed with her toys in the movie, she would dream of a ballet dancer in a musical jewelry box.

Released in the seventies was a South Korean film ‘When A Woman Breaks Her Jewelry Box’, about a woman who breaks her jewelry box to find the truth about her mother. The broken box revealed that her mother was alive when all along the lady had presumed that she was dead. It was recognized as the best film and even won an award at the Blue Dragon Film Award ceremony.

Another riveting movie involving jewelry boxes was ‘What Lies Beneath’ starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer. Michelle stumbles upon a jewelry box behind their lake home and it turns out to be a clue that helps solve a murder mystery. She is constantly disturbed by a ghostly presence and the film is a must-watch for its brilliant climax. Movie series like the ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ have also made use of treasure chests and jewelry boxes a lot.

Dalton Moore, an administrator at the Swindon High School penned a play called ‘The Missing Bride’ in the eighties. The students performed the play so convincingly that they won an inter-school competition as well. The play was about a bride who went missing from her own wedding reception. Guests at the reception were worried about the missing bride.

They searched all over the house till they came across an old jewelry chest and struggled to open it. They found only the bride’s dress inside with no sign of her. Though her body was missing, her beautiful wedding gown was there. There was pin drop silence in the audience as they were dumbstruck. The play finally explained how the old house that the groom and bride had bought was in fact haunted.

Greek mythology speaks of Pandora’s box, one that was given to a beautiful girl by the Gods, with explicit instructions that it should not be opened. But as a curious child she opened the box and released illness, disease and destruction into the world.

Jewelry boxes are a part of fairy tales too. ‘The Emperor’s Clothes’ is a story where the garments and riches of the king were stored in highly decorated treasure chests. In the Harry Potter series, J K Rowling explains Harry’s wizardry and the money he inherits from his parents in the first book. All his gold was kept in jewelry chests at the Gringotts Wizarding Bank. This movie was called ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’. Children and adults alike love the idea of movie stories that revolve around jewelry boxes.

Irrespective of whether it is a movie, a book, or a play, the whole family is bound to love it.

This article was written by Rachael Celia Berlie and Ruth D’Souza Prabhu of MarqART Gift Shop. Our jewelry boxes feature evocative wood art designs, created from unique wood grain patterns and colors. A fine addition to your dressing table or as a gift. Please visit http://www.marqartgiftshop.com to browse & buy exotic marqart jewelry boxes that will give you a lifetime of pleasure!

The French Armoire has a charm that is unbeatable even in present times. The designs of these armoires have been so popular that several jewelry boxes over the years have been inspired from them. The Latin word ‘armarium’ is where the French word Armoire was derived from.

Armoires came into being from what were originally a series of shelves that were built into the wall and closed with wings or doors. As they evolved they became standalone pieces that looked like a series of chests placed on top of each other with some doors to close them. Around the 17th century was when more attention was paid to the details on armoires.

Originally, the armoire was used for religious purposes in churches and monastries. The nuns used them for books and the priests used them in the sacristy for religious items like oil, vessels, and incense. A few of these are still around like the 13th century oak piece in the Bayeux Cathedral in France

The Cathedral of Noyon also has another well preserved famous armoire from the same time. The Vestry of York has a great example of the perpendicular style of armoires. The way these armoires were decorated too began to evolve with time. There was a serious move from painting these surfaces to carving on them.

Though Louvre had some great examples, the best ones are in the exhibits and museums of Cluny. The linen-fold was a very popular 16th century style of decoration for the armoire. With time, the armoire came to England and America. The armoire is classically a standalone piece of furniture, which is large and has double doors that are ornately carved.

Currently they are designed with a number of storage purposes in mind. There is the children’s armoire that is used as a toy cabinet. You also have the entertainment armoire that is big enough to hold a TV and all its associated paraphrenalia.

Armoires are also used as crockery cabinets, linen cupboards, as book shelves and more. Jewelry armoires are perhaps the prettiest of them all. These can stand on their own or can be wall mounted as well. These wooden structures can be carved ornately and give you a great way to store and show of your collection.

There are many styles to choose from. In the cottage style, the legs are turned out and the design has a colonial touch. The wood has a simple but fascinating look with its semi-gloss finish. Armoires inspired from antique models have their legs turned out as well. The carving and the style of decor is hand crafted and beautiful.

Present day armoires do have the basic shape of the classic version but with a modern look. Queen Anne style is popular for its hand renditions of scenery with roses and vines. Armoires enhance your decor with a wonderfully classic touch and give your jewelry a great setting.

So what’s stopping you? Step out and look for the armoire that suits you best.

This article was written by Ruth D’Souza Prabhu of MarqART Gift Shop. Our jewelry boxes is original works of art, no two creations are the same. Each wood shown has its own unique wood grain pattern and color. MarqART comes from combining the words marquetry (wood inlay) + Art (a creation of beauty) an apt name for our products. A fine addition to your dressing table or as a gift. Please visit http://www.marqartgiftshop.com to browse & buy exotic marqart jewelry box that will give you a lifetime of pleasure!

As a decorative art form, Marquetry has been around for a long time. Wood based veneers are used quite a bit in the creation of unique designs. Woods of different colors and textures are used to create these veneers.

The veneers are next cut into a number of shapes and sizes. With these unique veneer slices, designs on the surfaces of wooden objects are then filled in. Jewelry boxes, wall paintings, curios and the like are the items largely done in Marquetry.

Marquetry is labor-intensive, yet the final product is well worth waiting for. There are various tools used in Marquetry and they depend on the kind of wood you are using, the techniques and the size of the veneers you are utilizing. Ancient tools of Marquetry have evolved a great deal to make them more accurate.

Originating in French workshops is the ‘Chevalet de Marqueterie’ or the Marquetry Donkey. Woodcraftsmen could do some real fine precision cutting with this. This tool was a saw frame that could be operated by hand and could give lines as delicate as a 10th of a millimeter wide.

The Marquetry Donkey is still used in Ecole Boulle in Paris. Students learn the French method of Marquetry with this tool. What is great about it is that you can work for long hours on it comfortably.

Ecole Boulle also uses the overhead jigsaw tool to teach its students. This has a leather belt that can cut up to a 180 strokes a minute. This is ideal for large projects that measure 5ft or more.

It is perfect for accurate work on heavy veneer packets and metals. Handmade Marquetry is still quite the preference in modern times. Knives are basic tools and you can choose yours depending on the project you are working on.

With a pencil like look, the X-acto knife is a good one and comes with a knurled sleeve. You can build up your collection of knives with time and depending on the projects you work on.

For beginners in Marquetry, you will need a collection of blades. You will need blade #11 as the most basic of them for when you get started. Sharpening stones will help you get them ready again when they go blunt.

You could also opt to buy blade packets in bulk and replace them as you go. You will also need cutting boards made of plywood. The most preferred option is beach plywood.

Most artisans feel that oak and pine are too hard to be used. Particle boards are essential for pictorial Marquetry. Of late, the medium dense fiber (MDF) board is opted for.

For some advanced Marquetry, tools like the green board are needed on which to cut long slivers of veneer. You will also need hand rollers to press down veneers after they have been pasted onto a surface. A few woodworkers opt for a rotary palm held sander that will help smoothen the surface of an image.

This article was written by Ruth D’Souza Prabhu of MarqART Gift Shop. Our jewelry boxes show unique wood grain patterns and colors assembled into beautiful designs of breathtaking beauty. A fine addition to your dressing table or as a gift. Please visit http://www.marqartgiftshop.com to browse & buy exotic marqart jewelry boxes that will give you a lifetime of pleasure!

The striking and mesmerizing look of Mokume gane metalwork is something that you simply need to see for yourself to truly experience. {Not only is the attractive styling of Mokume gane arresting and captivating, it has a interesting back-story which makes it a true conversation topic. ~ In addition, the impressive styling of the Mokume gane look contains a an enthralling heritage, something that will always provide a wonderful conversation piece.

The Japanese term translates to English as “wood eye metal.” Through history, a few other phrases have been used for the metalwork, which translate to “cloud metal” and “wood-grain metal.” These translations are quite, as the rippling, flowing appearance of the Mokume gane motifs resemble wood grain. Surely, contrasting Mokume gane to wood grain is fitting, but the range of patterns created by seasoned artisans are as various as the clouds themselves.

It was 17th century Japanese katana makers who came up with the process of creating Mokume gane metal, which was used as sword fittings. When sword use decreased in Japan, the artisans changed their focus and discovered a fresh niche for their talents in the decorative arts. ~ Changes in weaponry wiped out the market place for katanas, and Mokume gane craftsmen instead (used their trade for decorative objects such as jewelry. They created their one-of-a-kind metalwork by liquefying soft metallic elements, which would form liquid phase diffusion bonds. What this means is that the metal bonds together, but doesn’t totally melt. The patterns that result are dazzling.

Since there are a wide variety of metals available for use in the Mokume gane process, it results in an extremely diverse possibility of looks in the final product.

Those artisans who create Mokume Gane Ringss are creating something that is one-of-a-kind every single time they produce a piece. Because the process is a result of a series of twisting, rolling and forging, you can be sure that no two pieces of jewelry will be alike.

Since Mokume gane metalwork has only been in the United States since the 1970s, you won’t find many pieces of heirloom jewelry here. If you’re seeking a unique piece that has heirloom potential, Mokume gane is worth investigating further. You’ll find Mokume art and jewelry of the finest quality created by Chris Ploof in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Chris designs and creates, including also meteorite and damascus steel, that are very popular wedding bands for those seeking something out of the ordinary.

Silver clay? What the heck is that?
Silver clay, precious metal clay, art metal clay, and art clay silver are all different terms and makes of “clay” that may be magically turned into gold and silver.

These unique metal clays were introduced to the North American market in the 90′s. Jewelry designers and artists can now shape and mold precious metal as easily as play dough.

Jewelry making of course is as old as time. The difference today is that you now do not have to bang or cast your metal to make jewelry if you do not wish to. Silver clay now makes it straightforward to make real metal forms without these standard strategies.

Here is how metal clay functions. Precious metal clays are composed from fine metal particles suspended in an organic binder. This binder enables you to mildew and shape the clay as you would potter’s clay. When you are pleased with the form, you let your project dry for no less than 24 hours ( or more ). You then fire it in a kiln or by utilizing a hand torch. The binder burns away, leaving the fused metal behind in the shape you shaped it.

Before you grab a lump of silver clay and go at it though, you will want to keep 1 or 2 tenets under consideration. Silver clay is not cheap, so you do not want to waste it.

Silver Clay Tips

Here are a considerable number of tips for working with silver clay :

–>Metal clays shrink 10-30% when fired. Be certain to take a look at your package for shrinkage levels especially if you are making rings or other objects that have to be exact fits.
–>Not all metal clays can be hand torch fired. If you will not be employing a kiln be certain to check that your type of silver clay is “low fire”.
–>Only little pieces should be torch fired. Pieces larger than 25g should be kiln fired.
Silver clay isn’t cheap. The gold version especially is terribly pricey. Be certain to shop rigorously and follow instructions punctiliously so you do not waste your cash fruitlessly.

• Playing cards make great “spacers” when rolling out clay to an even thickness. Just stack cards on both sides of the clay, then use your roller to roll out the clay between the cards.
• You can extend the working time of your metal clay by adding a drop or two of glycerin ( available at pharmacies ) to your newly opened package of silver clay. To use : make a depression with your thumb in the clay, and add a drop or 2 of glycerin. Fold the clay a couple of times to mix in the glycerin, then spritz with water. Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit so the clay can soak up the glycerin. When you’re employed with the clay the day after, use as normal. This trick will extend the working time, but also extends the drying time necessary before firing.
• Firing you clay too shortly, at too low a temperature, or for too short a time may cause your project to break. Firing for too much time may melt some of the detail.

Now you have some silver clay tenets, I bet you are psyched. You wish to work with this innovative material now! What will you make first?

Want to find out more about precious metal clay? Read more of my silver clay articles. http://shop.how-to-make-jewelry.com