I’ve talked about my jewelry making a bit and thought I’d throw one in about Bernd’s creations.

He really likes to work with wire and faceted gems. His father owned a fine jewelry store and Bernd got a lot of exposure to precious gems and precious metals. But I think that even if that were not the case, he would still be working mainly with wire and faceted gems. He likes the sparklies.

Bernd prefers to use Argentium Sterling Silver ™. ARSS typically has a little more silver than sterling and has had some of the copper replaced with germanium (94% silver, 4.8% copper, 1.2% germanium). It is slightly more resistant to tarnishing than traditional sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.2% copper) and also a little more expensive.

That blurry red stone at the top is actually a very nice little 6mmx4mm oval faceted ruby.

He began working for his dad around the age of fourteen, I think. He did a lot of engraving. But not free hand. It was mostly personalization. They had this machine with an area for the guides, a couple different fonts (brass tiles) and lots of adjusting arms. You had to loosen and tighten the connections until you got the stylus in the right spot and the right size. It wasn’t foolproof. I’m sure that today, it’s all done by computer.

Bernd has created a number of repeatable designs that fall into what we call “ZenJems.” We tried getting a patent on the name and the design, but it turns out that the only sure way to do that is through a lawyer and we have never had the money for that. We couldn’t even manage to trademark the name.

Amethyst and ruby and Argentium Sterling Silver.

He has one particular curly design that is really appealing. He’s made quite a few and put different gemstones in them. (The first pendant pictured.)

He has another design he likes to use and will either use two gemstones or one stone and 14K yellow gold accent.

Sometimes he makes his own bails (the thing the chain goes through), but more often than not, he will use a commercially made bail. Also, it is possible to make your own basket mountings for the stones, but it is so much easier to buy those ready-made.

Now and then, he’ll do a custom order for a friend. He’s made a couple of mother’s pendants that were particularly nice. And he’ll also experiment with elements from his ZenJems used in different ways.

This pendant combines his first ZenJem design (three wavy lines) with a more traditional back plate kind of mounting. The gemstone in this case is a 0.85 carat faceted iolite.

He has a lot of ideas but not a lot of time. He’s still working 8am to 5 pm as an optician. He’d like to have more time for making jewelry. Maybe if he ever actually retires (he’s 71), he will.

For now he mostly dreams about the day he doesn’t have to do the 8-5 thing and making jewelry whenever he feels like it.

Image courtesy of SandJest

Please visit our Etsy shop to see more of our wonderful creations. Also, we’ve added a Clearance section with some great bargains in it. You can find it at jewelrybysyzygy.etsy.com