Tidings of Comfort and Joy

You have all heard the term above - it means good news. Comfort and joy to me means the kind of jewelry I carry and create in my shop. I get all kinds of folks with all kinds of problems they have with their recently purchased elsewhere jewelry. It’s either uncomfortable or even painful to wear or it could snag on things and other people. Once something is done all wrong it’s not always an easy fix, often resulting in a complete tear down and starting all over, not exactly what most folks want to hear especially after the good money they spent on the problem piece here in question. I always recommend they go back to where they got it and have them “fix it” but it always boomerangs back to yours truly to fix it.

It is more than an art when it comes to designing jewelry. Have you ever witnessed the crazy high designer outfits models wear walking down the fashion walkways? Some of the outfits are so totally ridiculous and next to impossible to wear and look absolutely hideous - who in their right mind would spend the thousands of dollars they ask for that? They call it art culture - clothing and people with more money than sense buy it! I guess they want to look like a runaway from a carnival freak show.

I grew up designing jewelry when I was in grammar school, even then I was a hit with the young ladies, regardless of the fact I was only a lowly apprentice. I sold inexpensive silver earrings that I made for my female classmates during lunch or recess.

Of course, it’s a learning curve understanding what is comfortable and what is not - after all I wasn’t exactly Steve Tyler from Aerosmith! I did have a gang of sisters and cousins who I shared my creations with and I learned from them what was wonderful and comfortable; I also learned real fast what was not so great.

As I got older, I worked more with gold and even platinum. I rarely worked with silver - I considered that below me, plus back then you could not make great money unless you mass produced silver stuff. Sorry I’d rather make things in diamonds or precious gems and gold or platinum and make a week’s pay without working an 80-hour work week fooling around with cheap silver trinkets.

I worked side by side with my two uncles who were truly masters at their trade - their reputations for quality old world craftsmanship preceded them. Needless to say, we were pretty busy all the time and swamped with work this time of the year!

Working those crazy holiday hours back in the 70’s wasn’t exactly “comfort and joy”. I slept very little and worked a lot. Seven days straight from Halloween to Christmas Eve. I don’t miss that!

I also learned so much from them. We used prongs to hold gems as little as possible - all prongs will either snag or worse wear or break off resulting in stone loss. We used full or half bezels or channels or created ingenuous and safe methods to hold diamonds, making our designs joyful and comfortable.

I have always been partial to smooth flowing lines and try to avoid sharp corners or jagged designs - this includes pendants and earrings.

And here I am 50 years later still using the old world and now new world techniques to create wonderful jewelry for customers to fall in love and enjoy the experience as I did creating it. In the next three to five years, it’s inevitable I will be retiring…but not just yet! Until that time I intend to clean out my safe and bring to light all the beautiful gems I have collected in my lifetime and speak to each and every one of them and ask, “What would you like to become? A ring, a bracelet with matching earrings or a magnificent pendant?” Yes, I’m going to leave some legacy pieces before I fade into the sunset and that will begin at my leisure in 2022, all my finished pieces will be available to purchase and will be on display in my shop show windows. There are actually several pieces on display that I created last summer!

A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at The Harbor Goldsmith of Marco Island!

Richard Alan is a designer /goldsmith and owner of the Harbor Goldsmith, Marco’s go-to Jeweler since 1994. He welcomes your comments and questions about All That Glitters -harborgoldsmith.com.