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Category Archives: Jewelry Making

A Custom WWII Ring for a Navy Dad

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Mardon team created this very special ring just in time to celebrate the 86th birthday of Harold Swanson, my father-in-law. Like many of his generation, he left high school as soon as he was of age and enlisted in the military to fight WWII. As a Navy sailor, he trained for  submarine service, but [...]

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Unusual Gems in Shangri-La Jewelry

Friday, May 13, 2011

These gorgeous  perfectly matched solid black opal earrings illustrate the global reach of the gem trade. We acquired the stones a few years back from an Aussie opal cutter in Lightning Ridge, Australia, then sent them to Nepal last year. Each leg of their journey was about 8,000 miles, so these opals have traveled the [...]

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The Problems in Making Jewelry from Old Gold

Friday, April 22, 2011

Earlier this week, we delivered this nice 14K rose gold custom gent’s wedding band to a very happy client. It was made as a replacement for the original wedding ring belonging to her husband, to be presented at their upcoming anniversary. From what our client told us, two uncles had combined their gold jewelry, one [...]

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A Lady Diana Ring

Friday, April 1, 2011

We’ve just completed this gorgeous sapphire and diamond ring, inspired by the engagement ring of Lady Diana and soon-to-be Lady Kate. This basic design, where a colored gemstone is surrounded by a circlet of diamonds, has been a favorite for centuries. Since everybody and their uncle has been doing versions of the ring, we decided [...]

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A Special Gift for a Veteran

Thursday, December 30, 2010

We recently completed this great looking setting for a dog-tag. Our client’s husband rarely wears jewelry, but she heard him remark about a dog-tag he saw David Hasselhoff wearing on TV. She brought us his original dog-tag from his military service days and asked us to make a nice piece of jewelry that he would [...]

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Fancy Pink Diamonds for the Holidays

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The gem auction world is all a-twitter over this outstanding emerald cut diamond offered at the Sotheby’s Auction, November 16 in Geneva, Switzerland. Graded Fancy Intense Pink, the diamond is also unusually high in clarity, pronounced VVS2 by GIA. Described as pure pink with no secondary hues, the pre-auction estimate for this ultra-rare gem is [...]

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A Sweet Piece of L’ Art Nouveau

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Every now and then, we see vintage jewelry that really excites us. Recently, while working with a client on her new custom ring, we were discussing what to do with some pieces of jewelry that she doesn’t use anymore. We buy cast off and damaged jewelry to recycle, as well as consigning resalable pieces. As [...]

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Sapphires Illustrate the Limits of Perception

Friday, July 23, 2010

These two  sapphires are both from the island of Sri Lanka, both are heat enhanced, both are from the same vendor, both weigh about the same. Here’s another photograph, same stones, same photographer (myself), same camera, same photo stage, similar macro lens, slightly different lighting. Can you guess which one costs more?

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A One-of-a-Kind Filigree Engagement Ring

Friday, July 16, 2010

We completed a most beautiful engagement ring a while back but weren’t able to post this blog till now. It was one of the most challenging projects we’ve ever done! Our clients Megan and Mike, big fans of antique and period jewelry, fell in love with a 1920′s Art Deco platinum ring in our estate [...]

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Long Distance Custom Designed Engagement Ring

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Last Fall, we were contacted by a long time customer whose daughter had a real problem. Her daughter, Kirstyn, was engaged to be married September 2010. Kirstyn and fiance Alastair, a British citizen, were working in the Cayman Islands where they had a local jeweler make a custom engagement ring using her one carat family [...]

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