Renaissance Reproductions

A Body of Our Work

2010-02-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

Visit us at:
http://www.renaissancereproductions-nh.com
For the rest of our line

Visit us at:
http://www.renaissancereproductions-nh.com
For the rest of our line

What's so special about Artisan Jewelry

2010-02-09T22:51:00.001-08:00

The dictionary defines an artisan as one that produces something in limited quantities often using traditional methods. We have been almost overwhelmed with artisan breads, cheeses, wines, beers, and candies over the past several years. The term has come to refer to anything unusual and of high quality.

Artisan Jewelry is designed and created by an artisan or a true bench jeweler and is one-of-a-kind or very limited in the number of reproductions of the same piece (even in this instance no 2 pieces are ever quite identical). It is not enough, that the item is hand crafted or one-of-a-kind. It should be of an exemplary level of creativity and craftsmanship using the best quality materials.

A piece of artisan jewelry should stand out from the crowd. Artisan jewelry is not merely setting a stone in a mass produced casting or a massive assortment of run off cast by the thousands pot metal baubles on a chain. When you are walking down the street you don’t want to see the piece of jewelry you just bought and spent your hard earned money on walking toward you on someone else's neck. It is a powerful misconception that a custom piece of artisan jewelry is outrageously expensive, it’s not. It is a piece of jewelry that is designed and created by a skilled artisan in many cases the customer can have a great deal of input on the piece I know that is the case with our company. In most cases you can purchase an artisan piece for equal to or less than a mass produced piece of “fine” jewelry.

An artisan piece may use an unusual array of materials and does not limit themselves to just gold and silver it will contain interesting juxtapositions of styles & techniques. Artisan jewelers often times are green jewelers using recycled materials or will rework old pieces of jewelry into new and exciting designs. Often you will see an artisan’s jewelry evolve over a period of time as they experiment with new or different techniques and materials.

Artisan jewelry is created one piece at a time that gives each step a chance to be looked over and mad perfect before moving on to the next step. This will give you a high quality piece of jewelry that is unique and exciting.

To see some of our work visit us at:
http://www.renaissancereproductions-nh.com

The Difference Between Production and Artisan Jewelry

2010-02-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

There are two main categories of jewelry production. First is production jewelry, which is to say that many copies of a design are made and sold using processes such as molding, casting, and stamping. The other is Artisan jewelry which are original, one of a kind works. In most cases a bench jeweler will be a factor in many facets of the process, depending on what is needed and the skills of the worker.

A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of jewelry-making skills to make and repair jewelry. The jewelry making arts can be subdivided into a very great many categories of specialized skills. The more common skills that a bench jeweler might have include antique restoration whitemetalsmithing, stone-setting, engraving, fabrication, forging, and polishing to name a few. The term bench jeweler is a modern term with vague meaning, it often is used to describe a jeweler who has a larger set of skills than that of a production worker who merely files and solders rings. Thus they may have a fair knowledge of stone-setting, a bit of engraving, and perhaps other skills that widen their abilities. In the modern day, there are a not many jewelers who do it all, from design to stone-setting to finishing with fair ability. Whether it is used in one context or another, there is no doubt that the bench jeweler is the jewelry worker who does the major metal work and the brazing, and its meaning can also mean a person who is more versatile in their trade than merely an assembler of parts.
To See our Artisan Jewelry visit us at:

www.renaissancereproductions-nh.com