Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Support Breast Cancer Research & Enjoy a Gorgeous, Meaningful Necklace ~ Sundari is here!


Sundari is the Hindu goddess of beauty and grace. Jewelry designer Mauri Pioppo was inspired by Sheryl Crow's courage in the face of her personal experience with breast cancer to create this Sundari necklace. This piece allows one to embrace their own compassionate nature and connect with their spirit.

There is beauty in this gift of life. Jewelry designer, Mauri Pioppo, creates a beautiful talisman style Sundari necklace and a portion of the proceeds are donated to breast cancer research. The simple and elegant design will become one of your favorite pieces. And a thoughtful gift for anyone who has been touched by this disease. Made of 14k gold, rose quartz for healing and white topaz for mental clarity. Click HERE to see more of Mauri's work!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Get to Know Painter, Michael Protiva


Award winning artist, Michael Protiva, has long been fascinated by the awesome beauty and myriad moods of the ever-changing sea and the boats and harbors. Protiva came to know the ocean well, from monstrous waves on the high seas, to San Francisco's foggy calms during a stint in the Navy and years of living aboard a sailboat in Sausalito. Presently he divides his time between the southwest, New England and the east coast, pursuing his artistic endeavors. Michael's work captures the imagination by superimposing gorgeously detailed paintings on navagational charts.
He has charts from all over the eastern seaboard, so you can pick your favorite view and feature your boat. It appeals to the wanderer in all of us. Michael is on his way to Wilmington to collect more images for his North Carolina series. He will be here for over a week and is available for commission consultations. Consider having Michael commemorate your boat, beach house or your favorite sound or ocean view. For more information about booking an appointment with Michael call Star at 256-2323.
Click HERE to see more of his work. Michael is our September featured artist along with glass artist, Stan Harmon (you'll learn more about Stan in the next issue). Both of these talented guys will be at the Wine Tasting and Open House on Sept. 12th from 6 - 8pm.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Understanding Metals


Have you ever been confused by the terms white gold, green gold, and rose gold? All real gold is yellow, isn’t it? So how do other colors fit in? Are they imitations? Actually, they are all metal alloys; new metals that are created by combining two or more different metals.

Gold Alloys
Colored gold alloys are just as “real” as their golden colored counterparts. Pure gold is generally too soft to be used for jewelry, so other metals are nearly always added to it, no matter which color of gold is being prepped for jewelry making.

Gold Karat Markings
-24K gold is pure gold
-18k gold is 18 parts gold and 6 parts of another metal(s), making it 75% gold.
-14K gold contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts of another metal(s), making it 58.3% gold.
-12K gold contains 12 parts gold and 12 parts of another metal(s), making it 50% gold.
-10K gold contains 10 parts gold and 14 parts another metal(s), making it 41.7% gold. 10K gold is the minimum karat designation that can still be called a gold in the U.S.

White Gold
-Nickel can be mixed with gold to create a white(or gray) color. It can cause dermatitis in people who are sensitive to nickel.
-Palladium is another metal used to create white gold alloys. Related to platinum, it is more expensive than nickel, but it is less likely to cause allergic reactions than nickel.

Rose and Pink Gold
-Copper is added to make gold-colored alloys, but additional copper creates pink and rose tones, the more copper, the deeper the effect.

Green Gold

Greenish shades are created by adding silver to gold.

Making alloys isn’t as simple as it might sound. Before they make an alloy, metallurgists have to consider how the metals will react with each other. Adding too much of one metal or another can make the mixture brittle, too hard, or difficult to work with. Some ingredients could make the mix too soft.

Metallurgists fine-tune their recipes to produce combinations that are attractive, durable and can be successfully worked into pieces of jewelry.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Encore Magazine writes about ViViD!

Encore Magazine, one of Wilmington's premier publications for local happenings and events, has written a wonderful article about the launch of our new magazine, ViViD. The launch party will be held tonight at Spectrum fro 6-8pm. Wine and food provided! Bring a friend!
Click HERE to read the article!