[Welcome] New Members for February 24, 2009

Please welcome our newest members!

Neil Yeager
zbestvalue
Myrtle Beach, SC. USA

I have been a lapidary since 1985 when I lived and worked in CA. I
now live in South Carolina. I cut and polish a variety of gems and
also enjoy making custom settings in gold and silver. I have two
websites. zbestvalue.com is my cab, slab and rough website and
finegemdesigns.com is my gold jewelry website. I also sell silver
jewelry on the zbestvalue website. Lastly I also sell on eBay under
the name zbestvalue.

Rick Kiemele
Bismarck, North Dakota. USA

goldsmith/watchmaker, 34 years experience, retail jeweler

Stephen A.F. Tjon-Kon-Joe
Esteban Jewelry Design
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland. Netherlands

http://estebanjewelrydesign.blogspot.com

My name is Stephen Tjon; in English ‘Tjon’ would be ‘Chang’, so my
name would be Stephen Chang ; ) and I recently started with the art
of goldsmithing and jewelry design. Actually I am a professional
viola player, but I always had a lot of interests in art, jewelry,
gemstones and antiques.

I became very passionate, partially because of the good work and
encouragement of my teachers Bernarda Roelofs, Nancy Roeters and
Laurens van Ren. And last year I was accepted to the Dutch School of
Gold and Silversmithing in Schoonhoven, where I am having a great
time!

The name Esteban, which is a reference to my South-American
background (I was born in Surinam), is the Spanish version of my
name and means ‘crown’. But also literally means ‘child of the sun’
in the Mayan language.

I hope you’ll like my designs - at this moment I’m experimenting
with various techniques and combinations of materials. I realise
that there is much still to learn and to discover : ) Don’t hesitate
to leave a personal comment should you wish to do so.

The handmade jewelry shown here is for sale, unless mentioned
otherwise. Variations or adaptations to match your personal liking
will be, of course, no problem at all. Tell me what you like, and
I’ll do my best to realize a unique design completely to your
personal taste!

I wish you all a nice visit to my blog. All pieces are unique and of
course handmade. Just click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Thanks for watching, and all the best from the beautiful city of
Rotterdam, The Netherlands!

ciao,
Stephen

Beth-Ann Marie Mullen
Kaneohe, Hawaii. USA

Aloha! I have found time to dive back into jewelry making!! I was
making a living creating wire sculpted jewelry about 4 years ago. My
husband and I started a solar energy company and have been working
full throttle on that for the last 3-4 years. I was fortunate to be
able to retire from the day to day operations and am now getting
back into the activities I loved before getting our company off the
ground! I am taking a fabrication class and am a beginner, so bring
on the forums…I’m ready to learn!!

Barbrie Clay Chavez
Chavez Creations
Albuquerque, NM. USA

My name is Barbrie. Born in my Grandfather’s house in the mountains
of SE Virginia, his wife was French, his Mother Cherokee/Irish and
he so named me. I use BRIE as it is easier! Bachelor’s in business,
minor in education. My childhood was spent in Baltimore and Northern
Maryland then I traveled this wonderful country living in New
Orleans, LA; Galveston, TX Leesburg, VA; Albuquerque, NM. Studied in
England, traveled all of Europe, worked in Israel, main career in
Contract Management in the Federal Government brought me to the
Southwest. I dropped anchor, married, had two beautiful children.

A MAJOR health crisis tested me in 1987 and had to get “creative”
and that is when THE EARTHMOTHER COLLECTION came to be. A tribute to
my Cherokee heritage, I sold the “dolls” of cedar wood throughout
the US in gift shops, to Indian artists that sold them at PowWows
and of all my favorite gift shops was The Smithsonian Gift Shops in
Wash, DC and later in Harlem, NY when the Smithsonian took over a
museum there. I started making jewelry for the dolls, then for real
live dolls! Having been “gifted” with some vintage glass from
Austria, my education of “vintage and Victorian” began. Recently
retired, I am pursuing my love of art in every form and belong to
Corralesartists.org and sell once a month May-Oct in that lovely
north valley village in Corrales, New Mexico. I donate time and
materials to several elementary schools as well as the KIDS ART Tent
in Corrales, NM. I recently joined ETSY, barbrie777.esty.com and
briesboutique.etsy.com and have been so blessed to connect and sell
to artisans all over this wonderful world! My life has been rich,
red,sometimes raw, but at all times REAL and cannot imagine my life
without art. I am so fortunate to connect with the wonderful world
of artists and wish great health, wealth and happiness to everyone.

Gabriel Pierce
Opals Agates and More
Navassa, NC. USA

I work for the coast guard and i have started my own business
cutting stones. I started out a year and a half ago cutting fire
agate free hand, i have for the last 4 months been primarly cutting
Koroit boulder opal.

Robert Solomon
Masapequa, NY. USA

Independent bench jeweler

Rachael Brooke Winkley
Rachael Brooke Designs
Madison, WI. USA

Hello,

I’m a jewelry artist in Madison, WI. I’ve been selling, teaching and
involved with arts advocacy for a little over 10 years. I’m
currently taking studio classes to expand my skills and studying
non-profit arts management at U-Massachusetts (online program).

Peace, Rachael

Carmen Lombardi
San Paulo, Brazil

http://www.carmenlombardi.com.br

Carmen is a skilled metal and enamel worker, with over 20 years of
experience. She is also a great teacher.