The mornings are feeling crisp and cool here in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, a few of the leaves have started to turn, and the bears are foraging to prepare for their long hibernation. In fact, we had a mama bear and her two cubs in our yard last week! I am sure glad I got the dogs inside before they noticed! All of this change makes many of us begin to reflect on the long winter months ahead and the extra time we will have for creating beautiful jewelry once the days get shorter and the air gets colder. The Jewel School Team has been working overtime to bring you lots and lots of wonderful new jewelry making products and guest experts with tools and techniques to keep you busy right on through until spring.
October is also an important month for women. If you haven’t been screened for breast cancer recently, the time is now. This is a serious disease and it is curable through early detection and treatment. My project this month is a lovely tribute to all of the women who have struggled and survived, and those who have fallen. Make this for yourself or for someone you love to remind everyone of the importance of getting that mammogram!
Our customer feature this month is the lovely and talented Ruth Roberts, a bead lover and a fine artist from Clayton, Georgia. It is a pleasure to highlight her talents. If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Jewel School newsletter, let us know! We love to celebrate our Jewel Schoolers!
Many of our customers know about our video on demand series. It is a great way to take a quick lesson or review the steps in a project and it’s free! I’ve created a link for you so click on project videos.
Leslie Rogalski is coming back on October 6 with tips and techniques for working with the ever popular seed beads. If you have not experienced the seed bead craze, now is the time to get started. Mark your calendars for Leslie’s visit.
Until next time, happy beading!
Margot Potter, Jewel School Education and Creative Director
Message from Jeff
Dear Jewel School customers,
The second annual Jewel School Customer Workshop at our headquarters here in Knoxville on October 27 – 30, 2011 is fast approaching and we are so looking forward to hosting a class of Jewel Schoolers. The responses from the on-air promos, Jewel School blog, and Facebook have been tremendous and the 125 seats were taken in lightning speed! Although the registration is closed for this year, we’re already thinking of how we can include more of our loyal customers in the next event, sometime in 2012.
Jackie Truty, Katie Hacker, Maureen Oliveto, Stephanie Eddy, Wyatt White, Dale Armstrong, Barbara Carleton and Fernando DaSilva will be our designer-instructor guests.
They will join our own Co-Founder and Graduate Gemologist Jerry Sisk (pictured right) and Jewel School’s Margot Potter and Christiane Ross (pictured left) for four days of nothing but jewelry making. By now you should have received your confirmation, an informational email on our guest designers and instructors, and a request asking you to prioritize your choice of classes. Please email that back to us soon so we can schedule you for your favorites.
There’s more! We received so many beautiful entries in our first ever Jewel School Design Contest. The entire Jewel School is working at a fever pitch as we get ready for the customer voting on your designs. Access the link to review the fine work other Jewel Schoolers are creating. We are inspired by the creativity and beauty! Please vote for your favorites! Our designer guests for the Jewel School Customer Workshop will vote on the Top 20 designs chosen by our customers. Of course, we want you to have the last word and the final three in the contest will be shown live on our Jewel School show on Thursday, October 27, 2011. Customers will vote for their favorite of the three. The winner will be announced on Sunday, October 30, and will receive a gift worth $5,000 in cash and prizes. Check it out below!
Jewel School is possible because of the great support we get from you every day. Your purchases, your feedback (good and sometimes bad) keeps us focused on our next steps as we progress to our end goal of unlocking the entire spectrum of Jewelry making. We know we are not there yet, but we hope you see the progress through expanded selection and the great artists from the community at large and of course our very own Margot Potter, Christiane Ross and Kim Prentiss.
Being a part of the Jewel School brand is shaping up to being one of my most rewarding experiences, both personally and in business. Never have I had the opportunity to meet so many talented and passionate persons! This art is so broad and so very interesting. We still consider this day one and we have so much in store for the coming holiday season and for 2012. Beads, findings, endless talent, and all the accessories in between are literally being sourced from all locations on our great planet!
Thank you so very much!
Jeff Banks, Divisional Merchandising Manager
PS. Cannot wait to meet everyone in person in Knoxville on October 27! J
Jewel School Customer Spotlight
Ruth Roberts is an artist in every sense of the word! A singer, dancer, jewelry designer, sketch artist, and oil painter, the busy and talented Clayton, Georgia resident sells much of her work on her website. Not only is Ruth the choir director at her church, she became professional singer in her thirties!
Born in Baltimore, the artist describes her talents as a gift. “I feel God truly blessed me with talent. Had I been directed to the arts from childhood; I believe I would have made a great name for myself.” She’s certainly made a great name for herself here at Jewel School, and we enjoy seeing (and now sharing) the examples of her work. We asked Ruth to tell us about her inspiration and she begins by saying that picking up rocks as a child introduced her to the beauty of gemstones.
“I started drawing very early in life and by age 7 had accumulated a very large portfolio of my own dress designs inspired by newspaper ads for women's clothing and cartoons. When I was a student at Clayton State College, I completed a self portrait in graphite from a black and white photo taken of me at Easter, when I was 3 years old, titled, "Little Ruthie". This was my first portrait (on right).
“When you combine the right rock with other rocks and elements that are complimentary colors; you have a beautiful gift from God; rocks and color and light play. The right colored metal adds another pop of interest to a piece but the metal is an accessory to the rock in my opinion.
“The second reason that inspires me is that women are beautiful creatures and have every right and should adorn themselves with beauty! I wish I could help everyone know how to best utilize their jewelry wardrobe; but at least I can make sets of jewelry that will enhance any woman's beauty.
My love of accessories is also a source of inspiration. One outfit can look infinitely different ways by changing the jewelry accessories. This makes dressing much more fun each and every day. I usually pick what I will wear by deciding which jewelry will make me happiest that day. On gloomy days I will wear much more sparkly jewelry. On sunny days I may wear more semi-precious, opaque stones; just whatever suits my fancy. Or I might just pick my jewelry for the day based on what color makes me happy that day.” (Ruth necklace2)
Ruth's work is often on exhibit in the Arts Clayton Gallery in Jonesboro, GA, and some paintings are displayed year round at her church. With a plan for retiring from her day job next year, Ruth Roberts is going right back to work developing her own fine art gallery and line of original giftables!
Thanks, Ruth for sharing your talents with everyone at Jewel School. We wish you the best with the next chapter of your life!
We like to hear from our Jewel School customers. Send us pictures of your work and we’ll use as many on air as time permits. Here is a screen shot of one of Ruth’s images and how it appeared on the live Jewel School show. (insert Ruth JTV image)
Send images to jewelschool@jtv.com.
Pink Ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness Necklace and Earrings by Margot Potter for Jewel School
Last year I created a pink ribbon necklace for Jewel School that has continued to be extremely popular. I was so inspired by this gorgeous pink faux pearl and mother of pearl bead set we just received for Jewel School; this design seemed like the perfect sequel to last year’s runaway hit. I love the simplicity of form and the message here, and what a lovely way to spread awareness of such a serious issue.
Jewel School Materials:
JLW5232A 7 pink MOP leaf beads, 9 pink MOP rectangles and 53 pink glass pearls
JLW5121 34 8mm faceted rose quartz rounds
JLW1952A 36 size one silver tone crimp tubes and 20 size two silver tone crimp tubes
JLW1782A 4 6mm silver tone jump rings
JLW3221 1 sterling lobster clasp
JLW1953 2 sterling ear wires
JSWR86B 2 one inch lengths of 20 gauge soft or half hard round silver tone wire
JSWR83B .018 49 strand beading wire
Jewel School Tools:
PLIER22 Two pairs chain nose pliers
PLIER27 Round nose pliers
PLIER25 Flush cutter
JSKIT0042 Crimp tool
Instructions
- Create your pink ribbon dangles using the beading wire, 2 pearls and rose quartz rounds.
- Cut 18 four inch .018 beading wire segments.
- To create a ‘ribbon’, thread both wires into rose quartz rounds. Slide a size two crimp tube on both wires to bottom of bead, the loop above should be about ¼” in size and the tails should be equal in length. Secure crimp bead under bead using chain nose pliers to smash crimp flat. Add a pearl to each wire, slide a size one crimp tube under each bead and secure using chain nose pliers to smash crimp flat. Make 18 of these.
- Attach a jump ring to lobster clasp using two pairs of chain nose pliers to open and close ring.
- Attach a 20” wire segment to a jump ring using a size two crimp bead and the crimp tool. Cut off excess wire.
- String on a pearl. String the remaining beads and ribbons on in the following pattern: pearl, rose quartz, ribbon, pearl, leaf, pearl, ribbon, rose quartz and continue this pattern until you reach the final rose quartz followed by a final pearl.
- Thread wire into a size two crimp tube, jump ring attached to clasp and back into crimp tube. Attach using crimp tool, cut off excess wire with flush cutters.
- To create matching earrings: thread one of the two remaining rectangles with the 1” wire segments. Turn a small loop at the bottom using round nose pliers, turn a larger loop at the top. Cut off excess wire using flush cutters. Repeat for second. Thread a jump ring with one of your remaining pink ribbons into the loop at the top of one of your rectangles. Repeat process for second earring. Attach an ear wires to top of one of your rectangles, leaving ‘ribbon’ facing forward in front of rectangle. Repeat for second earring.
