ask Dave West: The Jewelry Expert

Septembers Birthstone – Sapphire

     

 

It is common for people to associate a particular gem with a single color. A good example is September’s birthstone - sapphire. Blue, a rich vibrant blue, is the color that immediately comes to mind when one thinks of sapphire.

But, as I mentioned in my previous post on sapphire; the gem actually occurs in a wide variety of fabulous colors.

So if your birthday is in September and you love blue – Great. If your birthday is in September and you prefer a different color – well there’s still a sapphire for you!

 

David West Nytch CGA www.westandcompany.com

   

Designing Jewelry

A friend recently asked me a common question in such a profound way that it got me really pondering my answer. Now this question is deceptive – simple enough on the surface and since it is so frequently asked, easy to give a rote answer to. But it’s not a simple question and a rote answer rally isn’t a good answer – at least mine isn’t, now that I think about it.

Every artist and designer is asked this question and every artist and designer has a different answer – as it should be. The question itself, asked in various ways, is – where do you get your ideas from?

I’ve always tended to answer the question with something to the affect of, "I love the interaction of shapes and lines;" (true – I do) or, "I was inspired by ---"(also true) or - and I suspect this is a very unsatisfying answer to the questioner – "It just came to me" - which the damn things do, with no rhyme or reason, at odd times and with no predictability, they just pop into my head.

What my friend was really asking me and what really got me thinking was: how did you develop your style, what are your influences, how do you create something that is uniquely yours?

This next series of posts will attempt to answer my friend along with everyone else who has asked me "Where do you get your ideas from?"

David West Nytch CGA  www.westandcompany.com  

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation 2009

This year marks the 10 anniversary of a donation, in the memory of my children, of a custom designed and handcrafted piece of jewelry to be raffled off at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundations, Rochester NY chapter’s annual gala in early November.

 

Not only does this project have a great deal of personal meaning to me – I also look forward to and enjoy the unrestricted design exercise.

  

  

  

The year’s piece, “The Swirl”, is a simple open helix curve set with forty three diamonds. With a diameter of a little over an inch and 1.25Ct. total weight of fine diamonds – "The Swirl" is truly a circle of light.

 

David West Nytch CGA  www.westandcompany.com

    

Augusts Jewelry Design of the Month

Recently I introduced our new “Create Custom Jewelry Online” feature on our website and this blog. The feature has been hugely popular and I, along with the other jewelry designers featured, have been working like crazy to get more jewelry designs online.

I got to thinking that it would be fun to post a design every month that one of our customers had created using the online custom jewelry builder.

It seemed appropriate that the first featured design should be the ring we are creating for Yvonne DiVita – my blog mentor.

Yvonne’s ring has a stunning one carat oval diamond in the center with a matching round diamond on each side – the center diamond will be set in platinum with the rest of the ring in a rich 18k yellow gold – a very elegant, timeless choice. 

David W. Nytch CGA www.westandcompany.com