“Just make me something pretty.”

The elderly lady was one of my spunkiest customers to date. Her eyes sparkled with dry wit, and her touch on my hand was kindly.

“What kind of pretty?” I asked, laughing, “Swirly pretty? Floral pretty?”

She shrugged and grinned at me,

“You’ll do fine. I know I’ll love it.”

Rarely do clients put their complete faith in my design capability. Most people have an idea, a thought or a stone for a basis, or at least a size reference. I appreciated her confidence in me, but felt completely at sea at to where to start.

A f ...

It was winter and the snow fell thick and silent around the store. We were up to our ears in custom work, but never too busy to turn away one more.

A woman came to us with a pile of scrap gold and a sapphire. She wanted a ring made for her daughter, a nurse here in Cadillac. Because of the physical demands of nursing, a high setting or multiple prongs can be very obstructive and even dangerous to patients. Our challenge was to build it securely, while making sure that there was nothing to catch, snag, scratch, or tear. The ring also had to be built heavy to withstand daily wear and tear.

We melted down her gold, added fresh, and set the ...

What does one do, exactly, when one has multiple stones to put into a design? When you have sapphires, diamonds, and an errant garnet? What about when you have several stones larger than the rest?

Well, if you’re obsessive compulsive about math, your brain sorts the stones out into a pattern. If the number of stones happens to be easily divisible by four, you have a square just begging to be carved!

The garnet that belonged to the customer wound up being too abraded to use, so we found a lovely cropped-corner square to fit in the center, and this entire necklace just came together with ease and grace.

Pardon us if we̵ ...

It’s different from down here. Customers’ voices travel oddly across the room, trickling down to where I kneel on the pale green carpet. I hear a woman laugh and tease her husband that she’ll take ‘one of each, please!’

I smile and continue to crawl slowly in a circle, searching. Another voice comes oddly to my ears, a man asking about our ring sizing practices. Kathryn’s calm voice answers softly, inaudible to me from my post below my desk.

I poke at the molding with tweezers, then gently brush my hand over the surface of the carpet, tricks that I learned many years ago. The molding will occasionally burp forth a lost stone, while the hand brushing routine can often make ...

For the past 13 years we have been using a track light system for illuminating our jewelry, and this track system consists of roughly (thirty) 75-watt flood lights. Being in an age where energy costs are up, and spending almost $4,000 a year on just the cost of running the track lights, (not to mention running the air conditioning to cool the building down due to the heat of the lights) we had to make a change.

After researching all of our options, we decided to replace the lights we are currently using with LED lights. I was skeptical at first, seeing that these LED lights only had an output of 300 lumens per light, as opposed to the 750 lumens per bulb we were used to, so I ordered only 2 lights. Plus they were ...

Like the Bob Dylan song, titled a little like this post, times are changing; not only in life and on the streets, but also on the internet. No longer can you have just a web page with a generic shopping cart, throw a bunch of money at some ad campaign, and expect to be an instant hit.

And it isn’t all about the money any more either. People actually want to int ...

For weeks one could see me storming about my family stating “write a blog post!”, “We need more blog post.”, “people have read everything and want more. write a blog post” etc.

I need only to open my mouth to hear “I know, I know …” or “I’ve really been meaning to”. I’m sure everyone is sick of hearing my voice by now. But what have I written lately?

My excuse was IR ...

2007-2008 has been a time of change for Wexford Jewelers. Not only have we completely revamped our landscaping, we just painted our building! We’ve stared at mottled orange & brown brick for so long, the soft gray structure sitting at the corner of Mitchell & River Streets is almost unrecognizable!

Add to that new paint inside, new concrete sidewalks (at least on two sides of the building), a new design studio inside, a new and huge repair/finishing shop, this new and awesome website, and this place seems suddenly like a lovely chrysalis, a shining butterfly emerging from a dusty cocoon.

I will post photos later of the new paint job/garden/sidewalk. The painters are not quite done as o ...

Over the years, I have repaired every kind of jewelry there is. And it was brought to me in every possible condition. In doing so, it has taught me a lot about how to properly maintain my precious, not so easy to replace, baubles. I am now passing on a practical list of do’s and don’ts for you read, and implement. If properly maintained and checked, your jewelery will last for generations to come.

DO’S:

Do get your jewelry regularly checked by a jeweler. Every 6 months to a year.

Do take off your rings every month and clean them, if not by a jeweler, then yourself. A solution of hot water, Windex, and a couple drops of dish soap, works wonders. Soak for 5 to 10 minutes, ( no long ...

Its Friday night. I’m sitting at home after a hastily-prepared but tasty meal. My children are clambering over my legs and putting questionable things into my hair. My feet ache- not from standing in one place all day but from walking back and forth throughout the store, balancing on one foot while a customer regales me with stories, and constantly getting up and down to answer the ding of the door.

Its been a busy week, as usual. I’ve changed your watch batteries, sized your watch bands. I’ve drawn sketches for you- sketches of rings and pendants made from your mother’s diamonds and your old high school class ring. I’ve listened to you tell me about how your hands swell in the morning, ...