10th YEAR ANNIVERSARY
This month marks the 10th anniversary of Coralyn W Whitney Design being in
business. We ask ourselves: how can that be? It doesn't seem possible. Well, it is.
So, in honor of this occasion, we are excited to invite you and your friends to our grand celebration!
It will take place on Sunday, April 7, from 1pm - 6pm, here at the house. There will be champagne and hors d'oeuvres.
And, having just returned from Tucson, Coralyn will have created a variety of new creations for your viewing/purchasing pleasure.
CHANGES IN BUSINESS
Given that this is our 10th year in business, we feel
it is an appropriate time for us to reflect upon our business plan and determine in what new directions we might go.
Coralyn will always be doing custom design work, both beaded and fine jewelry, offering finished fine jewelry as well as estate/antique
jewelry for sale.
We will be investigating
how we can take greater advantage of the internet and associated jewelry venues, along with auction houses.
But, at the moment, in order to free up time, the first change
will be the switching of a published newsletter from a monthly to a quarterly basis, with intermittent e-mails on upcoming
sales and art events. The newsletter will be published in March, June, September, and December.
The "Home" page of new jewelry creations and the "Events" page will
be updated on an ongoing basis. Check them out regularly!
TUCSON 2013
Tucson is an interesting shopping environment. There were 37 different
shows this year. We have mentioned a number of times about how big it is. But, without actually being there, there
is no way to totally appreciate the size of the event. So, to help a little, below are some photos of different venues
that we shopped and some of the fun things we saw.
The first set is of the top of the line show, the
American Gem Trade Association, which focuses on fine quality color gemstones, including diamonds. It is held on the
main floor of the Tucson Convention Center. These photos are taken from above the convention floor, as photos are not
allowed on the floor, showing row after row of small fine quality booths displaying and selling their products. Rows
run from 100 to 1300, with 15-20 vendors per row.
Next we have the Gem Mall Show, which consists of two
very long tents. As you can see, below, this is very different from the show at the convention center. One friend with
us could not believe how many beads she saw and how the prices varied from one vendor to the next, even if the beads were
of the exact same stone and quality. And, with all the rock that has come out of the ground that goes in to making these
beads and other huge things, when will it ever stop. Here we have photos from the inside and the outside of one of the
tents.
Next we picture the Kino Electric Park Show, which
focuses on fossils and minerals. At this show, there are several large tents and many smaller tents. Second
photo shows fossils of ammonites, orthocerus, trillobites, and a beautiful slice of petrified wood. And, of course,
somehow Coralyn always manages to find beads (funny how that works).
Of course tents aren't the only selling venues, there are
the "Selling out of one's motel room" Shows. Literally, people rent a room where a show is going to be, lay
out their goods on beds and tables inside the room and then on tables outside, overflowing into the grassy (?) and parking
areas.
CRYSTALS, FOSSILS,
& MORE
Coralyn is standing behind a very large cluster of clear quartz crystals.
The next photo shows how quartz might be utilized as a base for colorful hand-carved stone birds. Next pictured is
a lovely purple stone known as fluorite, which is chiefly used in steel making . It is, however, distantly related
to the fluoride treatment dentists use. Then we have the huge prehistoric sharks teeth, some as big as a man's
hand, which easily start at $1,000 each. There is no lack for finding some nice fossil specimens, as well.
HANGING OUT WITH THE SMITHSONIAN GROUP
IN TUCSON
Each year at Tucson, members of the Smithsonian
Gem Collectors group get together for some fun, even though it tends to be rock/gem related (our passion), but not always.
This year we had the opportunity to see a special display of Chinese minerals at the university and then to go out to the
Biosphere. The University of Arizona has a really fine mineral collection and some amazing fossils. This year
they are offering "Chinese Minerals" as their special exhibit. These specimens were absolutely amazing, just
amazing. The color and the crystal growth patterns were of superior quality. Many of the specimens were worth
more than $50,000 (easily) each.
Below we have a photo of what looks
like blue-green footprints. This is actually azurite-malachite, where azurite is the blue mineral and malachite the
green. Along with it is a prime specimen of a pink stone known as rhodochrosite. Typically, it is opaque, with
swirling patterns of pink, black, and white, reminding one of bacon slices. Of course, this example is so pure, it is
transparent.
Below that are photos of BioSphere 2. Many of you may
remember when the original biosphere was built. It was an experiment in self-sufficiency by humans in a closed environment.
Well, over time, issues arose that had not been anticipated by scientists and the experiment was ended. Now the facility
belongs to the University of Arizona where they conduct different kinds of experiments, most of which center around what will
happen to the environment in our current state of global warming. For example, global warming will be causing draughts.
They have an amazing rainforest left over from the original biosphere experiment. So, they are going to stress the rainforest
by depriving it of water for 40 days and then evaluate how it responded, in both the short and long term.
The snow was an added touch to the day. Not what we had expected/dressed for in Tucson.
| ONE DISPLAY AT THE CHINESE MINERAL EXHIBIT |
|
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| University of Arizona |
| MALACHITE SURROUNDED BY AZURITE (FEET) |
|
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| HOT PINK RHODOCHROSITE SPECIMEN |
In the last newsletter, we gave the Pantone colors for Spring 2013.
The main color of interest for 2013 is green. This includes emerald green, tender shoots (a peridot hue),
and grayed jade, a soft muted green gray. So, naturally, green beads would be what we were looking for
… and, we had no problem finding a variety of stones that are green. However, the trick was finding nice
quality. Many of the beads we saw looked like they'd been drug from one show to another. But, we did pick
up some dyed multi-hued green agate, malachite, peridot, & chrome diopside. We picked up emerald beads in rough
form.
Of course, green was not the only color we found. We did find some interestingly cut "Egyptian"
style lapis, aquamarine, and labradorite. And, a variety of different pendants in different types of metal.
INVENTORY REDUCTION SALE!
For our annual Holiday
Sale, we offered a selection of fine jewelry at reduced prices. Some of the items are pictured on the new page
"INVENTORY REDUCTION". Descriptions and prices are given. If you are interested in or have questions
about any particular item, please contact Coralyn at coralyn@cwwhitneydesign.com . If you are interested in something not pictured, please contact us to determine if the item is on sale.
We can process your payment at the time of delivery and/or pick up. These are really great deals.
Due to the gold content of some of these items, we'll be able to sell them at "scrap" prices and still get our sale
price. It would be sad to do that but ... business is business, right?
You will also notice that we now post prices on the featured jewelry.
Please let us know if you have any questions on particular items, as well. These are not at reduced prices. Thank
you.
