Finally The Date Arrived!

It has been going on for a few days now, so it is time to let you know. House Of Joris Jewelry has officially opened it's online doors again and so you can shop to your hearts desire in my handmade, mostly OOAK jewelry.

As I am not in a stable place at this moment, making new jewelry is difficult, but not impossible, so I do keep myself available for custom made pieces. Every day I am listing new items, jewelry I have made over the last year.

I feel lucky that on the second day, I sold a necklace, as I had not advertised yet that the store was open. Lucky for me! 

The necklace I sold, the Deanna Necklace ©2018 House Of Joris Jewelry.

This will not be a long post as I am getting ready to play a gig with my band: Mike Dubose And The Dissidents at the club 'Dozen Street'. It's a little late to advertise this, as we will be playing in an hour and a half, but if you happen to read this at this time, head on out to the club, it is (as the name tells you) on 12th Street, right before Chicon, on the left side of the street going East.

We will start at 10:15 - 10:30 pm. Hope to see you there or online in my shop, right here: https://HouseOfJorisJewelry.Etsy.com.

On stage with my band Mike Dubose And The Dissidents,

Do You Follow The Herd, Or Do You Dare To Be Original (Read: Be Yourself) And Light Up That Inner Beauty!

I became a jewelry designer without trying to be one. My lovely younger sister Wendy gave birth, way to early, to a little boy that weighed one pound. The months following his birth were very difficult, a few times we thought she might lose her son. But guess what... after 3 months in the incubator, she brought home a healthy, beautiful boy, and named him Joris. He is doing fantastic!

Joris, one week old, weighing one pound

Wendy's birthday was coming up and I wanted to celebrate both events by giving her something special. I had made a drawing of a design I wanted a jeweler to make for me in silver. This was early summer 2010. Recession had taken my job and I could not afford the price of a silver design. So I decided to make a necklace myself, with a locket for his picture on one side and my design drawing at the other. It became a 2-part necklace, one with colored beads, the other silver with charms. The supplies I had found all over town in different stores, and I was amazed at what was available, a whole new world opened up for me.
 

Wendy & Joris, Valentine's Day 2015

All the people that got to see my very first necklace, told me that it was a really beautiful piece, that I had talent and that I should make jewelry for a living. Since there were no other job prospects at the horizon at that time, I jumped in. I spent my savings on supplies and started making jewelry. It was hard at first, I couldn't really find my 'voice' but when I discovered a fantastic supply store, I got a lot closer to the designs I wanted to make. 

I opened my store, House Of Joris Jewelry, on Etsy in October 2010, having made 25 jewelry designs. Etsy was still cool in 2010/2011, they weren't overrun by thousands of jewelry stores and they weren't the corporate giant yet that they are now. Within a few months I sold pretty good and I loved my newly discovered passion. 

Coco, my first pair of earrings!

My first wholesale account came November, 2012. I was on a roll, but in January of 2013 I had an accident and was told I couldn't work for about a year. This was a real tough year. But later in 2014, I started making a new jewelry inventory and tried another way of doing business. I took the jewelry off-line and went to the very popular South Congress Market, here in Austin, and at that market, I learned a lot about people. And I also learned that I need to get back online and get my store and web presence, back in order.

The South Congress market has about 70% jewelry vendors, lots of competition you think of course. But then, as you browse around and check out your fellow jewelry vendors, you notice something. And that something is that all these jewelry vendors are selling the exact same thing! Pieces that are trendy right now, and oh yeah, it sells! Right now, on trend, the layering necklaces, with delicate charms and the long necklaces with the slice of stone. The friendship bracelets and the leather wrap arounds. The large cocktail rings and the bangles. 

I mean, it is all the same stuff and people are lining up to buy it, while the same people would come to my tables and compliment me on everything I make, touching it and trying it on, looking gorgeous, I could see the appreciation in their eyes, then the hesitation, one more turn around to the stand with the trendy jewelry and with a sigh they would put my handmade jewelry back on the table.

Siren Bracelet

But then, every now and then, there she will come. Walking straight to my tables and trying on the things she likes. Elegant, confident woman, who loves to express her inner beauty and is not afraid to be different, or to stand out. She loves and celebrates being an individual with her own individual taste. She knows what looks good on her.

You know this type of woman, the one when she walks through the door, everybody notices her. And this woman would 9 out of 10 times buy at least 5 or 6 pieces of my jewelry. Not only because it is different and beautiful, but also because she is secure, knowing that if something breaks or goes wrong, she can come back to me and I will fix it, no extra charge, even if it has been 3 months (not that this happens often, just once actually).

Josephine's Amethyst Earrings

You see, I make almost exclusively OOAK pieces. For the ones who are not familiar with that term, it stands for one-of-a-kind piece. I say about 80% of my collection is OOAK. And I use quality materials, for crystals always Swarovski or vintage Czech, gemstones are grade AA or AAA, for plated chains, it is brass as a base metal, no lead or nickel. Pearls are vintage or Swarovski. Earwires are almost exclusively leverback earwires, and so on.

When I start working, I usually don't have the design in my head, it is my hands that lead me and start something all on their own and then my head catches up. And then it is so exciting to see the end result. I truly love making my jewelry.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not judging here, there is nothing wrong with wanting to follow the trends, playing it safe and wear what everyone else is wearing. Who am I to tell you what to wear? It is just that I see so often that longing in a woman's eyes, as she picks up the shoulder grazing Swarovski earrings, knowing they would look stunning in her ears. Why don't you? Why don't you go ahead and buy what you think is beautiful, not because it is trendy and everyone wears it. Why have fear, fear of other people, of what they say perhaps.

Bliss Necklace, all Swarovski and grade AA pearls

I tell you what, if you wear a piece of jewelry in a color that you love, a unique piece that is timeless and you wear it with confidence, you know, you feel that it looks good on you. 

When you do that, you are more in fashion and more on trend then all the women in line at the 'trendy' jewelry stand, all buying the same thing. You will be admired for just being you, yourself and nobody else. Because really, nothing is more sexy then being self-confident!

Jewelry That Is Made From The Hair That Grows On Your Head!

Jewelry is so very personal and it usually has a story attached to it. Remember the heart charm your first boyfriend gave to you? It meant more to you then anything else you could think of. Or the moonstone pendant from your sister, before you left to live in another country at the other side of this planet.... Your grandmother, who gives you her strand of real pearls that she got from her mother. Priceless treasures, you will never get rid of them and if they could talk, well, I would love to hear the story of the pearls.

One of the reasons I got into jewelry is just that, that jewelry is so personable, every piece of jewelry has it's own story. In my jewelry, one of the things I design and make is up-cycled vintage jewelry and I wish these vintage pieces could talk like the pearls, because they must have some stories to tell us.

Mourning Brooch, From Europe Or The U.S.A., Ca. 1845

 One style of jewelry definitely tells us stories and that style is mourning jewelry, it was seen everywhere in Victorian times. The most popular style of mourning jewelry, was hair jewelry. Real jewelry pieces, made with real hair from the deceased.

Death was much more accepted during these times, as it happened so much more then it does today, with Western Medicine and much better hygiene. Mourning jewelry was quite common.

 It is symbolic that it was Queen Victoria herself that made hair jewelry so very popular. When Prince Albert died in 1861, (her husband who was also her first cousin...) she wore a brooch with his hair over her heart and did so until the day she died. She also gave the  Empress Eugenie of France a bracelet made from her hair, as a gift. All this made mourning jewelry and jewelry with hair very popular.

A Gold And Enamel Mourning Ring, Ca. 1855

There are two types of hair jewelry, pallet worked and table worked. Pallet worked is flat and the hair is displayed under a crystal, as in a brooch. Table worked hair jewelry is made on a braiding table. A series of weights and bobbins which feed through a hole in the center of the table, create a three dimensional chain. These pieces may be made over a wooden or brass mold and then boiled to set the different shapes. Some hair jewelry is just absolutely stunning, it is a real art.

Queen Victoria continued mourning in her private life. She wore black clothes only as well as only black mourning jewelry. During these Victorian times, when a mother would lose one or more of her children, she would wear the hair of her children, braided and under glass, as a ring, a brooch, a pendant or a bracelet. The same for women who lost their husbands, usually in battle.

However, hair jewelry should not be confused with mourning jewelry only. Hair jewelry has been with us from the beginning of time. In an era before photography, hair was the most personal token one could bestow on a loved one who may be traveling far away. Eventually these locks of love were set into rings or lockets and such. 

Mourning Jewelry or fashion statement, I can't think of a more personable piece of jewelry then one made out of the hair of a loved one.

An Example Of Table Braided Hair Jewelry, Popular During Victorian Times.

Reference: Wikipedia and Grand Oak Plantation.

When Mindy Left And Mr. Kitty Stayed

If there is anything that creative people have in common, according to my observation, it is the love for animals and I notice especially a lot of feline friends among them. Myself included, I have 2 furry feline roommates of my own, Charlie, my beautiful black domestic male cat who is 8 years old and Mr. Kitty, my white/tabby/spotted feral friend, 2 years old.

Mr. Kitty, not liking the camera

They are my roommates, because that is just what and who they are. They have their own 'chair', their own 'bed', eat whenever they feel like it, sleep whenever they feel like it, they expect you to open the door when they want to get some fresh air (and let them back in when they have enough of being outside) and generally take over anything I try to read/type/write/eat or create.

Between these two, there is not much I can do without interference and their demand to acknowledge their presence. Charlie hates the jewelry making process. I will step away for 2 minutes, only to come back to him laying flat, stretched over all my wire, filigrees, tools and beads. How can that be remotely comfortable? It must poke him at all sides, but he doesn't seem to notice.... No, the fact that I have no choice but to notice HIM and not my jewelry supplies (as he believes I do not know where those supplies are now), that is the main goal.

Mr. Kitty couldn't care less about the jewelry making process, he is obsessed with the computer. I will step away for 2 minutes, only to come back to Mr. Kitty covering my laptop, giving himself a bath while all kinds of windows and help notices open on my computer screen, to the point where it will freeze for a few minutes... Charlie couldn't care less about the computer...

Charlie, about 2 years old here

Both love to sit right on top of the letters or paper I am reading, or the stack of papers I am trying to sort out.

When Charlie wants to go outside, he talks to me, very loud, impatiently, every 10 seconds, until I open the door, no matter if I am totally busy at the moment. When Mr. Kitty wants to go outside, he will climb on whatever furniture is closest to me, and will start to knock things off that furniture, until it hits the ground. Or if I am sleeping, he  likes to jump on my belly, not very gentle, until I sleepwalk to the door at 5 am, and let him out, because I can't stand it anymore.

But oh, how I adore them! Charlie came to me as a 6 week old kitten, right as I moved into the coolest place I lived in so far, here in Austin, TX. We lived there together 5 and a half years, then we had to move away. He is the sweetest and most loyal cat I have ever owned. I also know him very well and I can communicate with him, easy. He is amazing and I love him to pieces.

Mr. Kitty wasn't always Mr. Kitty. One evening I came upon Charlie hanging out with a tiny, ivory white, malnourished kitten, with a tabby tail and a few spots. He was part of a litter of feral cats in the neighborhood, and seemed unusual and was not afraid of me at all, when I met him, so weird, as he is afraid of all other human beings. Still, he will hide when friends come around. He was never afraid of me however. That was 4 days before I moved away from an apartment.

I locked the door of the empty apartment (I was sad that I had not seen the white kitten), but just as I stepped into the van, he came running up to me. I picked him up and put him in Charlie's carrier. He laid himself against Charlie and started purring like a motor boat.

Being born wild, the white kitten knew that whenever there was food around, to eat as much as he could, as he didn't know when he would eat again. I always have dry food in the cat's bowls. The very first day with me, he ate so much dry food! As I was sitting on the bed in our new place, he looked up at me, his tiny, skinny shoulders and hips connected by a huge, huge round balloon of a belly, full of dry cat food. He looked up at me and I fell totally in love, instantly.

Charlie washed him for the next couple of days, and the ivory kitten became snow white, with the cutest pink feet. As he was feral, he had barely a voice, just a whisper. He looked like a female, there were no testicles to detect, so I named him Mindy. Oddly enough, he didn't seem to listen to his name.

Two months later, on a lazy Saturday morning, Mindy was on my belly, turned around and to my big surprise I looked right at two white furry balls, right under his tail! By lack of a male name, he was temporarily Mr. Kitty. However, he listened to that name from the very start and still does to this day. Mr. Kitty is truly the most unusual cat, alpha male and fearless. He can be moody and demanding, but when tired, he wants to be as close to me as possible and fall asleep against me, as he feels most safe when I am around.

I love these two as if they were my own.

Who writes this blog? What's on her mind?

If I can make a comfortable living with my art, this being music and jewelry at this point in my life, I will be the happiest person around. I have done it before, I made a very comfortable living for a while, but I was too young, I didn't invest in anything, just blew it. So it is my goal this year to make a comfortable living again, with my own business, House Of Joris Jewelry.

It really took a long time, and tons of people trying to convince me, before I finally believed that I am indeed blessed with talent. And so I should use this gift. Creating, Art, it is my coffee, my joy, my life force, it is what gets me up in the morning, and can make me stay up all night, because I am so excited about my latest design.

I play music too, this is how I made a good living in the 90's, and got to see quite a bit of the world.... I still do music, the bass guitar is my main instrument. But you can find me playing guitar and sing as well. Look, I even add a picture of me playing (I am not so fond of pictures of myself, either having them taken or posting them, for no good reason I might add, I even modeled in my twenties...).

At the Saxon Pub, 06/2012, Austin TX
with Mike Dubose & The Dissidents

There was a break from music, followed by a dysfunctional relationship, involving 3 step daughters, they were 7, 9 and 14 at the time, and so my life became caring for them, I had no life of my own. This relationship, with a complete control freak, brought enough drama to last a life time.

This all is now past, and I found a new passion, making the finest fashion jewelry money can buy! I closed my shop on Etsy, but you will be able to purchase my jewelry again online, real soon!  I even have a blog, and as I lay in bed, in my brand new home, so tired, I can not sleep and have things on my mind....

Living this life, well, it didn't turn out at all what I imagined it would be, back when I was a child. I thought I would be married by 20 and have kids.....
And contrary to what I thought, I love getting older, I gladly trade in a few wrinkles for wisdom, and peace of mind, that is now being given to me, like a super cool present (or did I earn it?).

I never feel the outside wrinkles on the inside though, I can still be as naïve and impulsive as when I was a child (although I have a real love affair with logic, it can be the most comforting thing I can think of).
But I do get the reality check, like when I see my skin do things that it used to not do.... just a few years ago.

Though I tend to over-think and analyze to much since I can remember. I love doing research, I have many interests and am naturally very curious. And I am convinced that we should never stop improving ourselves. I know I can always do things better (next time around), and I push myself hard, especially when it comes to my art, lately this counts for my handmade jewelry.

Though pushing myself can be frustrating and tedious, I do love to be challenged and do this to myself on a regular basis:

Tuesday Bracelet, OOAK
©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry

The conviction to keep growing, and do better every time, is my personal opinion, and it is not set in stone, it is just my way, it is what I believe in, and so it works for me.
It is not always pleasant, it can be kind of heavy... Suffering is most definitely a very real part of life, just as beauty is a real part of life.

Everyone should believe and do what works for them, whatever it might be. And I would not, never could not judge people for what they do, or their beliefs.

Unless your way of life includes: using, manipulating, and hurting other people, and especially children and animals.

Even then I will not waste my breath on judging you. I will skip that part, and shall go straight to seriously kicking your ass, until you are begging for mercy, or are crying for your mommy.

Up-Cycled Vintage Jewelry.... What does this mean exactly?

The term Up-Cycled (Vintage) Jewelry is found in many jewelry stores online. If you go to Etsy.com and type this term in their search engine, you will find many jewelry shops, with handmade jewelry for sale. But what exactly does this mean?

I was fortunate enough to participate in a local fashion photo-shoot, last April. It was low-key local shoot, with the lovely photographer Laura Morales, from Blushing Mulberry Photography in Austin TX. It was there that I met one of the models, Aleta, from Austin Tx. Aleta (aka Stephanie Oliver) came to my house to drop off vintage jewelry in need of repair, and also gave me a pair of vitrail colored, vintage ear-clips, asking me if I could make another jewelry piece with them.

We decided on a bracelet. I truly had no idea how I would do this, but I didn't show this insecurity, I told her I was excited and would make something beautiful. And I did, eventually... I waited until I had the repairs done, as I did not have an idea yet, but it did come to me, as you can see here in the picture below:

©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry, Elvira Bracelet
Up-Cycled Vintage Earrings

This is a great example of 'up-cycled vintage jewelry'. You can see the earrings on this  picture clearly, the 3 prong vitrail navettes, with 3 vitrail chatons, a very common style of earrings in the 1950's. I am sure most of you are familiar with this style of earrings. For this bracelet, I added Swarovski, clear crystal vintage chatons in the middle, as to resemble a flower.

I started with a basic silver, rhodium plated (non-tarnish), clamp bracelet, with a flat base on both sides.  I took the clips off the earrings, and mounted them on these flat bases. The sides of this bracelet, were 2 single wires, about 10mm apart from each other, leading to the flat base. I carefully mounted about a foot of vintage silver Swarovski chain, with tiny clear crystals, on top of these wires, and in between the wires, I added Swarovski tanzanite octagon jewels (10 x 8 mm) in silver setting, as well as Swarovski vitrail vintage, octagon jewels in silver setting (10 x 8 m), and I had beautiful, smaller, vintage Swarovski aqua jewels (8 x 6 mm), and these matched the color scheme of vitrail beautifully, as you can see on this picture:

©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry, Elvira Bracelet
Up-Cycled Vintage Earrings

Alternating these three colors makes the result more interesting, then if I would have chosen just one color. The final step was to bend both sides, so that they would overlap, rather then meet each other exactly.

This bracelet shimmers and shines like no other, it is absolutely gorgeous! Even though the pictures represent this bracelet well, the beauty of it has to be seen in person. I use only Swarovski or the best Czech (vintage) jewels, as the quality can not be matched by any other. The price is definitely higher then other jewels, but they will last a few life-times, without losing any clarity or shine, and there is very little chance you will find scratches or chips off the jewels, even after 75 years!

I am very pleased with the result of this bracelet. The assembly took about 4 to 5 hours of work, labored with LOVE. I can not wait to hear what Aleta thinks of this bracelet, I truly hope she likes it as much as I do. And by sharing this with you, I was able to explain to you exactly what the term 'Up-Cycled Vintage Jewelry' actually means.

I love making custom jewelry. With this post I also want to let you know that I will be happy to take your custom order! Just leave me a comment under this post, and I will contact you asap!

Cocktails.... Yes, that's the spirit! Cocktails...... Prohibition Time

Finally, I mean, FINALLY here is my blog. I am not going to write about the boring details that were keeping me from starting a blog, but I will let you know what made me go to blogger.com and sign up immediately, without blinking...

Cocktails..... Yes, indeed, that is the spirit! 

Let me be more precise, it is the cocktail ring that got me started. You see, not long ago, I started my own business, House Of Joris Jewelry. I came upon making jewelry by accident and fell head over heals in love with this art. To my surprise, people seemed to really like what I was making, and encouraged me to keep doing it. Well, I needed a job, and so a few months later, I opened my own store on Etsy.com.

I never really pay much attention to what is in fashion, when it comes to dressing myself. I have my own personal style and I know what I like! The history of fashion, and the influence on people and society however, I find very interesting. And, because jewelry is very personal, and often has a sentimental meaning to the wearer, it's history is particularly interesting story.

Delilah Cocktail Ring
©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry

I started making a collection of cocktail rings recently, and thought it was fun to name each ring after an actual cocktail, and so, the Happy Hour Collection™ of cocktail rings was born. Listing the latest ring last night, Blue Lagoon, I started wondering why cocktail rings were called just that. What do these rings, have to do with alcoholic beverages? So I googled the term, and I was again pleasantly surprised. These rings have their own wonderful little history!

The name 'cocktail ring' comes from the 1920's, the time of flapper dresses, new liberating short hair cuts for women, and of course: Prohibition. During the driest of times, the secret speakeasy cocktail parties, where illegal alcohol was flowing a-plenty, were The Place To Be (Seen)! Women, wearing their new style of fashion, were standing in line to attend these parties! The jewelry style was very glamorous, and these ladies were wearing long strands of pearls around their necks, and large eye catching rings on their fingers.  They knew that everyone could see this ring, as they were holding up the wonderful and illegal cocktails. It was a way for the ladies to showcase their wealth. And so you see, the cocktail ring has everything to do with prestige and status.

At first, these large rings were set with precious and semi-precious stones, for the wealthy woman. Soon, the middle class girl would follow, wearing rings with an imitation stone, although some of them were so well made, that only a jeweler was able to tell the difference.

Later, during the glamorous times of the late forties and the fifties, it was fashionable again to wear large cocktail rings, especially while attending dinner parties. And with that, the ring was given another name: Dinner Rings. 

Traditionally, cocktail rings are worn on the fourth finger of the right hand. Currently, these cocktail- or dinner rings, are back in fashion again, they are beautiful and really can make an outfit. Have fun, buy yourself a cocktail ring, or perhaps start collecting vintage cocktail rings. They are a real part of American history.