Affordable Holiday Gifts

The state of the economy has left many people worried, unsettled or rethinking their financial situation and holiday gift buying; but still many are looking for that unique and affordable holiday gift. That is where we come in; Timeless Designs offers natural gemstone jewelry uniquely handcrafted into one-of-a-kind pieces for the individual and at affordable prices that won’t break the bank.

Buying exclusive, handcrafted jewelry doesn’t have to be expensive; and by no means does it mean that we have sacrificed the quality of the piece for lower prices. To bring exquisite natural gemstone jewelry designs to you, this year we went direct and traveled to the world’s 2nd largest Gem & Mineral Show in Tucson, Arizona. There we shopped from thousands of vendors at hundreds of shows in the gemstone and jewelry industry. We came across and purchased some of the most unusual cuts and selection of natural gemstones and metal beads ever seen. This allows us to create some fresh, unique and individual design pieces, like no others, at affordable prices to our clients.
Shop our website and purchase necklaces, necklace sets, earrings, bracelets, and smart pendants. Choose from jewelry designs in an array of coral, turquoise, agate, jasper, and onyx; accented with our trademark wire sculpture links, twists, and spirals; then highlighted with metal spacers in silver, gold, and copper along with Swarvoski crystals, Dichroic pendants, pearls, and glass Czech beads.

Each purchase comes with a gift box all set for giving; just add your own card or wrap and you’re ready to give a one-of-a-kind jewelry design to anyone.

So what are you waiting for…visit us at our last show of the season November 22nd – 23rd here in San Antonio and chose from among our collection of distinctively handcrafted jewelry or browse our website and purchse from the comforts of your home or office.

Artistic Wire Used in Jewelry

There are different wires an Artist can chose from to make links, chains, or jewelry findings. Wires range from sterling silver, 14-18k gold, gold-filled, to copper, brass and now artistic wire in colored or non-tarnish forms. With the price of gold and silver on the rise, I’ve turned to using non-tarnish artistic wire to incorporate into my creations; allowing me to still get that everlasting high gloss of silver, brass or gold without the tarnish.

Artistic wire is created by Artistic Wire Ltd., offering non-tarnish wire and permanent colored copper wire available in 50 colors and 14 gauges. They also offer silver-plated colored copper wire available in 8 sizes and 13 colors. The wire is either vinyl coated copper or silver-plated and dyed wire, but the shiny silver, gold or brass wires usually have an anti-tarnish coating; allow the wire to resist tarnish as long as the coating is intact. It has a harness of soft in the wire world and generally requires ‘hardening’ to keep its shape. Soft wire bends easier and tends to remain in place once it is bent. Soft wire is perfect for making spirals and other rounded shapes, making it easy to mold the wire into any shape one desires.

Depending on the design I’ll use different gauges of wire; for links in necklaces and bracelets I use heavy 16-18g wire and for small findings I’ll use a medium-small 20-22gauge. And when making the coils in rings I turn to even smaller gauges of 24-28g wire over 18-20g wire. All of these are done using the non-tarnish or coated colored wire; which allows me to bring designs to my customers at the same quality of sterling silver or gold, but at a much lower cost. I still work with sterling silver and will note the wire used in every design, though the luster will eventually fade with sterling silver, non-tarnish wire requires a lot less cleaning to keep the color and shiny effect.

Once the jewelry design is complete I need to harden the wire to keep the desired shape. This is done by putting the piece in a tumbler, with water and cleaner for about 15-20 minutes. This hardens the wire and also cleans the jewelry of any grease, minerals or oils that come from naturally working with the wire and stones. The jewelry is then completely ready to be photographed and wrapped for a show or shipped off to a customer.

You can find artistic wire at any local hobby or craft store, or online at any number of wholesale vendors. Visit my website and browse through the selection of wire sculptured designs using the artistic wire.

Dichroic Glass Designs

Master artist in Dichroic glass, Anna from Aesthetic Designs, whom I met several years ago at the “Big One Holiday Show” here in San Antonio. The jewelry pieces are so unique I have bought several for my personal jewelry collection. Her glass designs are truly breath-taking and never the same, as she pushes the limits of glass designs! She offers both individual sets with a simple matching chain in silver or gold and also beaded works of art. Visit her website Aesthetic Designs for a look into her world and browse her collection available for purchase.

So what is dichroic glass exactly? A little insight into fused glass…..Fuse layers of specialty Dichroic glass at high temperatures in a kiln and what do you get. Truly one-of-a-kind glass pieces of jewelry! As defined by Wikipedia, Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass Dichroic optical properties. A little known fact….It was originally developed by NASA and its contractors for use in satellite optics and spacesuit visors.
The word Dichroic is derived from two Greek roots; ‘di’ for two and ‘chroma’ for color. So Dichroic really means ‘two-colored’. Looking at the layers and layers of glass, it is hard to tell just how many colors are actually created.

The fun aspect with Dichroic glass is that it has different color variations depending on the light refraction; creating some of the most intriguing pieces of jewelry.

This design to the left, I've incorporated several pieces into jewelry designs such as this one with Black Onyx, Swarvoski crystals and brass wire links with matching earrings.

And this one to the right, has a red pendant hung from Black Onyx, peridot, sterling silver and matching black Onyx earrings.

Or these jewels of dichroic glass pendants below paired with sterling silver and Swarvoski crystals.

I have several pendants in my collection that I wear on sterling silver collars, omegas, and black cords. Accented with either matching earrings or a pair of my favorite sterling silver earrings. Add some to your collection for a one-of-a-kind jewelry piece to wear!

Visit our website as we keep adding more in a selection of dichoric designs in necklaces and bracelets.

Tiger Iron, the Mystery

Tiger Iron is a misunderstood gemstone and often mistaken for Tiger’s Eye, with it’s hues of blackish blue, golden yellow and deep red. However, Tiger Iron is composed of 2 billon year old sedimentary deposits comprised of three other gemstones; tiger’s eye, red jasper and black hematite. The rippled wavy bands of color often resemble beautiful scenic views, giving luster hue effects in the polished gemstones.

Tiger Iron in its own right is an actual gemstone with its own properties, but is a combination of other stones as well; ultimately it is a member of the quartz family. It has been mined in such places as England, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and even the Lake Superior Region of the United States.

One such form of tiger iron is Marra Mamba, found in one are of Australia near Mount Brockman. It is very rare type of tiger iron and contains shades of red, green, yellow, and blue. The area has been mined out for many years so very little of the ‘true’ Marra Mamba is available today.

Physical Properties
As a banded mineral composed of tiger eye, red jasper and hematite, tiger iron stimulates the vitality and enhances the immune systems. It strengthens force of will and courage and can be quickly utilized as a protective shield. This is an especially strong stone, which brings to mind the saying "Be careful what you wish for".

Healing Properties
Tiger Iron is considered an important healing gemstone as it combines the healing properties of Hematite (pain), Red Jasper (heart/circulation) and Tiger Eye, which stimulates energy production. In addition, it is considered a stable healing stone, which rarely needs cleansing.

In this design I have paired the three colors of red, blue, yellow/gold together. I then accented the necklace by wire wrapping each stone in non-tarnish gold wire. The earrings dangle with the same matching pieces and wire wrap.

Visit our website to see this and many other exotic designs.

Red & Black Mix of Style

A bold and beautiful mix are the creation of this lovely necklace set. Made from all natural gemstone beads in Black Onyx and Red Coral; mixed with a hint of glass seedbeads and 3 large wired link charms. The red Coral accented by pewter end caps and the necklace has a silver toggle. A matching pair of earrings completes this lovely set.

It is currently available for purchase in the Necklace Sets section of my website. Please visit us for more custom jewelry designs!

What A Difference A Year Makes

It has been a long year filled with tons of learning, development and gaining of experience. This past weekend’s show went very well and I’m very pleased in booth display. In looking at the booth photos, it made me stop and think how far we’ve come in booth display at shows.

I found this early picture (above) from the same show a year ago; notice how cluttered and disorganized the tables look. The booth is in a “U” shape allowing customers to come into the booth; however there is no real flow among the jewelry for customers. This picture almost makes me cry to think it was so unprofessional, cluttered and in such disarray. There is almost no space for customers and us to walk within the booth; thinking back it was like everyone was bumping into each other!

A year later……
The booth is now inverted so that customer’s walk along the outside of the tables. We’ve found that displaying this way the customer’s don’t feel trapped or pushed into any sells and can look at the jewelry in a leisure fashion. There is an even flow of the jewelry from table to table and everything is displayed in a professional and organized manner. This week we received the final piece to our booth display, professional display table clothes in a natural complementing color. We can’t wait to use them this weekend, along with the new neutral colored necklace busts. With the holidays approaching, this weekend we are going to try something a little different and add touches of Fall or Holidays around the tables. The two pictures here show the booth before the jewelry was placed and the finished booth after placing all the jewelry.


I'm sure there are a few things we will continue to 'tweak' as time goes on, but for now, I think we have finally found our 'booth'!!

Business Series - Marketing

Disclaimer: Please note that I am not an expert in owning a Business. This series is meant to solely provide information to the reader.

Business’s today face major challenges and opportunities in marketing, such as globalization and advances in technology. These both play major parts in the marketing strategy of a business. Marketing is not only a social process of how to get your products and services to the consumer, but it is also the process of planning and executing the concepts, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.

To look at marketing strategies for your business, ask yourself the following questions, keeping in mind the 4 major pieces of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

1) How can you spot and chose the right target markets?
2) How can you differentiate your products and services from the competition?
3) How far do you go to customize your products and services for each customer?
4) What are the major ways you can grow your business or company?
5) How can you build stronger brands in order to continue to grow your business or company?
6) How do you keep your customers loyal to you, just beyond the first few purchases?
7) How do you measure the payback from advertising, sales promotions, and public relations?

Just thinking about these questions gets the ball rolling about your businesses marketing strategy. It is one of the main reasons a company will ‘make or brake’ it in their industry. Most businesses, unless they are very large, don’t usually consider marketing. But it is one of the most important ‘hats’ a business person will wear. Marketing your products or services just right will bring back customers and keep your business in front of the consumer. Keep in mind though; too much exposure could ruin your business or product, so try to keep an even marketing plan. Learn about your competition, their target markets and pricing strategies and capitalize on feeding what works into your business.
Develop a marketing plan that works for you; set marketing objectives, determine what avenues and how you are going to market your product or service, set marketing budgets, check the competition and then develop and deliver your marketing message to your target market.

Marketing is a challenging concept in any business…from print ads, to internet, to direct-mailings. Just keep in mind the 4 major pieces of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.