MieleMelograno
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- May 25, 2011
- Messages
- 18
Hello everyone,
I have lurked on and off for years. I've finally decided to become a member.
I have love gemstones like many of you since I was a child. Coming from a long line of starving artists I had to simply love from afar.
One thing kept pulling at me ... my grandfather was a wonderful guy full of witty humor and self pioneering spirit. One day while playing cribbage, with one of his many homemade cribbage boards, I asked him what the design was on his wedding ring. He told me the story...
He had been keen on my grandmother for some time and she was very fond of him too. When the time came to move to the next level my grandfather didn't have enough money to buy a ring from the jewelry shop. With two silver coins in his pocket a nail and a hammer he set to work. The punctured the coins with the nail then used it as a mandrel to hammer down the washer to make a ring. He then scribed a Greek key pattern in the silver with one of his woodworking gravers. She loved it! She loved his spunk and ingenuity!
And to this day that tidbit of family history sees me through alot.
It also inspired me to become a jewelry artist who makes everything I can with my own two hands. Which in turn has led me to people who have opened doors to one of my first "loves" gemstones.
My incredible husband, has had the ability to work with people from all over the world. While promoting my "talents" as a jewelry artist one of his co workers informed us that he had family in the gemstone trade in Kenya. Well, it's been an amazing 9 months of adventure since then. I've had many wonderful rough gemstones faceted by master cutters here in the US as well as setting many of the rough gems into jewelry.
Having grown up in an environment of social and economic responsibility, this is a dream come true for me. I have always wanted to have the chance to improve the conditions in which the working class are forced to survive. The gem trade is rife with dangers: cave in's, blast injuries, poisonous bites, heat stroke, violent intimidation, corruption to name a few. Most often independent miners use the most basic tools something hard and sharp to jab at the walls of the cave or pit a bucket or something to carry the stones away with and a light to see in the dark with. I am hoping to improve the lives of our mining community and that of other communities through purchasing directly from the mining teams, using those funds to improve their working conditions and the living conditions of their families.
I am a supporter of the Green Gem Foundation, a new non-profit group seeking to do the same, improve the lives of the mining community as a whole by providing funds, through the sale of custom cut gemstones, for the building of sustainable water pumps, micro-grants and gemstone faceting education to communities in Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar.
Anyway I am looking forward to discussing the good and the bad of gemstones and jewelry with my fellow gem lovers!
Liz
I have lurked on and off for years. I've finally decided to become a member.
I have love gemstones like many of you since I was a child. Coming from a long line of starving artists I had to simply love from afar.
One thing kept pulling at me ... my grandfather was a wonderful guy full of witty humor and self pioneering spirit. One day while playing cribbage, with one of his many homemade cribbage boards, I asked him what the design was on his wedding ring. He told me the story...
He had been keen on my grandmother for some time and she was very fond of him too. When the time came to move to the next level my grandfather didn't have enough money to buy a ring from the jewelry shop. With two silver coins in his pocket a nail and a hammer he set to work. The punctured the coins with the nail then used it as a mandrel to hammer down the washer to make a ring. He then scribed a Greek key pattern in the silver with one of his woodworking gravers. She loved it! She loved his spunk and ingenuity!
And to this day that tidbit of family history sees me through alot.
It also inspired me to become a jewelry artist who makes everything I can with my own two hands. Which in turn has led me to people who have opened doors to one of my first "loves" gemstones.
My incredible husband, has had the ability to work with people from all over the world. While promoting my "talents" as a jewelry artist one of his co workers informed us that he had family in the gemstone trade in Kenya. Well, it's been an amazing 9 months of adventure since then. I've had many wonderful rough gemstones faceted by master cutters here in the US as well as setting many of the rough gems into jewelry.
Having grown up in an environment of social and economic responsibility, this is a dream come true for me. I have always wanted to have the chance to improve the conditions in which the working class are forced to survive. The gem trade is rife with dangers: cave in's, blast injuries, poisonous bites, heat stroke, violent intimidation, corruption to name a few. Most often independent miners use the most basic tools something hard and sharp to jab at the walls of the cave or pit a bucket or something to carry the stones away with and a light to see in the dark with. I am hoping to improve the lives of our mining community and that of other communities through purchasing directly from the mining teams, using those funds to improve their working conditions and the living conditions of their families.
I am a supporter of the Green Gem Foundation, a new non-profit group seeking to do the same, improve the lives of the mining community as a whole by providing funds, through the sale of custom cut gemstones, for the building of sustainable water pumps, micro-grants and gemstone faceting education to communities in Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar.
Anyway I am looking forward to discussing the good and the bad of gemstones and jewelry with my fellow gem lovers!
Liz
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