Julie Shenkman Jewelry Designs

Long and lucious new FALL 2009 jewelry!

Like clothing fashions, jewelry also has seasons and trends, and right now the style is long, long, long!  It's a fun new change from the dainty and petite jewelry of the past few years.  Of course, chunky and funky is also quite big this season, as is textures, mixed metals, and lots of chains.  It's like a candy store for a jewelry designer right now, and I'm having a ball with it!  Here are a few designs from my fall collection:

  
N0769 is a great example of a piece that is both long and lucious, and mixed metals.  It's 30" long and made from gunmetal chain, with natural chunks of beautiful pyrite, and gold and bronze-colored freshwater pearl dangles.  It can be worn long, or it can be double wrapped and worn short - looks fabulous either way! 

N0125 is the largest most stunning piece of labradorite with luminescent blues and greens that catch the light so beautifully.  Two 18K gold beads pick up the golden hues, attached to a waterfall of silver and gold chains.   Can be worn with that fabulous little black dress, or every day with jeans and a t-shirt. 

     
N0770 is another piece of high end labradorite - very luminescent!  I hand-wrap and hammer the labradorite in brass filigree and attach it to a brass chain that I interweave with gold-vermeil chain.  The necklace can be worn many ways -- short as a choker, or long and lucious, and is reversable.  One side is more blues and greens, and the other has some peach tones in it - both sides are gorgeous.  It's truly a statement piece.  

    
B0777 Green onyx, and B0828 pink rhodocrosite are both dipped in 24K gold and surrounded by textured circle chains, giving a luxurious, colorful new look to statement piece bracelets.  

    
  
Of course the colorful gems continue to be my personal favorite.  This year the gems are even more spectacular than before - N0711 is a mystic drusy quartz, that has been dipped in titanium and brought to extremely high temperatures, to bring out the lovely reflective rainbow colors.  This piece is surrounded by freshwater pearls and makes quite a statement.  The swiss blue topaz briolette next to it is just an amazing color, and surrounded by apatite and freshwater pearls and suspended on a 14K gold-filled hammered circle, suspended by a chain.  Though dainty and delicate, this piece is quite striking due to the remarkable topaz stone. 

 

 
 
N0805 is a rare piece of yellow Tibetan turquoise, with hammered sterling silver around it, suspended on three turquoise beaded strands.  N0790 is a beautiful titanium drusy quartz pendant, mounted in sterling silver, and suspended on a beautiful string of freshwater pearls. 

 

Most of these items will be available through the website by next week.  Plus a lot more. This is just a sampling to whet your appetite! Stay tuned...
Julie
 

It's OFFICIAL -- we've launched!

WHOO-HOO!  Julie Shenkman Designs is now officially launched.  Thanks to everyone who provided feedback during the design and testing process - I really appreciate it.  It always seems to take longer to build a website than you think (and I even come from hi-tech and should know better, having built quite a few).

I hope you will enjoy being able to view and purchase my jewelry designs online.  I've added a few more fall items to the FALL PREVIEW - ok, I know I'm in denial and that we are pretty much in fall now.  But personally, I still have one foot in summer and I'm not quite ready to let it go!  I will be adding more silver items, and 14-18K gold items over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!  Also, thanks in advance for any feedback you have on the jewelry or the site (just click on "COMMENTS" on the lower right hand side of the blog).  I love to hear what you think!  I'm already working on my list for my next website revision, such as the ability to search by price, color, or gem.  What additions/changes would you like to see?

P.S.  Yes, I'm still available for on-site jewelry trunk shows on a limited basis - I'm signing up holiday parties now, so email me if you are interested, so we get you on the calendar!

New website in "preview" mode!

I'm excited to say that my new website is about to launch!  It's been fun getting it ready for prime time, and so many people have been asking me for it - I'm thrilled it's almost here.  You can also see that my blog has changed a bit and I'll no longer be posting photos here since they will be on www.julieshenkman.com once it goes live.  Meanwhile, you can check out the new site at http://208.131.147.23/ and let me know what you think!

For my blog, I'll be talking about current and coming jewelry trends and other fun jewelry- and fashion-related news.  Such as...what's happening right now?  Both silver and gold continue to be popular, along with vibrant-colored gemstones, lots of gold and silver chain of all sizes, longer necklaces, layering, tribal looks, and animal prints (think tigereye...leopard spots, etc.). 

And for fall?  PURPLE, lots of it, and other royal colors like magenta.  So look for gems like amethyst and pink topaz, and jewel tones like blue and fuschia, reflected in aquamarine, sapphire, rose quartz, and blue topaz.  Winter shades of pumpkin, brown, chocolate, champagne, and charcoal are leading the way in clothing, which means smoky topaz, peach topaz, onyx, citrine, ametrine gemstones.  Fun stones like leopardskin jasper, drusy (sparkly!) and tigereye will appear.  And surprisingly for winter - yellow -- which means yellow jade, yellow amber, yellow tourmaline, etc.  And of course black will continue to be very popular this season as well, which means onyx, tourmaline, jet, and spinel.

Jewelry is getting bigger and bolder, making more of a statement.  Of course those of us who are petite, are still wearing the more delicate gold and silver chains!  But materials and textures such as lucite, brass, crystal, hammered and textured metals are increasingly finding their way into jewelry, along with more natural elements, such as bone, wood, clay and leather, so there are lots of choices. 

All that being said, jewelry is very personal and should fit your clothing, style, and personality.  The best jewelry is enduring and gives the wearer immense pleasure.  I like to think of it as decorating a Christmas tree.  Tree is nice, but once it's dressed, wow-kazow, it just sparkles, eh?