Designer Glass Paperweights

My friend has a store that sells glass artwork. My personal favourite glass artwork is paperweights and I have a lot of fun attending art auctions and buying art glass with her. We pay a lot of attention to what our friends and her clients like and dislike.

I often give people art glass paperweights that I find at art auctions for special birthdays and anniversaries. My mother turned seventy last August and I found a magnificent glass paperweight for her.

The art glass paperweight that I found for my mother was made by Baccarat and I was extremely lucky that this was one of the last items auctioned. A lot of people had already left the auction when this item went on the block. My mother appreciated the rose motif because the rose is her favourite flower.

I have a Dutch friend from Den Bosch who loves effigies of frogs. She has managed to decorate her home very stylishly with her favourite frogs. I have been on the lookout for an art glass paperweight for her for years. I eventually found one at an art auction last year. The glass paperweight showed a frog sitting on a lily pad surrounded by blue water. It was really pretty and my friend began using it on her desk immediately.

I also have an aunt who collects art glass paperweights. She has asked me very often to find glass paperweights for her when I am attending art auctions. Of all of the pieces I have bought for her over the years, one sticks out in my memory more than any other.

The prettiest art glass paperweight I have ever won at an art auction has to be one that featured a blue and gold Macaw. Rick Ayotte was the artist that made it and it was even featured in a book of his work. He has created many lovely art glass paperweights.

There is no trouble at all selling art glass paperweights made by Rick Ayotte. His work seems to draw a great deal of interest. My friend tries to win any auction she finds for art glass paperweights made by him. She won one not so long ago that looked like pink roses. They looked so fragile and sweet. I know that this art glass paperweight will sell quickly.

There have been some inquiries at the shop for art glass paperweights by Richard Marquis, although we have not found any in any of the art auctions we have attended recently.

I will keep looking out for art glass paperweights at the auctions I attend, but I will not be going way out of my way to track them down. I now buy every art glass paperweight I can find that was made by Rick Satava. My favorite has to be the coral orange jellyfish that I found at an art auction an hour from my home. It was really beautiful.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Waterford crystal vases. If you have an interest in Irish crystal or wedding rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

Choose Your Wedding Ring Carefully

There is a huge number of wedding rings available in the shops these days. In fact, you have the world of wedding rings to pick from. The high street shops in a large town have a very good assortment, but the Internet lays the best jewellers and the best styles out for your inspection.

So, it is essential that you take your time when choosing one. Maybe the vast range of wedding rings makes that more difficult not easier. Diamond wedding rings have been the most popular since ordinary working people could afford them, before that a plain band of gold had to be enough, for people who could afford that much.

Nowadays, Western people have become more adventurous and they are choosing other stones like the stunningly beautiful blue sapphire. Some even deciding not to have a stone at all, going back to tradition, so to speak. However, there are plenty of examples of not so simple bands of gold too.

There is the Irish Claddagh ring with its characteristic two hands holding a crowned heart symbolizing love, friendship and loyalty; and there is the Celtic Knot with its intricately interwoven strands twisting and turning without end, standing for eternity and eternal love despite the twists and turns and difficulties of daily life.

So, selecting a wedding ring is not just a question of picking a beautiful wedding ring, you should be choosing one that says what you want it to say. You could look up on the Internet what the different metals and various stones indicate traditionally. If you cannot find a ring that says what you want, consider having one made. It is not as expensive as you might think.

Tradition is a good idea when it comes to wedding rings. After all, you want your ring to express your everlasting love and devotion for the person you are giving it to and your marriage could last fifty or sixty years, especially with people living longer these days. Hopefully, you will wear this ring for the rest of your life, so select a style that seems ageless to you.

Selecting a wedding ring is not as easy as it looks, because you are going to be wearing your ring every day for the rest of your life, so it should be something that you will not get tired of in a couple years. You should look at and try on many rings in order to get one that feels good. You will want a ring that does not look out of date in ten years time. The simplest way of doing that is to go for a traditional style, because those styles have already stood the test of time.

One last piece of advice is to ask the jeweller to attest to the total carat weight of the stones in the ring and the weight of each individual stone and the quality and weight of the metal (although it should be hallmarked) on paper, then if it gets lost or stolen you have something to show the insurance company.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the Celtic knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

Cinque Terre For Your Vacation

Cinque Terre is part of the Liguria region on the west coast of Italy, a harsh and gorgeous part of the Riviera. Cinque Terre literally means \”The Five Lands\”, comprising the villages of Vernazza, Corniglia, Riomaggiore, Manarola and Monterosso al Mare. The area is a more unusual destination choice than some better known spots in Italy and all the more enjoyable for that.

There is not a lot of modern development; instead, the charm is in the centuries-old townships and the terraces stretching and rolling down the hillside. At the bottom of the steep hills, the azure sea shines and sparkles — the landscape is the main attraction of a Cinque Terre vacation.

Because of the steep and varied terrain, the transport system is a bit all over the place. Along with your own wanderings, you\’ll find boats and trains making up the longer journeys. There aren\’t many cars within the boundaries of the region. To get there, try the train from La Spezia to Genoa, or a ferry from Lerici, Portovenere, Genoa\’s Old Harbour or La Spezia.

One thing you must do is walk the trails. For the moderately fit, the hike between the five villages is not too difficult. In fact, the only really difficult stretch is between Vernazza and Monterosso. The other walks are spectacular too, but are easier to handle for those feeling less than 100% fit. The more difficult the trail, the better views and less people, so we suggest walking between all the villages at some point.

You can stay in unusual apartments, unique villas and even staying with locals on a bed and breakfast arrangement. Things to do can include cooking classes, wine tours and lounging in the sun. The area also lends itself to hiking, swimming and simply relaxing and taking in the fantastic views and seascapes, which are mostly part of a national park. There\’s a wide selection of delicious local food and wine to be sampled.

Join Top Travel Content Europe on a Cinque Terre vacation of your own, or plan your other European vacation ideas with help from the best in European travel stories.

Vera Tataro Design & Illustration

Have you ever heard of the well verse talented artist Vera Tataro? If not, fear not as you are about to be told of the wonderful journey of how Vera was able to become the amazing illustrator that the world so rightly appreciates. She was born in 1966 and form very early on, she realised what she wanted to be, how she was going to become it, and from that, there was simply no stopping her.

Do you remember the fist picture that you drew or painted? I\’m sure that Vera does, as well as her parents. Her first piece of art was done with wax crayon all over the walls of her parents living room area, of course they was furious about this, but did eventually earn Vera some lessons in art class during her years whilst attending primary school.

Vera Tartaro attended Hellich\’s Art and Graphics High School in Prague, continuing on her path to becoming a well verse talented artist Vera was ready to take any step possible to ensure that her dreams were fulfilled.

Vera even became a colourise in-betweener, when she got a job provided by a cartoon company located in Prague. Here she worked for 7 years, and her talents as an artist were still growing and could only get better as time moved on. When that job ended Vera thought that it would be most beneficial for her to become a freelance artist, as it would make it a lot more easy for her to explore and develop her creative mind, as there was nothing that could hold her back, and in doing do, many would know that she was extremely successful.

If you were to look at Vera\’s work, you can see that she is a very abstract thinker, and loves to have a lot going on in here pictures. Although she uses a lot of colours, it is always very easy and clear to see what the images are portraying, and will always get the viewer to begin thinking outside of the box.

Vera\’s journey hasn\’t always been a walk in the park but none the less she continues to push on, each and every time proving to the world that there is still a lot more paint on her brush that she wishes to share with us all, we can only hope to see more great work in the not so distant future.

f you want to check out the gallery of Vera Tataro just browse her portfolio and see if there is anything that catches your eye.

Find good opportunities by browsing the latest freelance jobs or find a host of great professionals by viewing their illustration. This and other unique content \’designer\’ articles are available with free reprint rights.

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