This year it is more important than ever to support small businesses. Shopping from a local artist can be a rewarding experience and be a great way to support your community and the things you love. I put together a list of some of my favorite makers. Click on the image to learn more about each one.

This is it with the gold settings soldered in place. There is so much flux on the lower half that it makes it hard to even see that the pear shaped setting is 22ky gold. Next step is to clean it in acid and then set the stones and engrave.

This is a pendant in progress for a commission. In this picture all the sawing and most of the soldering is done. I still need to sand the edges of all the ornament, add the engraving which will breathe life into the design, and solder on the gold settings. The finished piece will have a rose cut blue tanzanite pear as the main stone and a small round rose cut blue sapphire as an accent on the top center. 

Here it is all set up to solder in the setting base from the back of the pendant.

This is amazing. I have no idea of how old is this trick. It sure beats Windex or ring cutters.