A ring I made over 16 years ago recently came back to me for sizing and got me to thinking about long-term relationships. Karen Russo, the owner of the ring, is a local (Eugene, OR) figurative ceramic sculptor. Here are a couple of her pieces. Check out more of her work here! I’ve known her and her husband, Nick since 1994 according to my first record of them in my database. Karen tells me .
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Certainly, I hope this article will lead you to choose Gary Dawson Designs as your custom jeweler. Why would I write an article that would advise you to choose a custom jeweler from my many competitors? I may have my reasons to be generous, “We all do well when we all do well.”, right?…read on. So, why would you pick me over any of the other custom jewelers available to you both locally and .

It doesn’t matter if it’s been 10 days or 10 minutes, I think most people probably have some version of the thought, “Why did I wait so long to do this?” after great sex. Sex is calming, inspiring, and healthy and we should all probably have it more often. And only because what happens in camp stays in camp, 🙂 this will be more about not waiting for good things than it will be .

Trust your instinct?…maybe. And right now I’m not talking about who to trust to make your custom jewelry. Let’s assume that you’ve already found someone, or a company, that will communicate well, and will complete your project in a timely manner at a fair price. You have started a project with someone that embodies professionalism. The next phase will likely be for the designer to show you a rendering of one, or several design .

Anyone who knows me at all knows I enjoy a good meal and I particularly enjoy my time preparing good meals. After a day of making jewelry wearing the Gary Dawson Designs hat, I like to play in my kitchen! This past Sunday breakfast was no exception. Slow is the way to cook bacon, BTW. On a Sunday, you can have a reasonably low heat and take the good 15-20 minutes it takes to .

We all want value for our hard-earned dollars. But just what is value? I think many people equate price alone with value. I’d like you to consider that those things are not always the same. Low Price Good Value Low price and value can exist together. I shop at a small community market where I know I can trust the food. They stock mostly organic and they label conspicuously. One of the first places .

As I lay inside the bathroom vanity I watch intently as the first gallon or two of water flow into and out of the newly installed sink through Ikea-designed plumbing. I smile as I observe myself taking a lot of pride in seeing no leaks and immediately wonder if Jim Harrison ever had prideful moments like that. Did Harrison, one of my favorite authors, ever install an Ikea sink? And if he did, did .

Apparently, there is some dispute as to how the Japanese word kaizen translates to the English. I only recently became aware of the word while watching a cooking series, The Great British Baking Show. In an episode of season 2 the psychologist/contestant named Kimberley Wilson was briefly interviewed after a less-than-perfect bake when she said (and I paraphrase here) “confidence with kaizen…feeling good about your efforts while maintaining constant improvement”. And I looked up .

Throughout my entire 43 years as a jewelry designer and manufacturer, I’ve practiced a process called sole authorship. This means that for nearly every piece of jewelry that I make, I solely perform every aspect of its creation, from concept to final finish. In today’s world, this is mostly an anachronism. Even most handmade jewelry items are created in a collaborative process these days. One person does the design, another person or another shop .

These days there seems to be a huge interest in antique style jewelry that spans several stylistic periods. Antique Style: Turn of the 20th Century One of our stylistic favorites are the very detailed designs that were first made popular at the turn of the last century, the early 1900’s. These styles were manufactured using a technique of die striking the designs from relatively thin pieces of sheet metal, usually platinum in that era. .