It's the Wedding Season! Register Your Wedding Gift List With Artery Gallery

An art gift from Artery Gallery is not only a beautiful addition to any home but can also be an investment for the future. Artery Gallery are able to organise your wedding gift list, so you can be a little different and receive a memorable wedding present that you will cherish for years to come.

As the bride and groom, you can choose Artery Gallery as one of your wedding gift list venues. Guests can purchase the selected art you have chosen in your list, whether they buy individually or club together in groups.

Alternatively, the bride and groom can request guests to buy Artery Gallery gift vouchers. These can be purchased individually by guests, and then collected together by the happy couple at the appropriate time. The gift vouchers can then be brought into either of the galleries at a time to suit themselves to choose their favourite pieces of art.

Our wedding gift registration service offers you the opportunity to commemorate your wedding day with a list of gift ideas for your friends and family to choose from.

Anything from clocks and sculpture, to paintings and wall hangings are available, giving you the inspiration and opportunity to build your own collection of unique, original artwork.

When registering your wedding or civil partnership, you receive a catalogue of ideas and suggestions from us, which you can also add your own choices to. When you have chosen all the gifts you hope for, we will complete your registration by adding you and your partner-to-be to our website – with a web-page of your very own. This will include photographs, dimensions and prices of all the items you choose, with a secure, online purchasing function. Your friends and family will be able to browse the pages of your gift list before deciding on their purchase.

Friends and family can even combine their finances to purchase a larger item such as a painting, which can be reserved for your list by paying a deposit of 20%.

Create you own unique wedding gift list today here at Artery Gallery.

www.arteryuk.com

Buying Handmade Jewellery at Artery Gallery

Handmade jewellery has never been as popular as it is now. We all have our reasons for buying handmade, rather than mass produced jewellery – we want to be seen to be supporting our local producers during a precarious financial situation, or we want to be seen as part of the cool ‘eco-chic’ bunch that we see in magazines, we like to be different and unique in our style, or maybe we just love to follow fashion.

All of these reasons to buy handmade jewellery are explained and discussed in so many women’s glossy magazines just now. We want to look unique, and feel morally satisfied with our purchases, we want to stay ahead of fashion (instead of just keeping up!). Here at Artery, we understand that all of these reasons are important, and we have handmade jewellery to suit every reason behind a purchase.

You want to be at the forefront of fashion…..

So, your buying handmade jewellery because you want to be seen in what’s on the catwalk, rather than what’s in the shops. This is every trend-setter’s hurdle – what we see in magazines and fashion shows, is not yet in the shops – so where do we find it? Handmade jewellery often takes inspiration from international fashions shows, in terms of colour and theme. Jewellery designers are always looking for a direction in which to take their inspiration, and the catwalks give them that. As handmade jewellery is relatively quickly produced (because you’re not making 5000 of the same item) the hottest styles are ready for the public much quicker than mass produced jewellery. Also – why bother chasing fashion, if you’re going to end up wearing something that every third person on the high street is wearing?

Our jeweller designer Angela Learoyd has her finger on the pulse when it comes to trend setting (rather than following!).

Her handmade African Jasper and silver concertina necklace @ £130 is totally unique – and taking the catwalk ‘tribal’ trend to another level. The beautiful green/blue hue of this stone is a key element of the tribal look – seen in African inspired fashion, and ‘Navajo’ themed jewellery. The difference is that with this, you know you have something that nobody else has, as it’s made from natural products, each is unique and can never be reproduced, and because of the quality of materials, although it’s a fashion forward item just now, you know it will become a much loved classic item over the years.


You have your own style…..

So you are the opposite of the dedicated follower of fashion! You have your own style, and you love it. Buy what if your own style is not what’s in the shops just now? Then buy it handmade! This way you can find a jewellery designer who matches your style and commission a piece to your own specifications, or purchase a piece of theirs ‘off the peg’.

Chunky, bold jewellery is in fashion just now, but what if you like something delicate and feminine? One of our designers, Angel Neal, specialises in feminine, pretty, delicate jewellery, so while the high street is awash with chunky wooden beads, you can stand out from the crowd in one of Angel’s delicate crystal bracelets, or pretty pearl necklaces. Or design your own feminine crystal necklace for Angel to make for you.


You want to feel morally satisfied with your purchase….

This is something that just a few years ago didn’t concern, or occur to us. Today’s media has made us painfully aware that our purchase-power has a dramatic effect on the global economy, and it raises all sorts of questions – do we want to be responsible for child labour in Asia, or do we want feel guilty about oppressive diamond mining methods every time we look at our engagement ring?

Fortunately, as we have become aware of this, so have our jewellery designers – and they now strive to provide us with beautiful handmade jewellery, which hasn’t compromised anybody’s integrity or ethics to source and produce it. Our silver designer Patricia Gurgel-Segrillo, based in Brazil, uses only ethically sourced silver, and other materials that support, not degrade her community and country. Patricia’s silver designs are made from Fine silver rather than sterling silver, which has a higher silver content, and lends itself well to her unique, woven designs.


You want to support your local economy……

You want to buy handmade jewellery to support your local economy, rather than the huge ubiquitous mega-stores of the UK.

If you buy a piece of handmade jewellery you could be supporting a small local business by doing this, and in turn, supporting a local designer. Many of our jewellery designers at Artery are from fife and we love to be able to support handmade goods from our own area. There is never any point in complaining that our high streets have become one in the same, and bland, then popping into a chain store to buy something that is made in the thousands.

We have local designer Elizabeth Scott, whose hometown is not ten miles from the gallery. Much of her jewellery is inspired by her local countryside and sea views, using colours in her jewellery to represent that.

So you can see that whatever your reason is for buying handmade jewellery – you will find something to suit you at Artery Gallery.

www.arteryuk.com

New Scottish Jewellery Designer Exhibiting at St Andrews

Joanne Timoney is a full time desginer-jeweller, working from her studio in Glasgow. Trained at Glasgow School of Art with a background in Retail jewellery, her work is unusual, but still wearable every day.

Her unique designs use precious metals, acrylics and resin, blended together to create quirky and modern jewellery for all ages and occassions.

As every item is handmade, no two are the same and all designs can be modified to suit the wearers tastes.

www.arteryuk.com

The Artery Gallery Guide to Pearls - Testing, Buying and All You Need to Know!

Here at Artery Gallery, we have a huge selection of genuine pearl jewellery with earrings, necklaces, tiaras, bracelets and even pearl hair slides available.

Buying pearls takes careful consideration, as they are a piece of precious jewellery, which will last a lifetime, seeing you through every trend and fashion imaginable. This is why Artery Gallery have decided to give you a helping hand with our pearl buying guide.

You need to learn how to know when a pearl is genuine, or simulated. A genuine pearl – freshwater, cultured, or otherwise, can be identified by rubbing it against one’s tooth. A real pearl will feel rough, gritty or sandy against a tooth, whereas a false, simulated pearl with feel smooth and silky. This will not damage a genuine pearl, but I wouldn’t imagine it would be particularly good for teeth, to do this on a regular basis!

Growing a Pearl

Pearls are formed in different ways, depending on what type of pearl has been developed. Saltwater pearls tend to come from oysters, whereas freshwater pearls tend to come from mussels – however, pearls can occur naturally in any shell, though a naturally produced pearl is very rare.

Cultured saltwater pearls are generally formed by injecting a tiny bead made from shell, along with a piece of oyster tissue, into a live oyster. The soft tissue helps form a ‘pearl sac’ and the bead irritates the inside layer of the oyster. As this occurs, the oyster starts to produce nacre, which is the mother of pearl coating found on the inside of any shell. By coating the tiny bead layer upon layer in nacre, it stops it irritating the inside of the oyster and this produces a pearl.

Cultured freshwater pearls are produced more or less the same way, but instead inserting a small piece of soft mantle tissue into a mussel, rather than a shell bead. This pearl growing technique for cultured freshwater pearls creates a pearl that is formed entirely from nacre without the tiny shell bead centre.

Names and Shapes

‘Potato’, ‘Rice’ and ‘Seed’ named due to their resemblance.
‘Baroque’ pearls are irregular shaped.
‘Button’ pearls are often flat one side and rounded on the other.
‘Coin’ pearls are grown flat like a coin.
‘Stick’ pearls (or ‘Biwa’) are long twig-like irregular shaped pearls.

Modern pearl culturing techniques now allow us to grow pearls in all different shapes, and can be seen in shaped such as stars or diamonds. Of course they would never grow like this naturally, but it makes a great alternative to more traditional styles.

Many people associate pearls with weddings, as pearls are traditionally white, however due to modern pearl growing methods, pearls now come in myriad colours, from emerald green, to deep red. Paler colours on the other hand are generally naturally occurring – pale pinks, peach, lavender, silver, gold, cream and white tend to be naturally coloured. The pearls take on their colour from the inside of the shell they are growing in.

Colours such as turquoise blue and fuchsia pearls tend to be dyed this way. Pearl dying techniques have changed massively over the decades, and now the colours look as real and even, as if it had occurred that way naturally.

Quality and Value

There are five points that measure a pearls quality – size, shape, colour, lustre and surface and the pearls are graded according to these points.

Pearls can vary greatly in size, but needless to say, the larger the pearl, the more rare it is, therefore more valuable, and worth a higher grade. The closer to a perfect round shape, will also improve value of a pearl, though a perfect round pearl is nearly impossible to find.

It really comes down to personal taste though, as many designers now make jewellery specifically from different shaped pearls particularly stick pearls.

The natural colour of a pearl also affects It’s grading or value, but obviously nowadays with new dying techniques, this isn’t as important as it once was. A colour is judged by basic tone, evenness and luminosity. Pearls from certain areas only ever achieve certain colours naturally – Tahitian pearls tend to be varying shades of blacks and greys (and are usually quite large) and South Sea pearls are found in shades of rich cream and gold.

The Lustre of a pearl is one of the most important things to grade a pearl. Lustre is graded from B – AAA. The lustre is the luminous shiny surface created by layer upon layer of nacre forming. Some pearls can appear chalky or cloudy on the surface, which is not as desirable. The best lustre for a pearl is AAA – a tip is to look in the surface of a pearl for your reflection. The clearer you see your reflection, the better the pearl. To reach perfection, the surface of a pearl would need to be flawless – no indentations, ridges or rings. This sort of pearl is extremely rare and valuable, as most pearls have naturally occurring surface indentations and ripples. This only adds to their unique quality though.

The worlds largest pearl was a 14.1lb pearl found in a giant clam in 1934, valued at 60 million dollars, and the most expensive pearls ever sold was in 2004 at Christie’s Auction. Reaching 3.1 million dollars. Although Artery Gallery doesn’t have any pearls worth a million dollars, we have many pieces of pearl jewellery to make you feel that way.

www.arteryuk.com

Prince's Trust Enterprise Award 2008

Here at Artery Gallery, we wish to congratulate Lora Leedham, one of our extremely talented jewellery designers, in winning the Prince's Trust Enterprise Award 2008 for the West Midlands.

(Lora Leedham accepting her award)

The Prince’s Trust Celebrate Success Awards West Midlands honoured the achievements of disadvantaged young people supported by The Trust who have succeeded against the odds, improved their chances in life and had a positive impact on their local community.

The award ceremony took place at the Birmingham ICC and was hosted by ITV Central presenter Joanne Malin. All the finalists were selected from the 3,800 young people supported by The Trust in the West Midlands over the past year.

Birmingham based jeweller Lora Leedham had a tough start in life, growing up in an area where underachieving at school and lack of opportunities were the norm. But Lora went in search of something more and was determined to make something of herself against such difficulties.

She took a huge gamble by starting up her own jewellery company with the help of The Prince’s Trust. The gamble paid off and her business is now booming with nearly forty stockists across the UK and Europe, including both branches of Artery Gallery.

Lora has been selling her work succesfully here at Artery Gallery for the last two years, with her Venitian Glass Heart Pendants in particular proving a massive hit with our customers.

Well done Lora and may your success continue.


www.arteryuk.com

Bridal Jewellery at Artery Gallery

Artery Gallery has expanded its handmade jewellery collection to include a range of high quality, unique bridal accessories.

Scottish Jeweller Angel Neal specialises in Bridal jewellery, designing and making everything from necklaces and earrings, to tiaras and hair fascinators. Her bridal jewellery designs come in silver, gold, pearl and crystal styles. Her extensive range means there is something to suit every bride, and to match every wedding dress!

Angel started making jewellery at the age of fourteen, following that with her first business creating luxury bridal jewellery, eventually leading her to the position of finalist in the 2007-2008 FMG International jewellery Design Competition in the category of natural pearls. Artery Gallery now stocks a vast range of Angel’s pearl and bridal jewellery, with different designs of tiaras, necklaces, bracelets earrings and hair adornments all available to try on in the gallery. Angel also undertakes bridal consultations and individual commissions.

Lara Baxter specialises in bespoke 18 carat gold and silver wedding jewellery. Her range of designs includes made-to-order kilt pins, necklaces, tiaras and rings. In fact, she designed and made the jewellery for her own wedding in 2007, making her own solid gold and silver tiara, her new husband’s kilt pin, and her bridesmaids jewellery. The simple, organic designs of her pieces are influenced by her surroundings on the west coast of Scotland where she grew up. Lara learned her trade from her mother, a successful jeweller herself, before setting up her own workshop. Lara can undertake commissions to co-ordinate your whole bridal party.

Matching your jewellery to your bridal gown can be difficult, but jeweller Angela Learoyd designs pearl jewellery in rainbow colours to suit all shades of dresses and skin-tones. With beautiful natural pale pinks to baby blues, and gold colours, Angela’s pearls can be used for traditional brides, bridesmaids, or more unusually coloured bridal dresses. Angela is a member of the British Jewellers Association, The Association of Contemporary Jewellers and Visual Arts Scotland.

Check online at Artery Gallery to view the different styles and ranges from our exhibiting jewellers.