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Alison Murray
26th December 2008 13:13

Purple Label Sale

 

Hi there

I hope you had a fantastic Christmas Day and are now feeling relaxed and stress free and enjoying the pleasures of Boxing Day; sitting back with your feet up, a glass of wine and some cold turkey and a very old, familiar film on the TV. If your thoughts are drifting towards the post Christmas sales, but you are torn between leaving your warm fireside and grabbing yourself a bargain, why not have the best of both worlds and do your sale hunting online.

We have some teriific bargains in our Purple Label Sale and have picked several of our most beautiful handmade pieces for you and reduced the prices. All of these are limited stock, so when they are gone they are gone.

Here they are below; if you click on the photo it will take you directly to the item on the website.

These pieces would look great with that little black New Year Party dress.

And here are a few of my own favourites

Enjoy the rest of your holiday break and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Alison Murray
 
Alison Murray
24th December 2008 11:26

Happy Christmas!!!

 

Hi

Just a quick Blog to wish you all a bright and happy Christmas filled with sparkle and glitter and all good things! We hope that 2009 brings you love and laughter.

From all of us here at Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design

Merry Christmas!!!

Alison Murray
 
Harriet Kelsall
22nd December 2008 10:49

Wittelsbach diamond

 

Hi there

I just read that the famous Wittelsbach diamond has just been bought at an auction at Christie's in London by Laurence Graff - and he is now the owner of the most expensive diamond ever!

The 17th Century grey-blue cushion shaped VS2 35.56cts diamond changed hands for £16.4 million pounds even though it had a pre-sale estimate of just (!) £9million. There was a lot of interest in the diamond but finally Gaff fought off the rival bidders.

The diamond has an interesting history - it was once given as a dowry for King Philip IV's daughter Margaret Theresa in 1666.

There is more information about it, a picture and a more detailed history of the diamond here :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittelsbach_Diamond

Harriet Kelsall
 
Sophie Sampson
19th December 2008 16:58

Palladium

 

We've started using palladium in the workshop, and I just wanted to share a beautiful engagement and wedding ring set that Alice has designed, which has recently been completed.

Sue and her partner came to us with two lovely gemstones, an aquamarine they had bought on holiday and the diamond that was her graduation present. Together with Alice they had the idea of this sinuous set of rings which fit together snugly - you can wear the engagement ring on its own or together with the wedding ring.

Palladium is a great choice for such a chunky ring - while it has the bright white appearance of platinum it's much lighter, so it doesn't feel like such a knuckle duster.

Tracy has also designed a simple and delicate solitaire engagement ring in Palladium, which is much more affordable than the equivalent in platinum would be.

Sophie Sampson
 
Harriet Kelsall
19th December 2008 16:12

St Alban

 

People sometimes come to us asking what would be a perfect present for a Christening, Confirmation or Ordination. This cross is an important symbol for people in the diocese of St Alban but also for many other Christians because Alban is widely believed to be the first Christian martyr and he was the first British Christian martyr.

For many years, I have been designing and making jewellery bearing the cross of St Alban symbol. My design is based on the distinctively shaped 3rd Century Cross of St Alban. A slightly different design of the symbol was originally designed and made into silver pendants by my father, David Kelsall and these were sold in the St Albans Cathedral shop years ago. I took over doing this from him and about 12 years ago and I reworked this shape into the design seen today and carried on this family tradition of supplying the Abbey shop with these pendants.

My mum, Jane Kelsall, is a prominent Art historian and NADFAS lecturer whose specialist subjects include St Albans Cathedral and my dad is now the archivist at the Abbey and also a photographer of the Cathedral. I was born in St Albans and married in St Albans cathedral and so there is a strong family link with it and also a personal attachment to the cross and the Cathedral. This is the reason that I decided to continue making the crosses. http://www.stalbanscathedral.org.uk/

This distinctive cross was brought to St Albans in England by Amphibalus, a fugitive Christian priest. Alban, a prominent citizen, sheltered the priest, who gave him the cross. The two exchanged clothes as disguise but both men were eventually caught by the Roman soldiers and Alban was executed on the site of the present Abbey church of St Albans in England, where his cross may be seen in sculpture, stained glass, needlework and silver.

More about the story of Alban here:- http://www.stalbanscathedral.org.uk/index1.htm

The silver cross pendants designed by Harriet are on sale in the Cathedral shop and also online via http://www.purple-label.com

Each cross is supplied on a 16 inch chain and is handmade in solid Sterling silver or 9ct gold, hallmarked in London. We can dispatch them to anywhere in the world and they make ideal Christening or Confirmation gifts.

We have also made many bespoke and ready to wear other pieces of jewellery so do call if you are looking for something other than the simple pendants. For example we currently have in stock a one-off cross set with Garnets, various interesting sand blasted designs, this silver tie pin.

This large ornate version of the Cross of St Alban (the pendant part here designed by David Kelsall) ...to name but a few.

Over the years we have been commissioned to make many versions for the clergy of this diocese too - everything from large pectoral crosses to earrings!

A bit more info on this link:- http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/web/page/crossofstalban

Harriet Kelsall
 
Charlotte Neaves
18th December 2008 16:40

Opals

 

I've recently been doing some research into opals as they're fascinating stones and the birthstone for October. I came across an interesting piece of history regarding their mythical associations which I thought I'd share with you.

Like so many gemstones opals are reputed to have healing powers, and in particular, are said to aid depressions and help their wearer find true and real love. Conversely, opals have also been associated with bringing bad luck. My grandmother never wore them for this very reason.

The origins of this superstition date back to the 1890's when Australia began to mine opals on a wide scale and the market became flooded with them. Until this time the supply of opals had been relatively small. The main supply in Europe came from Slovakia, and the Slovakian opal producers worried that the new Australian stones were driving down the price of their stones, due to increased supply, and also making them less desirable as there were more available. The Slovakian producers started a rumour that the Australian opals were bad luck and would bring misfortune to those who owned them so that their own market would recover. As with so many rumours, it quickly took off and the belief that Australian opals brought bad luck was widely accepted, however, it soon became the accepted belief for all opals and so the Slovakian miners did nothing to improve their own fortune.

So don't believe anyone who tells you that these beautiful stones will bring you bad luck. The real story is a lesson in what can happen if you wish misfortune upon others. Enjoy wearing your beautiful opals.

One of my favourites is our opal necklace, which has a gorgeous watery blue opal, quite different from the white and black opals you normally see.

Charlotte Neaves
 
Alison Murray
15th December 2008 13:34

Turquoise

 

Hi

As its December and the December birth stone is turquoise, I thought I would share with you a few myths and beliefs about the "powers" that are attributed to this gorgeous gemstone. I am not someone who really believes this type of thing, but its Christmas, a time of magic and spiritual contemplation, so here you go.

Turquoise is believed to help someone start new projects

It is also believed to warn the wearer of danger or illness by changing colour

Turquoise was once thought to protect the wearer from falling, especially from horses.

Turquoise is more recently thought to be a good luck stone for aviators and flight staff.

Thought to bring happiness and good fortune.

It was believed that wearing turquoise on the little finger and looking at the stone after seeing the new moon would bring great wealth.

A token of friendship

And if this isnt enough to have you running to buy some turquoise, maybe these beautiful pieces might be! http://www.purple-label.com/search/web/stone/Turquoise

Alison Murray
 
Harriet Kelsall
15th December 2008 12:09

New Beginnings

 

Hi there

I have recently been working with a lovely customer who I think will prefer to remain anonymous. Her husband left her a couple of years ago and this year she has been invited to a big family do - and he will be there with his new wife. This will be the first time they will have seen each other for a long time. So this is going to be hard for her.

She came to us because she decided to remake her original engagement ring into a new ring just for her - to symbolise her beginning to feel better about everything and moving on properly with her life on her own. We managed to get this ring completed in time for this big family event and she collected it at the weekend and is thrilled with it. We were so delighted to have been a part of the support that this symbol will give her on this tricky occasion.

Jewellery is often worn as an important symbol of engagement or marriage - I guess this is more of an 'independence ring' which I hope will help her continue to feel like the strong and wonderful woman that she is.

Harriet Kelsall
 
Alice Rochester
9th December 2008 14:58

Tequila!

 

Working with sparkly gemstones every day, it's easy to forget that diamond has industrial uses as well. The properties that make it great for an engagement ring - the incredible hardness, the way it refracts light and so on - are also important to engineers and scientists. I found a fascinating little article here about scientists who have been trying to grow thin films of a diamond-like structure to make semiconductors - useful for the next generation of computer chips. The cool part is that they succeeded doing it out of tequila, which has the right proportion of alcohol and water.

You'll never be able to get a jewellery-grade gemstone out of this process, but imagine having tequila-based diamond semiconductors in your phone, your laptop, everything...

Read more in the Guardian here.

Photo courtesy of Bethany L King

Alice Rochester
 
Alison Murray
8th December 2008 17:45

Birthday Party

 

Hi

As you may be aware, we are this year celebrating our 10th anniversary and no birthday would be complete without a cake and a party

Last Saturday we invited all our past customers, hired a great Jazz band, made a cake and warmed up some Winter Pimms.

It was a great opportunity for people to see the makers at work and to talk to the designers in an informal atmosphere. We all had a really great day and our very young customers had a chance to make some jewellery of their own. And what a talented lot they turned out to be; certainly I won't be surprised to see some of them here in years to come as Junior Designers! You know how we like to bring on local talent!

Also, we managed to raise lots of money for The Garden Hospice and our lucky raffle prize winner walked away with £500 to spend on Purple-label jewellery! Theresa will need to be quick to spend it though as our Christmas Sparkly Party collection has proved so popular it could soon be gone! http://www.purple-l abel.com/search/web/collection/Sparkly-Parties

Congratulations Harriet and the team; here's to the next ten years!

Alison Murray
 

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  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, North Barn, Fairclough Hall Farm, Halls Green, Weston, Hertfordshire, SG4 7DP, England
    Phone: +44 (0)1462 790565 Fax: +44 (0)1462 790140 enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, 6/7 Green Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3JU, England.
    Phone: +44 (0)1223 461333 Fax: +44 (0)1223 365269 cambridge@hkjewellery.co.uk

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