Spinel - A Misunderstood Jewel

"Have you seen her all in gold
Like a queen in days of old
She shoots colors all around
Like a sunset going down
Have you seen the lady fairer…..

She's like a rainbow
Coming colors in the air
Oh, everywhere
She comes in colors “

Jagger/Richards

A completely misunderstood gem...in ancient days Spinel was thought to be Ruby...Boomers tend to remember it as a synthetic stone for class rings....in today's terms, we need to work on this stone's "brand".

Spinel is found in many locals worldwide - and in some of the most exotic, gem-rich countries. Today due to a new find in Tanzania this rich and beautiful jewel is finally taking its place beside the finest of gems and doing it with its real name intact!

The name Spinel comes from "spina" the Latin for thorn which is thought to refer to the pointed octahedral shaped crystals. It is the magnesium aluminium member of the larger spinel group of minerals, with the formula MgAl₂O₄.

As with most gems, Spinel in it's purest form is a clear colorless stone - trace elements in the areas where the deposits are found are responsible for the rainbow of colors that this up and comer can be found in. From the palest of pastel lavenders, pinks and blues, warm coffee browns to the most vivid red and gleaming black.

The Crown Jewels of Iran include what are thought to be the finest collection of Spinel, the largest of which is a 500 carat stone. This collection was plundered from India when the Mogul Empire fell. Yet the most famous Spinels, or should I say infamous are the 170 carat "Black Star Ruby" and 361 carat "Timur Ruby" found in the British Crown Jewels.

According to the Color-n-Ice blog by Gemologist and Author, Diana Jarrett:

Only 150 years ago was this gem identified as a separate species from its look-a-like corundum, or ruby. And by 1910 using the Verneuil method of synthesizing, spinel was successfully created in the laboratory.

Today gorgeous gems are coming out of Tanzania and the gem rich Mogok Valley. It's color and hardness make it a great option for jewelry.

Lustre: Vitreous

Crystal: Isometric

Morphology: Usually Octohedral

Hardness (Mohs): 7 1/2 to 8

I want to take a few lines to thank GemCal - Purveyors of Fine Spinel, a company that has been based in the Far East since the 80's, for the stunning gem photos. Their website is a wealth of information, gorgeous gems and for the adventurer the stories and photos of the mine sites.

MJSA Expo New York - Resources for Designers

Days for Designers!

Designers coming to MJSA Expo New York can make the most of their trip by taking advantage of all the design-related events scheduled around the show.

On Sunday, March 14, the MJSA Expo will open its doors at 10 a.m.. It will feature not only the latest tools, supplies, and technologies that can easily take a design from concept to creation, but also free seminars focusing on how to navigate in this changing environment. (Click here for a full lineup of Sunday's seminars.) In addition, there are two special events on Sunday and Tuesday you'll want to attend.

Designer CEO Summit

Also on Sunday, jewelry designers will have access to some of the best advice available on how to grow their businesses at the Designer CEO Summit, a full-daybusiness conference presented by Cindy Edelstein of the Jewelers Resource Bureau. Sessions will be geared to taking a designer's sales and marketing to the next level, regardless of where they are currently.

The conference, which will take place at the Fashion Institute of Technology, centers around four key speakers and a luncheon panel in which experts give 75 tips in 75 minutes. The first presenter will be Andrea Hill, former CEO of Rio Grande, who will explain in detail how designers of all size companies can add CEO-level strategy for growth. The day will also feature:

· Meeling Wong, who has been an insider at several wildly successful designer brands; she will explain how to create and implement a branding campaign.

· Lisa Jenks, a designer who grew her business for more than 20 years before dropping out to focus on other design projects, only to decide three years later that she wanted to get back to jewelry design. She will explain how she managed to keep growing for so many years, and how she stage-managed her return with an immediate success.

· Kate Peterson, a widely respected expert on retailing, will wind up the day's presentations with a unique twist to her usual approach to retailing. Instead of telling retailers how to improve their businesses, she will tell designers how retailers think and make choices, and how designers can influence those processes to their benefit.

The cost for the day, including lunch, is $319, although an early-bird discount is in effect until midnight of Sunday, March 7. The discounted price is $287. Other discounts are available, including one for MJSA members. Type "MJSA" in the discount portion of the registration page at www.DesignerCEOsummit.com. All sales must be in advance of the conference, since no tickets can be sold on site.

MJSA and AJDC: Profiting by Design

Another special day for designers will be Tuesday, March 15, when MJSA and theAmerican Jewelry Design Council (AJDC) team up for the special two-hourProfiting by Design session. A panel of AJDC members -- Jose Hess (moderator),Michael Bondanza, Barbara Heinrich, William Schraft, and Diana Vincent -- will share how they've overcome design challenges, responded to market trends, and achieved business success. Additional advice and insights will be offered byMarlene Richey, Cindy Edelstein, and Philip Crangi.

The free session will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Expo presentation area on the show floor. Just prior to the session, the MJSA Vision Award winners will be honored.

After the session, Marlene Richey will sign copies of her award-winning MJSA Press book, Profiting by Design: A Jewelry Maker's Guide to Success.

Click here for more information about MJSA Expo New York, including a full schedule of all seminars and special events.

GIA Unveils Gem Project Based on the Edward J. Gübelin Collection

New online resource provides easy access to colored stone data

CARLSBAD, Calif. – March 4, 2010 – The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) recently launched the Gem Project. Comprised of data collected from gemstones in the Edward J. Gübelin collection, which the Institute acquired in 2005, the online resource includes a photo, description and gemological properties for each sample.

The GIA Gem Project is free to the trade and public at any time from anywhere in the world. The gemological information on these gemstones is also available in PDF format.

For the complete article see the GIA Website here.

2010 MJSA Expo New York

Sunday: Not Just Surviving, but Winning. If you want to walk away from Expo with a notebook full of applicable business and marketing strategies, don’t miss this day. "Surviving the Great Recession: Proven Ways to Deal with Challenging Times" (11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) and "What You Can Do Now: Winning Strategies for a Changed World" (2:30 to 4 pm.) will each be moderated by one of the industry’s leading consultants: Ben Janowski, president of The Janos Group Ltd. and Andrea Hill of Hill Management Consulting. Janowski has spent more than 20 years working with such prominent organizations as Golay-Buchel, Frederick Goldman, and De Beers. Hill is the former CEO of The Bell Group/Rio Grande, where she integrated strategic planning and designed organization and control systems to align the company. Janowski and Hill will lead a cross-section of industry executives, from major suppliers to designers to banks and financiers.

Monday: Focus on the Future. If you still don’t know the benefits of "tweeting" and "friending" on social media sites, or you want to tap into the trends of customized design and virtual inventory, you’ll want to attend the Monday sessions. "From Old Media to Social Media: Promoting Product in the 21^st Century" (11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) will feature Peggy Jo Donahue, MJSA’s director of public affairs; Carrie Soucy, a veteran journalist and current owner of Miamore Communications; and experienced marketers Ann Arnold of Lieberfarb, Veronica Wei Sopherof Ben Bridge Jeweler, and Michael Schechter of Honora. Later, from 2:30 to 4 p.m., hear from some of the industry’s leading CAD suppliers and custom jewelers-including Doug Kern of Gemvision and noted designers Lee Krombholz, Jim Tuttle, and Lisa Krikawa-as they take you into the world of "Future Stock: Putting the ’Custom’ in Customer."

Tuesday: Profiting by Design. To put it bluntly: If you want to meet world-class designers, you need to be here. Presented in partnership with the American Jewelry Design Council, the presentation features a partial "who’s who" of the jewelry design world: Consultant Marlene Richey (author of the MJSA Press book Profiting by Design), Cindy Edelstein of the Jeweler’s Resource Bureau, and AJDC members Jose Hess (moderator), Michael Bondanza, Barbara Heinrich, William Schraft, and Diana Vincent. (Yes, it’s name dropping, but they’re good names.)

MJSA’s At the Bench Live: The association’s signature hands-on demonstrations return to Expo with sessions by JCK Rising Star Chris Ploof ("Working with Alternative Metals," Sunday) and the award-winning Krombholz ("Creating Custom Finishes," Monday). Both sessions start at 1 p.m. The Bench and Tool Sponsor is Stuller.

Press Release available at from MJSA

Full Seminar Schedule available here

JCK Industry Fund Awards Diamond Development Initiative

Diamond Development Initiative, Jewelers of America, Womens Jewelry Association, American Gem Society, Jewelers Vigilance Committee and the Jewelers Security Alliance received part of the $400,000 that is granted every year to individuals, groups, or associations who work towards the betterment of the overall industry.

The JCK Industry Fund aims to address problems and challenges facing the jewelry industry, and to assist organizations and associations in developing training materials for its membership and the industry at large.

"We are thrilled that the JCK Fund has supported the initiative. The positive impact at the source of the diamond pipeline will, in time, be enormous." said DDII Board Chair Ian Smillie following the announcement that they have been awarded a grant from the JCK Industry Fund.

The JCK award will assist DDII in its effort to develop and create ‘Development Diamond Standards’, a verifiable certification system for artisanally mined diamonds. DDS will be a tool for addressing development issues and formalizing the artisanal diamond mining sector, and will be a foundation for enhancing the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process regulatory mechanism.

The standards will enable artisanal diamond miners to play an active role as change agents in their own communities, changing a legacy of chaos and victimization with a proactive tool for positive development. The grant will also help DDII tell the development diamond story to the wider jewelry industry.

Dorothee Gizenga, DDII’s Executive Director, said, "The confidence that the JCK Fund is showing in DDII is an important signal to the people we work with at the grass roots, that the industry is concerned about them. It is also an important signal to the governments and civil society organizations that we work with – and the others we hope to attract to our aims and objectives – that the industry is a valued and necessary player in this joint approach to some of the most basic problems in the alluvial diamond fields of Africa and South America."

There are an estimated 1.3 million artisanal diamond diggers across Africa, serving as the primary breadwinner for families that total as many as 10 million people. These diggers earn, on average, about a dollar a day, and there are tens of thousands like them in South America. Historically, governments have treated them as criminals and have attempted to drive them away. After 75 years, this is clearly not the solution.

Regulation and the rule of law are important, but DDII believes that economic problems and the poverty that lures people to the diamond fields also require economic and development solutions. The creation of verifiable standards for ‘development diamonds’ is one step in this direction.

Diamond Development Initiative International

Mission Statement

To gather all interested parties into a process that will address, in a comprehensive way, the political, social and economic challenges facing the artisanal diamond mining sector in order to optimize the beneficial development impact of artisanal diamond mining to miners and their communities within the countries in which the diamonds are mined.

2009 George A. Schuetz Jewelry Design Contest - WINNERS!

One of the great things about "Show Season" in the Jewelery & Gem Industries are all the Design Contests. Participating in a contest can do a lot of great things for your business - the secret is finding the right contest for your work...but that is another post all together and I will look at this topic soon on my Business of Craft blog. I am still catching up with the posts lost when my computer crashed in Tucson but expect a flurry of writing on all my blogs shortly!

First up - the winners of the 2009 George A. Schuetz Jewelry Design Contest!

This is an annual jewelry design contest offered by GIA, the Gemological Institute of America. Named in honor of the late men’s jewelry designer George A. Schuetz Sr., the international competition recognizes the best original men’s jewelry and accessories designs. It is open to all designers.

The first place winner was Sung Woo Hong, of Seoul, Korea, for a tie tack and cuff links set made of emerald cut and tapered sapphires and radiant and princess cut diamonds in 18 karat yellow gold. The first prize award is $500 and a crystal trophy.

“I am very honored,” Hong said. “Receiving this recognition gave me much energy and confidence. I like giving people joy by designing jewelry and I hope they will always remember my pieces.”

The second place award went to Joana Miranda of Glendale, Wisconsin for her “Dog Tags with Hidden Pico Drive.”

Her design uses polished white metal, channel-set rubies and black onyx inlay. Hidden inside the flip-top compartment is a Pico Drive. The Pico, or thumb drive, the smallest external computer drive on the market, is waterproof and equivalent to the size of a U.S. quarter. The dog tags are strung on a platinum bead chain. Miranda received a crystal trophy as recognition of her achievement.

“I am delighted to have won second place and I am grateful to GIA for sponsoring a competition that has inspired me to try to design in elegant and stylish ways for men,” said Miranda, who also won a prize in last year’s George A. Schuetz Design Contest. “Because this was my first Computer-Aided Design (CAD) submission in a design contest, this honor took on unique significance for me. I am continuing my design work with both CAD and hand-drawn renderings.”

Amit B. Kurdekar, of Mumbai, India, came in third place with a men’s ring made of enamel and 24 karat white and yellow gold.

“The Schuetz Contest is an excellent opportunity for young designers to express their creative vision and exercise their many talents,” said Phillip Weeks, manager of GIA’s Student Financial Assistance department and coordinator of the contest. “Contestants may submit one original color design rendering that has not been previously exhibited or ordered for sale.”

Each entry is judged by an independent panel of industry experts who evaluate it based on design, wearability, manufacturability and appeal. The time period to enter a rendering in the competition is from April 15 to June 15. No fee is charged to enter the contest.

Entries for the 2010 Schuetz Design Contest should be mailed according to the instructions on the 2010 entry form, which will be available beginning April 15 on the GIA web site at www.gia.edu, under Library Resources, Design Contests.

The George A. Schuetz Design Contest was established in 1973 by friends and family of Schuetz. The winners of the first contest were announced in 1974. GIA hosts and manages the competition.

Photos courtesy of the GIA via JCK Online story at: http://www.jckonline.com/article/449519-2009_George_A_Schuetz_Design_Contest_Winners_Announced.php?nid=2054&source=title&rid=15168191

Discover "Secrets of the Gem Trade" at GIA Thailand’s Gemstone Gathering

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Feb. 16, 2010 – The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Thailand will host its 33rd Gemstone Gathering on Feb. 24. Richard W. Wise, a graduate gemologist and president of R.W. Wise, Goldsmiths, Inc., will share his experiences as a gem explorer and author.

Wise, who began his career as a goldsmith, has traveled from the ruby mines of upper Burma to the Australian outback and the Brazilian hinterland to the black pearl farms of Tahiti, in search of rare and beautiful gemstones. He has interviewed some of the world’s foremost gemstone experts and received entrée to many private collections. Wise recently completed his first novel, “The French Blue,” based on the life of 17th century gem dealer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.

In his Secrets of the Gem Trade: The Connoisseur's Guide to Precious Gemstones, he presents a variation of the classic Four Cs applied to grading diamonds, which he calls “The Four Cs of Connoisseurship” or the four factors for quality grading colored gemstones and pearls. He will discuss the history and use of these four factors as they relate to grading ruby and sapphire.

The event begins at 6 p.m. in the Pacific Rooms 1-3 of the Pan Pacific Bangkok Hotel, on 952 Rama IV Road, Bangkok 10500. Light refreshments will be served.

Attendees will be eligible to enter a drawing to win an autographed copy of The French Blue.

Due to limited seating, an RSVP must be received by Feb. 23 to the GIA Laboratory Bangkok on 02 632 4090, or call the GIA Thailand Campus on 02 237-9575 or e-mail www.giathai.net or visit www.giathailand.com.