One of the better things about operating our earlier business ventures out of Tucson was the annual opportunity to attend the world’s largest gem show. I believe that may have been what drew us there in the first place, back in ‘87.

The first few years, I seldom got a chance to tag along with my dad and his friend and mentor, Walter C. But as our business grew and I aged into a somewhat responsible teen, I was allowed to accompany him more often. We would only make it through a tiny percentage of the show, as my dad was extremely pokey, and loved nothing better than haggling some poor Brazilian until the guy forgot his English.

In the early nineties tanzanite really took off as a popular gemstone. Always exp ...

Summer has finally come to Northern Michigan. It has had to struggle through rain, late frost, and more rain. Then it encountered hail, high winds, thunder, more rain, and… more rain.

It is flooded up here, as in other parts of the country. My poor neighbors had just gotten their garage emptied of six inches of Lake Mitchell when another storm blew up and refilled it. As if that weren’t enough, the storm also upended a good-sized tree onto their swing, and their yard is now one big messy pond.

But I firmly believe that we have found summer, and I intend to hang onto it until at least October. My peonies bloomed and died, now the Iceland poppies grace a sparse patch of lawn. We redid the landscap ...

The little boy couldn’t have been more than twelve years old. Small for his age, he peered just over the glass countertop of our antique cases.

“How much does a custom necklace cost?” He asked, his voice level and his eyes serious.

“Well,” my dad hedged, ever the profiteer, “how much do you have?”

“I have thirty-two dollars.” The boy pulled a stack of sweaty bills out of his pocket. They were wrinkly, but neatly ordered. “I want a peanut necklace for my mom.”

“A peanut?” My dad asked.

“Yes, sir.” Any child who referred to my dad as ‘sir’ immediately rose up a few notches in his estima ...

Since I launched the shopping cart I have been keeping an eye on how many people are registering and using the shopping cart. I am always looking for ways to make the shopping and browsing experience better as we transition to the finalized website](http://wexfordjewelers.com). It was while I was looking at this that I noticed no one was adding anything to their shopping carts.

I found a bug that was preventing it from working and have fixed it. I have tested it on my development server and on the main ...

Yesterday was a big day for us, as we move towards building this site for the community out there. Yesterday we launched our membership signup and shopping cart! Now you can join the Wexford Jewelers crowd and have your own account.

What will this allow you to do? Right now it will allow you to purchase our jewelry. But in the very near future here are a few things that are being launched:

• Comment on and rate the Jewelry
• Comment on our Blog; soon to be integrated on the front page
• Join contest
• Help design and mold this site to your t ...

Whether it was the advent of spring, the task of cleaning my outdated wardrobe, or just a lifelong fixation with the color green, I had to build this ring this past month.

Having recently acquired a couple of cat’s eye chrysoberyls, I was anxious to use them in some stunning piece. I think we pulled it off, don’t you?

I began with a simple bezel of extruded blue wax. This is a softer wax, perfect for forming. Bending the wax to within a millimeter tolerance of the stone, I secured it on the bottom with a more rigid piece of Ruby Red wax, extendin ...

I’ll always remember my first time at the wheel. I was a short, scrawny, 9 year old girl with straggly, brown hair. I did not know what I was doing.

Zzz… zzz…zzz, went the hard, abrasive wheel, as I gouged deep, rough valleys into the thin, silver, practice ring, that was just cast and cleaned. Trying to take down the casting sprue. Then the ring slipped off the wheel and my finger received the same treatment. Zzz… into my soft, not yet calloused finger tip. I received a little instruction from my teacher, my dad. He showed me how to firmly but gently, roll the ring into the wheel to keep the nice ...

I am now becoming more involved in our casting process. And by more involved, I mean that I am doing a casting once a week. My whole casting setup had been in my basement, and even though it was handy, the cons outweighed the pros. So I decided to do what I love to do. Build a workshop. I am proud to say that Wexford Jewelers now has its own fully functional casting and molding workshop! This is what I have always dreamed of. Working in a self sufficient jewelry shop. You see, before, everything had been here and there.. wax carving in the dining room, casting the basement, molding on the kitchen counter, finishing at our jewelry store, and selling them in 5 locations at times! And me being the organization guru I am, th ...

Never get involved. That’s our mantra in the jewelry store. We may see a couple destined for divorce court before they are even married, but we smile and tolerate their bickering and sell them a wedding set.

Who are we to predict their demise? They could fight happily for the next forty years, for all we care. We’re just here to sell the rings, and the necklace for the anniversary, and the diamond earrings when he has to concede the argument…

We may see an older woman gleefully spending her retirement money on tourmaline jewelry, but she is happily in her dotage and could never need another penny of that money, what do we care? So she’ll have a little bit less to pass on to those gre ...

I was at my sister’s house today and noticed a lovely shade of nail polish on her counter. I did my typical girlie oohing and ahhing and complimenting her choice, but she merely shrugged,

“I don’t even bother painting my nails anymore unless it’s a special occasion, no point in it.” “Well, if you get a really strong topcoat-” I began, but then, seeing her shake her head, I shut up.

A jeweler is not known for pretty nails, even less so for pretty hands. Emily basically gave up her right to nice hands when she first sat down at the jeweler’s bench so many years ago. The bite of ...