Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Bouquet of Pendants

Semi precious gemstones in an array of yummy summer colors!  These gemstones are individually handwoven in 14k rolled yellow gold wire and adorned with gold pyrite, swarovski crystals or freshwater pearls.

All on hand and available.  To order, please leave a comment or send us a message in Facebook.

Some Custom Orders

“Filigree Forest”

22k vermeil Filigree ear studs adorn 18k goldfilled handmade discs customized by various Swarovski faceted bicone crystals.

Nostalgia

“The Gold Loop”

18k goldfilled wire embraced by Swarovski faceted bicone crystals

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“Diamonds & Pearls”

A timeless classic.  The customer specifically wanted something that describes what our philosophy is all about.  Handmade 18k goldfilled discs are surrounded by beautiful rice pearls from where 12mm South Sea shell pearl hangs.  The discs are attached to 18k goldfilled diamond Swarovski ear studs.

Diamonds & Pearls

Let me know if you want me to create something as unique as the pictures above.  Leave a comment or add us up in Facebook

Blogarama

 

What’s in Store

Now that Angela’s bridal headband has been sent out to the courier, I have yet to finalize the details on my next collection: The Webbed Series

 

 

The Art of Pricing

He replied,
” I don’t advocate pricing by time and materials, price is so much a part of the perceived value of art and that has to be taken into account. But if you decide to go that way you need to take into account all expenses and time.. You need to know how much it costs to pay someone $10 an hour.
FIRST: If you are figuring it takes me so long, at such a price per hour, and materials are this much, you are pricing the cost of manufacturing. So double that for the final price. (This is what you would give to a gallery etc to market, advertise and sell your work.) If you are doing this, you will need to get paid.
SECOND: Your overhead; studio rent, utilities, heat and ac , phone and internet. (Even if your studio is in your house, you will be spending money to light and heat and cool it when working there which you wouldn’t if you were out working somewhere else) and equipment depreciation. You will have to replace that computer, those brushes, upgrade software ,  vehicle, cost of use and insurance etc. Insurance, health insurance. (No one has offered me free insurance yet). PO Box rent. the list goes on. Paper for the printer, postage and envelopes.
THIRD:  Time, how much time is spent working but not creating, bookwork, research, picking up supplies. Delivering work. If you are doing commissions, you can include meeting the client under marketing markup, but time photographing clients, sorting photos, time spent cleaning your studio. Janitors get paid too. Answering phone calls. etc etc.
FOURTH: Downtime: Don’t forget the days that you get sick or can’t work…You need to bring in enough when you are working to cover when you can’t……..
So 10 hours at the easel with a twenty five dollar canvas and ten dollars of paint doesn’t add up to the price of creating your piece of artwork.”
Steve’s summarization takes in all the factors of coming up with a “real” price for what you create.  Don’t randomly paste a price on your artwork based on vague factors such as “5 hours of time and $8.00 worth of canvas and paint” or “$3.00 per square inch should do it.”  Proudly acknowledge to yourself  TWO things when you establish a due diligence price for your artwork.
You and your art are worth every dollar of the price you establish!

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Apologies, I forgot the source.  I just got this from the web.  It struck me because it somehow encapsulates my pricing philosophy.  My pieces have very competitive prices.  I keep the costs low while at the same time without sacrificing on quality.

So, browse around here and in our Facebook account.  You might find something to your liking AND at a price you can afford 🙂

Interpretations

“A Diamond in the Rough”

(Smooth Kyanite briolettes embrance natural Herkimer diamonds)

“Teardrops”

(18k goldfill discs with natural Herkimer diamonds)

“When Stars Fall”

(Natural Herkimer diamonds)

Inspired by a Celebrity

These two couples are popular celebrities in the Philippines.  I will not go through the story on how their “surprise” “mob” wedding came about (just google: Carmina and Zoren wedding), but I will tell you how I came about noticing the beautiful earrings the bride wore.

THE REQUEST

A client approached me in December and asked if I saw the wedding on tv.  I said I did not and she told me her sister, who lives in the US saw it.  She was getting married in December and wanted a similar pair of earrings to that of Carmina’s (the celebrity).

TIME FRAME

2 weeks.  I had about 2 weeks to make this pair.  That, plus 2 other weddings I was preparing for.  But I will never back out of a challenge.  Besides, new supplies and materials just arrived from the mail and they were just sooo perfect to recreate the piece.

DILEMMA

There were no close up photos of the earrings.  The closest I got was this photo:

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THE PROCESS

The inspiration piece looked like it had a large diamond stud from where a teardrop-shaped dangler hung and from this dangler, a couple of smaller teardrop-shaped danglers also hung.

The ClassicSparklers’ filigree technique was fully used on this piece.  All sterling silver where diamond Swarovski faceted bicones were scattered about for that added shine.  For that diamond stud, I used faceted Austrian crystals.  For the smaller danglers I used sterling silver bezel set cubic zircons.

THE FINAL PRODUCT

 

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If you want us to recreate an inspiration piece for you, leave us a message here or email us at joanne@classicsparklers.com

A Vintage-Gangster Themed Wedding

It took a years’ worth of collaboration between the bride finally complete the collection.

THE REQUESTS

The bride told me the theme was vintage.  Black and white, nothing else.  There were lots of inspiration photos sent from Norway and Manila through Facebook and email.  I guess you can say that the communication and collaboration was through the World Wide Web! (You can’t get more modern than that!)

The final result came to:

9 pairs of earrings for the Maids of Honor, Bridesmaids and Secondary Sponsors

9 pairs of personalized rosaries for the Principal Sponsors

Wedding Cord

Bridal earrings (of course!)

a.  The Wedding Cord

I already knew I wanted to use diamonds.  And not just crystals or quartz but its what we (customarily) call in the Philippines as “Russian Diamonds”.  To combat the price, I had to purchase this a year ahead even if I would work on it a few months before the big day.

My ever reliable supplier had the right size and the right number of diamonds.  They were large, about an inch in length.  To stay within budget, I used plated sterling silver components to wrap and bind them together.

b.  Earrings for the Entourage

Like every wedding I collaborate with, I have to ask what the dresses will be.  I want to make sure that the jewelry will work with the dress or gown and not go against it.  The bride said that there will be fascinators.

The ladies’ earrings were easier to make.  The bride saw a previous filigree design and decided on it right away.  It used blackened sterling silver, Austrian crystals and quartz.  To make theirs more unique, I made them larger and used rock crystal quartz and larger briolettes.  I thought that would be enough for the earrings to stand out even under their fascinators.

Bridesmaids

c.  Primary sponsors’ tokens

The couple wanted this personalized and how much more personal can you get with birthstones! They decided on full length rosaries with beads made of the sponsors’ own birthstone 🙂 Real and natural gemstones were quite pricey a year ago and their prices have not gone much lower.  To stay within budget, I used Austrian crystals and wrapped them together with plated sterling silver components.  It will not be much noticed but this made them coordinate well with the wedding cord.

d.  Bridal earrings

I had no idea of what the bridal gown would be.  The bride just told me she wanted a white dangler similar to a previous design that was composed of freshwater pearls and white jade. …. but didn’t want it to be made of pearls.  She wanted the white jade faceted briolette to remain.  I searched my stock and was happy to have found some white agate sandstone!  This little piece of magic had small “sparkles” all over.  Again, to make it different from the inspiration, I used Austrian crystals instead of a regular filigree wrapped ear stud.  I covered the agate with sterling silver in ClassicSparklers’ traditional nest design and then wrapped the white jade in sterling silver.

THE RESULT:

a.  The Wedding Cord

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b.  The Ladies’ Entourage Earrings

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c.  The Personalized Tokens of Primary Sponsors

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and

d.  The Bridal Earrings

with the bride

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Each piece came with their own Certificate of Authenticity which describes the work process and  the meaning between each component.

Should you want a unique wedding experience by gifting your dear participants with something as extraordinary as this?  Leave us a message her or email us at joanne@classicsparklers.com

P.S.

Click here to see the full collection for the one of a kind wedding

Weddings and More

Sorry for the lack of posts but our December was full of weddings.

Instead of featuring them all in one bulk, I have decided to make a thorough feature in order to explain each and every process of the pieces….especially now since the brides have gave me their permission to post them here 🙂

Stay tuned!

Eternity Will Soon Be Ours

Another kind of birthstone/stacking ring to look forward to at Classicsparklers 🙂

Would you like to be one of the first to have these?

Let us know at joanne@classicsparklers.com

ClassicSparklers’ Rings on Etsy

I have always been a traditional girl.

One ring on the ring finger.  Both ring fingers, not in the middle, and definitely in not all!

Fast forward to a decade — to the minimalist age, I’d say.  And this is what you’ll see on me:

Not at all tacky as I originally thought.  Its quite a bit more classy, timeless and edgy!  This fascination with stacking rings had me decide to finally bring them to the Classicsparklers brand.  Most of those I first posted on my online shop have been sold and here are the three available ones:

We accept custom pieces as well*.

Nevertheless, here is what my lovely client has reserved:

These rings take some time to make so if you prefer to have one customized, perhaps as a gift for that special someone for Christmas, or for yourself, it will be best to place the order now.  You can leave a message in etsy or at joanne@classicsparklers.com.

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* But as with all online shops, some place orders and then forget about them, leaving the pieces waiting for forever 😦  That’s a little disappointing fact we all have experienced because we lose potential sales and/or customers who would want that piece for herself.  We’ve all had our own share so I have made it a point to wait for a week (I’d appreciate it more if clients communicate to me that it will take them a while coz perhaps they’re on a trip or something, and in that case, I will hold the item longer than a week).