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If you are an Avindy blog regular, then you know all about some of our most recent handmade jewelry in the works. Amongst them is a protection amulet inspired by the ancient metal works of India. In our past posts we walked you through our process in bringing this handmade necklace to life—from an idea and a drawing, to a wax carving. This post is dedicated to presenting you with the finished product!
The original inspiration was a filigree case, about 4 1/2" in length.
Our pendant is about 2 1/4" wide & 5/8" tall in the center. It hangs from 4 layers of delicate palladium chain.
We are looking forward to having the gold versions back from the plater next week. So, stay tuned for some more handmade jewelry excitement to come! We can’t wait to share.
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Back in December, we ran a contest called "Two Diamond Rings for the Price of One Thanks" where Avindy Facebook fans were encouraged to tell us about a person in their life that they would like to give thanks for by tagging them in a Facebook post. In doing so, both people would win a handmade diamond ring from Avindy. Amber and Alex Worell were our winners. Of course, Alex has no use for a diamond ring...other than giving it to his wife, Amber. So amber ended up with both of the rings! Lucky Gal!
Amber was so impressed with the rings when she got them that she decided to send us this nice little testimonial:
"These are the kind of rings that you wear everyday with everything. They are so light, and have a very unique characteristics. The rustic look makes them almost look like antiques and the diamonds add a unique feature. I love wearing them layered because they both really complete each other. For a woman, they really make my hand feel light and graceful. That being said, I wear them all the time and with everything."
Thanks so much for the kind words Amber! We are so happy that you love them!
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Since we introduced our leather strap bracelets that come adorned with beautifully hand-carved sliders, they have become one of our best selling items. So, when it came time to start thinking about this season's metals collection, we thought our fans would be happy if we came out with some new sliders for those strap bracelets. This is what we came up with:
As you can see, Kitty, our artisan, just finished up the wax carvings for 4 brand new sliders. They will come in the choice of 2 styles: filigree or a cross. The filigree version comes in 3 different sizes: small, medium and large. The largest of the three has a bezel for a 4mm cabochon gemstone. We haven't decided which stones we will use, but red coral, denim lapis, and nephrite jade are at the top of the list. All of the sliders will be available in partially oxidized silver (where the piece gets blackened, then highlighted) or our 18K gold vermeil. We will sell these on the strap, but if the demand presents itself, we may sell the sliders individually.
We hope you are as excited as we about these sliders. As soon as they are cast and finished, we will be sure to post them on our blog. So stay tuned!
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One of the most beautiful and desired types of metal work is the silver filigree. The intricate nature is what has attracted people to the design element for well over 500 years. The traditional method, which consists of twisting threads of gold or silver into a unique motif, is typically used in an array of artistic pieces made in Asia, particularly Indonesia and India. In more modern times, some of the world’s finest jewelers have taken to using the method to enhance their works. Today, filigree is used in a number of contexts to describe anything considered delicate, intricate and elaborate.
In keeping with a recent theme that we have unwittingly created, we are going to show you our process in creating a pair of earrings inspired by filigree works of art found in India (you might recall that our protection amulet in the making was also inspired by the metal works of India). As we briefly mentioned above, filigree typically involves twisted threads made of gold and silver. These threads are created by pouring melted metal into molds shaped as small rods. Once cooled, the rods are then pressed to form thin, long wires. These wires are then pressed flat, molded, strung or soldered.
Our earrings will ultimately be cast, so our process will go about a little differently. As we showed you in the last few posts and as you can see here, our pieces generally start off with a drawing and a wax carving. After the carving is all finished, the piece graduates casting process, which is similar to what we mentioned in our Protection Amulet post found here.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we post the finished product for these earrings and our protection amulet. Keep in mind that we haven’t even named these pieces yet!
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 The wax carving and sculpting is finished! You can click on the image to view it larger.
In case you are just now tuning in, you can find the first post on our protection amulet here. In this article we are doing a little follow up on one of our hand made pieces of jewelry in the making. We thought it would be fun for you to tag along while we create one of our handcrafted pendants. As we mentioned, this piece is a protection amulet inspired by the ancient metal works of India. What we didn’t mention is Avril (the mother in the mother/daughter team that makes up Avindy) has had a tad more influence on this piece. Avril’s taste is very ethnic and raw, but enchanting. In the words of Kitty, our metalsmith, “with her it’s - make it look shmutzed, like it was just dug up out of the ground.” Now that sounds intriguing!
In our last post we talked about “lost wax casting”, the technique often used by Indians in their metal works. Our process is similar, with a few variations. Our process uses plaster instead of clay to create the original model. The wax carving is set in a flask (a steel cylinder with a rubber base), and then plaster is poured in, which in liquid form picks up the tiny details of the wax carving. Once the plaster sets, the wax is melted out, and silver is cast in. The plaster is cracked to unearth the silver. The outcome is the original model.
Once the original model is created, hot wax is injected to a rubber mold made from the model. This rubber mold is reusable for hundreds of waxes. In the next step this process is basically repeated to create each pendent, except for now multiples are treed together in the flask to expedite the process.
The next part of the process??? The final product! Make sure you stay tuned to see it. We are excited to share it.
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 India has long been known for the art of metal working—dating back almost 5000 years. The 4500-year-old statuette of a dancing girl from the ancient Harappan town of Mohenjo-Daro is a beautiful example of their ancient work. Traditionally, Indian craftsmen use an array of different metals like iron, copper, silver and alloys like bronze, bell metal, and white metal to produce items ranging from pots, pans, and utensils, to photo frames, sculptures of deities, and mythological figures and animals.
During the Chola dynasty in Southern India the art of metalworking reached great heights. The Chola craftsmen were masters at making bronze sculptures. These sculptures were usually made with the “lost wax casting” technique. This casting method begins with a hand carved wax mold of the piece, moves to covering the model with clay, and finally pouring molten metal through a hole at the top of the clay model causing the wax to melt.
Often made using the technique described above, people have worn Indian Protection Amulets for thousands of years—believing in the power of these amulets to bring health and good fortune as well as ward off evil.
We are in the process of creating our own version of a protection amulet inspired by the ancient metal working of India. It all starts with a block of wax and a drawing:
Here you have the basic shape of the amulet cut out and carved:
You will notice in this picture that more details are making their way into the wax:
Follow us in the next few days as we keep up with the process of our hand carved protection amulet. The pay off will be seeing the final product!
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We are excited to announce that this May Avindy is partnering with QVC for their annual Designer Charms for Charity campaign. The theme for this year's jewelry campaign is "My love for Children" and proceeds will benefit Jewelers for Children and Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Both foundations are dedicated to bettering the lives of children and their families who are facing catastrophic illness or circumstance.
Multiple designers will be participating and the various charms will be revealed in a special brand shop that launches on April 30th. Orders will be taken between April 30th and May 31st. The charm selections will be accompanied by a personal story about the artist's love for children.
The heart padlock charm with a diamond shown above is our contribution and is currently in production. Stay tuned as this piece progresses! We hope you will join us on our crusade to benefit these charities by purchasing one of our charms from QVC when they become available.
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We are quickly approaching the first day of Spring! In order to celebrate, we have decided to share some of our best sellers from our brand new Spring Collection, Seafoam. As always, we stay true to our signature style composed of hand picked gemstones, full of color and brilliance, and layered to perfection. As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." While sticking to what we know and do well, we have gone out on a limb with the combination of gemstones we chose for the Seafoam collection where you will find a beautiful contrast of aquamarine, laboradorite, pearl seed, and hessonite garnet.
It has become a recent tradition to pick an interesting gemstone that is part of our collection and give you some facts about it. We think that the most interesting gemstone used in our Seafoam collection is the hessonite garnet.
Hessonite belongs to the grossularite garnet group. It is a radiant and semi-transparent gemstone with syrup-like inclusions visible within the stone. Although most grossularite garnet is green, hessonite ranges in color from honey-yellow to orange-brown to brown-red, earning it the nickname cinnamon stone—and who doesn't appreciate a little spice in their jewelry?? The interesting coloration is a result of manganese or iron content within the stone.
The most well known hessonite deposits are in Sri Lanka India, though its native source is not known. Hessonite is also mined in Brazil, India, Canada, Madagascar, Tanzania and the United States. The ancient Greeks and Romans were known to use it way back when. Today it is very important to Hindu astrology and highly regarded and as a gem that can bring success, wealth and notoriety in society, increase ones life span and good fortune. It can even cure problems in your married life. What an amazingly versatile stone! 
Now that we have gotten our educational tour out of the way, let's move on to our jewelry! Drum roll please……
  
Item #227.1014 Item #427.149 Item #595.256
You can click on the images to view them larger and if you are interested in purchasing any of these beauts, check out our store locator for an Avindy retailer near you. We don't have these available for sale on our website yet, but we just know that our friends will take very good care of you!
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