Rebecca Zemans Jewelry Blog — Jewelry

Bright green peridot is the perfect stone for your summer wardrobe and one of the few gemstones that occur in only one color, an bright olive green. The vivacity and hue of the green, depends on how much iron is in the chemical make-up of the mineral. The color of the gems can vary from yellow-to lime-to olive-to brownish-green. The most valued color is a dark olive-green. Green is the color of life, growth, balance and healing so the peridot was used frequently all over the ancient world and has become very popular again in modernity. It was used in Egyptian...

A few weeks ago, I visited Paris for the first time. People always talk about how amazing Paris is, and honestly I didn't believe them until I went. What an incredible city! I had no idea there was a place where craftsmanship and beauty are important to everything from the bread to the subway stations. Ernest Hemingway once said, "I've looked far and wide but never have I found a cure for Paris." After visiting, I understand what he means. It's hard to go back to reality after visiting such a magical place. Carrying on the tradition of adornment and...

I'm continuing my 'Store Stories' series with Lillstreet Art Center, which besides selling my work is also where my studio is located. When I returned to Chicago in 2007 (has it really been almost 5 years already?!) I became the metals resident artist at Lillstreet Art Center, which is located at the corner of Ravenswood Montrose Avenue. I started my first jewelry collection based on my continuing sculpture practice, which I had been doing the years before returning to Chicago in the San Francisco Bay area. After my residency, I didn't want to leave this incredible community so got a...

The birthstone of the month of April is the diamond. The diamond is surrounded by many different stories, most of which involve eternal love and wealth. The ancient Hindus gave the diamond the name "Vajra" (which means lightening), because of the way it reflects light and its extreme hardness. Unlike the Hindus the ancient Greeks believed that the fire of a diamond reflected the flame of everlasting love. The Archduke Maximilian of Austria agreed with them and in 1477, he gave a diamond ring to his fiancee, Mary of Burgundy, which is when the tradition of proposing with a diamond...

The birthstone blog series is so much fun that I decided to do another one about the locations where you can find my work. I don't like to over-saturate any one market and really value my relationship with the stores and galleries that feature my work. CitySoles, a shoe and accessories store in Wicker Park,  is one of the stores in Chicago currently carrying my jewelry. City Soles was the first to start carrying my jewelry in the Fall of 2008, just after I started making jewelry. If you know CitySoles, then you know that they are big on local...