{"id":34987,"date":"2016-12-26T21:45:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T02:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=34987"},"modified":"2016-12-26T21:49:04","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T02:49:04","slug":"year-in-review-jewels-of-the-month-for-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/year-in-review-jewels-of-the-month-for-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Year in Review: Jewels of the Month for 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Jewel of the Month posts<\/a> highlight my newest — or sometimes my newsiest — jewelry designs. Here are 2016\u2019s hot jewels from both my luxe signature line and my social-media-inspired WENDYB by Wendy Brandes diffusion line. Click the photos to read the original posts.<\/p>\n

Redesigning old jewelry is one of my specialties.\u00a0 January’s Jewel of the Month<\/a> was an engagement-ring redesign for gorgeous client Helen. She sent me her old ring …<\/p>\n

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Helen’s ring, before.<\/p><\/div>\n

… and I sent back the new ring.<\/p>\n

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Helen’s ring, after.<\/p><\/div>\n

I did a 14-day Valentine’s Day countdown for February, so I’ll just highlight one of those pieces now. It’s the award-winning engagement-ring redesign I did for my mother<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Click to see the hidden message inside.<\/p><\/div>\n

My arrowhead thread earrings in platinum and gold were the Jewels of the Month for March<\/a>. I’ve been meaning to do more thread earrings ever since!<\/p>\n

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Click to see how these look on.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you have recently pierced ears, I recommend April’s Jewel of the Month: my Diamond Micro Studs for Tender Ears<\/a>. The studs are made of a hypoallergenic platinum\/iridium alloy<\/a>. No copper or nickel to be found! The diamonds are four points per stud, with F color and VS clarity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Tiny studs are good for tender ears.<\/p><\/div>\n

In May, I added to my arrowhead collection<\/a> by introducing dangle rings in gold and platinum<\/a>. These make good stacking rings, either together or mixed in with my barbed wire stacking rings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In platinum, with 17 little diamonds.<\/p><\/div>\n

Classic designs were on my mind in June, so I featured my Matilda sword necklace and earrings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The 18K white gold sword pulls out of the 18K yellow gold scabbard!<\/p><\/div>\n

Proving that good designs have staying power, the Matilda necklace ended up prominently worn by gorgeous supermodel Bella Hadid in Paper magazine this month<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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The Matilda sword necklace and Bella’s underboob — perfect together. Styled by Farren FUCCI. Click for the whole Paper feature.<\/p><\/div>\n

I went back to new styles in July with the first ring I designed for my friend Monica Stephenson’s ANZA Gems project.\u00a0 Ruby is July’s birthstone, so this was the perfect time to share this ruby dangle ring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Ruby from Tanzania is set in recycled 18K rose gold and highlighted with a conflict-free diamond.<\/p><\/div>\n

As I’ve explained before, Monica started ANZA Gems to offer a completely transparent journey from the gem mine to the customer. She personally sources ethically mined, colored-gemstone rough from Tanzania and Kenya; brings the uncut stones back to the U.S. to be faceted by gem cutters here; and then has them incorporated into fine jewelry by designers with whom she collaborates.\u00a0 At least 10% of the proceeds from every sale goes back to three East African schools that Monica supports. The e-commerce site has just launched, so you can shop here<\/a>. The proceeds from this ruby ring will provide lunch for the students of the Kitarini primary school in Tanzania for at least a month<\/a>, so someone go buy this right away!<\/p>\n

I unveiled my second design for ANZA Gems in August<\/a>: a two-finger ring boasting two vividly colored Tanzanian garnets and a pink spinel. The gems look like they’re floating above the fingers.<\/p>\n

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One of a kind!<\/p><\/div>\n

This one isn’t on ANZA’s website yet, so if you’d like to inquire about it, contact Monica here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

August was a busy month for me because I also introduced a trio of Punk Platinum earrings<\/a>: an anarchy symbol, a razor blade, and a safety pin.<\/p>\n

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For fancy-ass punks.<\/p><\/div>\n

September’s birthstone is sapphire<\/a>, and while I tend to prefer fancy color like pink and yellow, I think these blue cabochon studs look luscious!<\/p>\n

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A luxurious take on the standard birthstone earring.<\/p><\/div>\n

By October, I was focused on the presidential election<\/a>. I used my letter studs to spell out VOTE<\/a>, but the hot seller was my NASTY necklace.<\/p>\n

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A NASTY necklace for NASTY women.<\/p><\/div>\n

After the election, I considered moving to another planet, so it was appropriate that November’s Jewel of the Month<\/a> was an alien emoji stud earring.<\/p>\n

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Why is this alien so happy?<\/p><\/div>\n

I ended the year with a selection of designs for the Platinum Guild’s Holiday Gift Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Platinum doesn’t need to be saved for the red carpet. Wear it every day!<\/p><\/div>\n

People associate platinum with wedding jewelry and Academy Awards loaners from Harry Winston, so I started my Punk Platinum collection<\/a> to show that this most precious metal can be casual and cool and (relatively) affordable.<\/a>\u00a0 Prices for my platinum jewelry start at $300 for a single diamond stud<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for lots of new designs in 2017!<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Jewel of the Month posts highlight my newest — or sometimes my newsiest — jewelry designs. Here are 2016\u2019s hot jewels from both my luxe signature line and my social-media-inspired WENDYB by Wendy Brandes diffusion line. Click the photos to read the original posts. Redesigning old jewelry is one of my specialties.\u00a0 January’s Jewel…<\/p>\n

Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[295,719,658],"tags":[823,1045,1022,1044],"class_list":["post-34987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jewel-of-the-month","category-jewelry","category-year-in-review","tag-engagement-ring-redesign","tag-feminist-jewelry","tag-nasty-necklace","tag-platinum-jewelry","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t