carats and carets and carrots and some more Karats.....

Is is a carat or caret?  Or maybe with a k or does it have two R's.  Well, yes, yes and yes.  Here they all are explained:

Caret

This is a caret.  Remember them from school? Teachers and editors use them to signal that something ˄ needed.  Caret come from the Latin words caret and carēre.  One R, one E---easy peasie.

carrot

These are carrots.  They are generally orange, but can be white, yellow and even purple. People and some animals eat them.  Two R’s and one O ---easy enough.

Then there is carat or is it Karat which can be carat --- Two a's and one r.  What's a person to do???

Let’s start with Karet.  Once upon a time, it is said that the Roman Emperor Constantine I started to mint a new gold coin.  It was called a solidus.  It was 1/72 of a libra or Roman pound of gold.  Now this solidus, which was equal in mass to 24 silique, had a mass of 1/1728 of a libra. Following?  Well, the siliqua was sometimes called a carat.  Many believe carat was the origin of the value in a karat
.

Karat is simply a unit of purity for gold and its alloys.  24 karats = pure gold.  18-karat is 75% gold, since 18 is 75% of 24.  12-karat is 50% gold and 50% something else. Please keep in mind that this deals with weight, not volume. (Click,here to read our post about gold karats.)   

However, take note that carat and karat are sometimes interchanged when it comes to gold.  Either way, it means the same. 

Lastly, lets discuss carat.

A carat is a unit of mass.  It is equal to 200mg or 0.007055 oz.  It is used to measure gemstones and pearls.  Why 200mg?  Who knows.  The history of why a carat = 200mg is a making of another blog post.

So, if you want a 3 carat sapphire in your ring or if you have a ½ carat diamond, it is simply the mass of the gemstone.

diamond carat chart from www.diamondimports.com.au

Weekend Sale

We are having a great weekend sale in our Etsy shop.

The more you buy ---- the more you save!!

 

Good:

Buy 1 item in our Etsy shop, save 15% 

use coupon code: save1

Better:

Buy 2 items in our Etsy shop, save 25% 

use coupon code: save2

Best:

Buy 3 items in our Etsy shop, save 30% 

use coupon code: save3

Click on items to the right or below to be taken to our Etsy shop.

Sale ends Monday, May 21st 7am(ish) MST.

new projects

New items for sale is our Etsy shop:

And here are some new rings we have been working on -- they shall be for sale in our Etsy shop shortly.

Enjoy!

New schedule

During the spring semester Rene will be teaching a jewelry/metal smithing class at Weber State University. Because of this, our jewelry making class schedule will be different in January.  And then in February, it will change slightly. (If you are intested in the university class, it is listed at ART 2350)

January's schedule:

Thursdays & Fridays 6pm -- 9pm

Saturdays 9am --12pm

February's schedule:

Tuesdays & Thursdays 6pm -- 9pm

Saturday mornings: tba

All classes are held at the Galleon's Gold Workshop on 12th St. in Ogden, Utah.

Come and learn how to make earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets and anything else you want out of silver, gold and precious stones.

All skill levels are invited to class.

You are welcome to come as little as once a month or as much as 3x a week --- whatever your schedule dictates.

Please email us for more information. mailto:GalleonsGold@hotmail.com (no spaces)

First's night class is always FREE!

NOTE:  We are also able to give demonstrations and one day classes to schools, "girl's night out," church groups, scouts, etc. We are happy to travel around northern Utah and Carbon county in Utah. If you would like us to do something in another place, please let us know and we can see what the options are.

Gold differences

10 vs 14 vs 18 vs 24??? What does it all mean? Well, let's start at the beginning....

24k means 24 karats of gold---but don't confuse it with carat.  A carat is used to measure gemstones (for example I want a 1 carat diamond). A karat is a unit of purity, with 24 being 100% pure.

Here is the math lesson of the day: 24k gold is 24/24 parts gold.  18k gold is 18 parts gold, and 6 parts of some other metal, and the fraction/ratio pattern continues on down.

• 24k gold is 100% pure
• 18k gold is 75% pure -- the European standard
• 14k gold is 58.3% pure -- most common used in jewelry in the USA
• 10k gold is 41.6% pure

.

This is a caret.  Remember them from school? Teachers and editors use them to signal that something ˄ needed.  Caret come from the Latin words caret and carēre.  One R, 1 E. East peasie.

So why isn't jewelry made of 24k gold?  Simple, pure gold is too soft. It looses its shape, bends and scratches very easily.  To fix that problem, other metal is added to the gold-- usually zinc, silver, nickel, platinum or copper (being the most common).  The other metal mixed with the gold allows the gold jewlery piece to be strong and hold its shape.

10k and on up to 24k gold is all considered gold and can be sold labeled gold in the USA.  Different countries have differest standards. Britain and Canda are 9k, while France and Italy are18k.

Side note:  The chemical symbol for gold is Au, which comes from the Latin word for gold, aurum, which comes from the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora.

New items for sale in Etsy shop

We have been busy the last few days and here are our new items for sale in our Etsy online shop.  Please click on each picture to see more information about the piece. Enjoy!

Sterling Silver Textured Snake Ring

Sterling Silver Butterfly Pendant

Pendant with a snake and a bird's head

Sterling Silver Flower w/ Colombian Emerald Brooch

Mother of Pearl Fish Necklace

Sterling Silver Flower with Colombian Emerald Brooch

Sterling Silver Smooth Snake Ring

Silver-Nickel Textured Snake Ring

Sterling Silver Ring with Rhinestones

NEWS

We have been in the process of expanding our services and class offerings. Here is the latest:

NEW: We have a new addition!! We are so excited. We can now cut and polish most gems to be placed in jewelry settings. We are thrilled to add this to our workshop. (Pictures will be up soon.)

NEW:  We now offer appraisals to our services. We can also re-silver antiques and can easily let you know if any of your pieces are pure silver (gold) or silver (gold) plated.

NEW: With the coming of spring, our schedules have changed a bit.  If you are interested in taking silversmithing/jewelry classes, but can not make it on Mondays or Thursdays, we can now offer classes Tuesday and Friday evenings.  We can also offer morning or afternoon classes any day of the week.  For new classes, we need at least 3 people to take the class~~~ so talk to your friends and give us a call.

Remember: the first nights’ class is FREE

NEW: We also give demonstrations or one day classes to schools, social groups, church groups and Super Saturday activites, etc.  We are happy to travel to Davis ~ Weber ~ Box Elder counties in Utah.  Please let us know if you would like to do something in another county/state and we will see what our options are.

Calendar: We are starting to fill up our spring calendar for boutiques and festivals. If you know of any that you think we would be interested in, please let us know. We are also looking for new stores to sell our jewelry on consignment or other agreement.  We are always on the look out for a new place to share our wares.

Collections

We have added some pictures to our collections page.  Our goal is to have a page representing the different work Rene does--a little of this and a little of that! He makes so many pretty things, and I love to show off his work-----but the process gets bogged down at my end---

I know, I know I have said it before, but truely, the taking ofgood digital pictures and transfering them to the web is a perpetual challange for me. I keep thinking one of these days I will develop the skills and one of these days I will have more time to work it out, but alas, the skill is slow in coming and time, will extra time elludes me.  I often think of Benjamin Franklin's quote on time (that is also in my favorite all time movie, Gone With the Wind), "Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of."  

Do I squander time? I like to think not...but oh!  I am rambling again. Anyway-------

Please click here to see our "Collections Page." 


Enjoy!

Jewelry Classes

Rene is starting up his jewelry classes again!  Come learn how to design and make jewelry-- necklaces, earrings, rings, pendants, bolo ties, whatever you want using silver, gold and precious stones.


Monday and Thursday Nights
     from 6pm --- 9pm
at the Galleon's Gold Workshop
     in Ogden, Utah.

All skill levels are invited to class.

You are welcome to come as little as once a month or as much as twice a week --- whatever your schedule dictates.

First night's class is always FREE!

Sale

It time for sales!!

Galleon's Gold is offering 15% our jewelry in our Etsy store. Please use coupon code during check out: thank10

Coupon code is good for a week, until December 3rd, bedtimeish.

Click here to see our jewelry!

Facebook Contest

We are trying to get more Facebook fans---so we will offer our first giveaway after we get 100 fans!! We are close, just a few more to go, so if you are not yet our fan, please become so.  And then invite your friends! Neighbors! Customers! Everyone you know!!

What will we be giving away?  We are not sure yet.  But will let you know before the official contest begins.


www.facebook.com/GalleonsGold


Good luck!