With apologies to Mike I’m making this about the food in yet another “Get on Bike and Go” episode. I’m supposed to keep this blog “relevant” in the eyes of Google to attract clients to my custom jewelry design website, Gary Dawson Designs. And I’m pretty sure I’ve had a problem following rules since my earliest memories of toddling off to the outhouse so I’ll just go with the Free Beer Tomorrow theme and Google can jump off a high Oregon Coast cliff this time.
This past weekend I rode Poderoso, my trusty moto named after Che’s bike (featured in the movie, “The Motorcycle Diaries”) to meet my brother George at a location on the coast that I’ve known fairly well in different decades. It matters not what you think if Che Guevara, it’s the bike I’m idolizing here.
Charleston, Oregon is a tiny fishing village with a large commercial fishing fleet located about 8 miles from Hwy. 101 and beautiful downtown North Bend at the mouth of the Coos River drainage. With this information in place, take your mind back a couple of decades and visualize Red’s tavern, reputedly the most rowdy tavern in Oregon in its day. I worked on a very small salmon boat during one of my last summers of high school (early 70’s) and my captain was very stern in his warning, “Don’t ever, ever go into Red’s.” I note in trying to find a link here to some of the Red’s history that the legacy remains oral. Maybe that’s a book that needs writing since stories abound if you start asking around in the area.
So at some point after a bunch of cheap beer and a little good whiskey (I brought the whiskey!) my brother and I decide to go find some seafood. We ended up across the street from the old Red’s Tavern site in a place called “High Tide Cafe”.

I was skeptical, having spent many cold winter days in Charleston crabbing from the docks and in those days one was lucky to find anything beyond soggy French fries and yesterday’s fish, deep friend in old oil. But despite the exterior with its look of older Charleston, the place actually seemed to have some promise once inside. We sat at the bar facing an open kitchen, something you just don’t much see in a dingy tavern.
We were greeted by an appropriately wise-acre server/bartender and he helped me select the first decent beer I had that day, a local amber ale. I guess craft brewing has even penetrated here, a happy surprise! It didn’t take too long to decide what we wanted so with orders in, we settled into our beverages when the next surprise arrived, our cups of house-made clam chowder. This was the most herbal chowder I’d ever had and it surprised my palate. When queried, the bartender made us guess the herb. A heavy dose of thyme gives this chowder its very distinctive flavor. George and I ate about halfway through our meals and then swapped plates.  Mine…a fried razor clam dish with fresh garden summer squash thoughtfully enough prepared to really capture my attention. How veggies are cooked and presented is one of my real tests of culinary care.  There are a lot of good cooks out there in the world and many can put together an entree.  But the sides can tell more about an actual love of good food.  George’s dish was a seafood pasta, a creamy take on an Alfredo dish with plenty of crab, shrimp and clams.
Not one to shirk a responsibility (to you, dear reader), I struck up a conversation with the chef as a short lull in filling orders ensued. Turns out he was a former chef at one of my favorite hangouts during my Portland Saturday Market days, Jazz de Opus and Opus Two which “…became a cultural nexus…” that “was known around the country as the Oregon version of the Village Vanguard, the fabled New York club, and it contributed to Portland’s reputation as a thriving jazz city.”, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia! Both closed in 2003 and it was an end of an era.

​Chef Steve Raplee is doing it right, right now at the High Tide Cafe, in Charleston. We got to reminiscing about the Opus era and when I asked him what the heck he was doing in Charleston, he simply replied, “getting out of Portland.” I understand…getting out of Eugene was why I was in Charleston that evening too. Free Beer, Tomorrow! is the logo worn on staff t-shirts but I’m happy to pay for my beer and meal today and any day that the food is this well prepared!
Shout out to you Chef!  We survived Portland in the 70’s-80’s and now on to doing our different things, making the world a better place, one meal, and one piece of jewelry at a time.

My recent post, “Finding a Voice”, seemed to be a topic of interest based on the response I received over various media. It is both encouraging and delightful to have good feedback and thoughtful comments, thank you everyone!
One of the more interesting comments was through LinkedIn, from Dan Christie…
”Nice article Gary. It is difficult as a custom designer, as you are always finding someone else’s voice. The plus side is, it makes you very well versed in many styles.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Dan’s last statement. In my view, constantly working within or toward someone else’s expectations by doing custom work tends to broaden my horizon rather than limit it. Here’s how I put it to a current client in an email in response to his concern, “Are you tired of us yet?”
“Au contraire!  I’m enjoying working with you a lot!!
I know that a lot of creative people only want to do their “own” thing but for some reason I find it very exciting to work with people to help them realize “their” vision while maintaining my standards of aesthetic and integrity.  I find that it helps me to grow in ways that I might not discover on my own and somehow that is very satisfying to me.  And a very huge advantage of that is that for me is that I can then apply what I’ve learned on an occasional vision of my own.” 
And I think Dan’s first comment brings up a good topic for further discussion. I’m pretty sure I know what Dan means here, and I think mostly I would agree with the sense of what he’s saying. When you do custom work, you are indeed realizing your client’s vision and working within parameters that they define. But are you really finding your client’s voice when you are doing custom work? I think maybe not, at least in the sense with which I use the term “Voice”. Let me try to find an analogy for a more clear understanding of my use of “Voice”.
Amy Winehouse, a tragic loss no matter how you feel about her untimely death, covered a song by the Shirelles, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”. Check out both versions…(Shirelles here, Amy’s version here.) This is obviously the same song but I think an argument could be made that the “Voice” is entirely different in the two versions.
Here’s another…
One of my favorite all-time poems is by Rudyard Kipling, called “If” I have read, and reread that poem as it hangs on my office wall, inspiring me in times of struggle, and helping me to remember humility in times of triumph with his line, “And treat those two imposters just the same.” When I first heard that Joni Mitchell did a musical version of that poem on her album, Shine, I was apprehensive to hear it. But her voice, and her more gender neutral spin on some of the lyrics, are a delight and in this case, her “Voice” seems to do nothing but enhance the message of that wise poem.
And so it goes with custom jewelry design.  Several jewelry artists could approach the same materials and concept and applying their unique “Voice” would no doubt render quite unique results.  My point in bringing this into a discussion about CAD is that it may be more difficult to find a voice within that medium than, say, carving wax since one has to break out of the “computer mind” within the parameters of the design application to actually find their voice!

I would love to hear more about what you all think about this. Please don’t hesitate to reply or respond, wherever you see this post, or contact me directly at [email protected]
I look forward to further discussion!

We all need it. To refresh, renew and revitalize ourselves is an often overlooked necessity for optimal performance. How to do it is probably different for each individual and at least somewhat contingent on location and available time. For some it may mean going to a movie, for others, a hard workout. And the process can take minutes, days or months, depending on a lot of factors. Here at Gary Dawson Jewelry Design we are proactive in allowing ourselves the opportunity to revitalize to give you the best, most creative jewelry design service available anywhere!
First, I take a little personal time every day. Sometimes it takes the form of a nap, but most often lately it manifests as a long walk. I try to put in somewhere between 20-30 miles a week. This has several benefits. Recent research indicates that walking may be some of the best mental acuity medicine that exists. Dr. Gary Small writes in Psychology Today, “In a study of more than 18,000 older women for example, Harvard researchers found that 90 minutes a week of brisk walking, or approximately 15 minutes a day, was all one needed to delay cognitive decline and reduce possible risk for future Alzheimer’s disease.  University of Pittsburgh scientists found that the more that older people walked, the better their cognitive abilities and the larger their brain.  A larger brain is associated with a lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease.”
I’m fortunate that I can walk in a rural setting because I can take my smart phone with me and make a lot of my daily business calls during these walks without fighting traffic noise or look up items of interest without worrying about being run over. My walks take a little over an hour and I can accomplish a lot of my more simple daily communication during this time and still have plenty of fairly serene time by just turning the phone off when I’m done with it.
I also need the occasional longer break and for this nearby wilderness areas afford a priceless luxury. Recently, an overnight of car camping in the Willamette National Forest at Waldo Lake, about a 2 hour drive from my home,  provided for skinny dipping in some of the most pure waters on the planet. The chilly dip in gin-clear water followed by hugging a sun-warmed rock was a good grounding point and allowed me to hit the ground running when I arrived back at my overloaded desk.
A short stop at Salt Creek Falls on the way home was a perfect finish to our long weekend!

Remember this, a key factor often lost in our contemporary world is that by taking good care of yourself, you will position yourself to better take care of those that depend on you. That’s why the airlines remind you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others, and that’s why it’s ok to be a little selfish with your time. So don’t feel bad about it, go take a hike! (Or go to that movie you want to see!)
And know that here at Gary Dawson Jewelry Design, we are refreshed and ready to take on your custom design jewelry project with vigor!

Many, if not most artists are encouraged to “find their voice” early in their career, especially if they begin their career in an academic venue. Finding a voice in that context usually means discovering, or adopting a recognizable style and then working exclusively within that style. This, they are told, is the road to commercial success.
A rare few manage to establish themselves to the point that they can then stretch that style, or even successfully adopt another style and not lose their following or their “voice”. Picasso is a classic example of an artist that was able to transition through several styles or “periods” from his very early academic realism to what may have become his most commonly recognized style, cubism.
Specializing in custom design jewelry has presented an interesting challenge with regard to finding a voice.  As a custom designer my “style” has always been necessarily eclectic. One client wants something floral and busy, another wants something clean, simple and bold. Yet another wants a “futuristic” design while the next one desires something that looks antique. Finding a voice within the cacophony of client desires can be challenging indeed! And yet, I felt I had achieved a voice of sorts many years ago when clients began telling me that they could recognize one of my rings when they saw it. I like to think that within many “styles” I had achieved an elegance of execution that made my work distinctive. The feedback and success with which I was rewarded seemed to confirm that premise.
Enter CAD… (Computer Aided Design)
I had been fascinated by the prospect of computer design for a number of years before I actually embraced it. Finding a voice, a new voice perhaps, with a whole new approach to the design process was intimidating in many of the same ways that learning a new language can be. It is difficult for someone that is very fluid in their native language to accept the fact that for some time during the process of adapting a new language that they will communicate like a 3 yr. old…at best! And I took a road that was, in its implementation, perhaps more difficult. There are many jewelry-specific design applications that make the design process easier but may ultimately make it harder to find a voice in that they compel one to use the same pre-forms in creating a design, the same algorithms that everyone else using that application is using. For the same reason that I refused to look in jewelry store windows when I began my design career, I chose a bare-bones design application, Rhinoceros, which allowed me to find my way without necessarily walking down a well-worn jewelry path!
I was lucky in that once I embrace the CAD process, I was able to integrate it into my design schedule a little at a time, using it first to make the simplest objects, ones that did not necessarily require much of a “voice”. A simple band, for example, with a phrase.
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A signet ring, with an established design on one surface…
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As time has progressed, with many more hours invested into the CAD experience I am extremely delighted to find that I am finding my voice within this new language of CAD!
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Next, the shank is formed by “sweeping” the rail (the semi-circle) using the cross-section curves as guides.  This form is still only a surface at this point with open ends.
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I will mirror that shank surface to form the complete ring and close the ends to make it a solid.  Then I move the bezel into place for a finished ring.  Again, this seem simple enough but it often takes a lot of manipulation of the rail and the cross sections before the resultant surface meets my expectation of aesthetic and function!  The same is true for each element of design generation.
I can then in most cases add nearly anything a client wants on the inside of the ring, or on the outside as additional decoration.  This design as is will be very clean-lined.

This basic design can be modified to accommodate any size gem or finger size, the bezel can be taller or shorter and the shank can be wider or narrower.  Or we can use this as a starting point and add decoration per client request.  Once we have the design nailed down, we print the design on our B9Creator® and cast in the precious metal you choose.
At Gary Dawson Jewelry Design we take a lot of pride in the fact that we can claim sole authorship in nearly everything we make for our clients!  From design generation to gem setting and final polish, it is all done in our small studio in Eugene, OR.  With over 40 years of design and manufacturing experience, we are prepared to make you smile when you see your ideas combined with our expertise come together in heirloom quality jewelry.  Or select one of our growing number of existing designs and we will produce it for you with the love and care you would expect from a master craftsperson!
And thank you very much to Sam and Maureen for allowing me to use this example and their names to personalize the project even further!

I have to admit that sometimes it’s hard to stay in the office or workshop when the weather is so nice! We’ve been experiencing a pretty fantastic spring here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. A concern however is that with very little snow-pack in our Cascade Mountains, our ongoing drought could mean a bad fire-season later.
The work deluge of really fine jobs that are rolling in through Gary Dawson Jewelry Design is both encouraging and satisfying!
This depicts a recent job of setting client-owned pale aquamarine in simple white gold settings for a pendant and earring set.

Note the branding detail…
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and have some gorgeous princess rubies coming for another project. Keep ‘em coming my friends!

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A custom jewelry designer probably makes more commitment jewelry than any other single category. At least that seems to be the case with my work. But people choose to memorialize other events, occasions and ideas with custom jewelry and these projects provide a fun opportunity to explore interesting geometries and make things besides rings.
I posted this beginning 3D draft of an interesting group of projects on my Facebook page a couple of weeks ago. The clown project evolved very nicely into a 14K gold, magic clown holding a bunch of balloons with a rainbow of gems in the background!

The balloons are made of cabochon cut gemstones in emerald, ruby, garnet, sapphire and amethyst. Tiny rubies, emeralds and tsavorite garnets make up the rainbow.
It was nice to hear that the recipient of the gift, to celebrate a 30th anniversary…loved it!  I welcome any interesting design challenges at Gary Dawson Jewelry Design.

This post was originally scheduled to be written and posted a week ago. Life intervenes. The contents of a post from my personal Facebook page tells the story…
“That moment that you realize you can look up lyrics and live the rest of your life not stewing about what Beck says before the line, “I’m a loser baby, why don’t you kill me.” Because when you have a head cold, you think about pretty weird stuff…”
But I’m no perdedor amigos so here’s a post about making one of my most popular pearl earring designs. Interestingly, as this post goes out on Tuesday, May 19th, I will be attending the Santa Fe Symposium on Jewelry Manufacturing Technology. The world’s premier repository of information regarding jewelry manufacturing. I’m a regular attendee there and have been published by the symposium 5 times so far. I’m sure I’ll contribute again!
For Mother’s day this year Alysia wanted to give her mom a pair of my “Pearl Cup” earrings. They were a big hit and A’s sis, Elizabeth was curious about how I make them. After I explained the process, she said, “Wow, that’s really neat, you should make a blog post about that.” So I’m dedicating this post to Elizabeth, my really cool sister-in-law.
I typically make my own alloys by combining gold with various other metals to form either 14K or 18K gold in several colors, yellow, white and rose.

Sometimes this process produces pretty neat cup shapes, which I will set aside until I get another one that sort of matches in size.
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Coming over Santiam Pass, from Bend to Eugene and following the course of the McKenzie River back home was a thoughtful ride…it was indeed full of joy and melancholy. I had ridden over to Bend the day before to spend time with an old (not that he’s old) friend.  Nick worked with me, first as an apprentice through the University of Oregon apprenticeship program that I had going at the time, and then as an employee. That era, his era, was unquestionably part of the heyday of my former business in downtown Eugene, OR. Rafael, Nick, Donovan, me…we were a crew. We shared pastries from the bakery around the corner, fish and chips from down the street, competed to buy the pack-up beers (I usually won!), and we shared details of our lives that only guys that work daily side-by-side can even begin to guess.
When I accepted Nick’s invitation to meet him in Bend I didn’t realize it was to be his “farewell to the PacNW tour”, as he stated it. In another 7 days, he would officially be a D.O. and would now be moving to W Virginia to complete his internship. It had been maybe 10 years since I’d seen him, now it will likely be another substantial period of time before our paths cross again. I have this dream of the 4 of us hooking up sometime, it would/will be fun!
After some initial beers…

and meeting Pat, Nick’s medical school mate at Bend Brewing Company, we settled in to our weekend…good food goes with good friends and good times. First stop…
Spork
From the “about” page of their website…
“Spork started in 2009 as a globally-inspired green-conscious mobile streetfood kitchen housed in a 1962 Airstream Tradewind that sailed the streets and events of Central Oregon serving creative delicious global cuisine and was voted Best Chow Cart in Bend every year in the Source Reader Poll.”
I can see why they won! We had Spicy Fried Chicken (me), Green Curry, (Pat) and Tacos (Nick) and in the tradition of food aficionados everywhere, shared bites. (I’m beginning to eschew the word “foodie”, as it has grown way too hipster.) Of course, being from Eugene, I really don’t have the Bend resident perspective, but I bet Spork provides one of the best overall food values in Bend. We all ate and two of us had some very tasty mixed drinks for under US$45.00…really great value.
From there we segued to some action-packed barroom pool at “The Summit”. We had their solitary old Brunswick (which is free to play) all to ourselves as the rest of Bend was engaged in the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, something we opted-out on with a $25 cover down the street.
Cigars and whisky followed at McMenamins, Old Francis School O’Kanes fire pit venue with talk of old times and future hopes.
Sleeping in was easy but Nick and I were up at a reasonable hour and off to…
…Revisiting Chow, Bend, OR.
I posted a detailed review of Chow as part of this blog on July 3rd, 2012…
… and I’m happy to say that, other than the crowd that now pretty much always dictates a wait for all but the earliest arrivals, the quality of both food and experience at this admirable purveyor of delectable comestibles has been preserved.  About the wait, I usually don’t do them.  But it appears that Chow regulates seating by kitchen capacity, not seating capacity, I appreciate that, and the coffee is free out front!
I was all set to repeat the chicken-fried steak experience mentioned in that prior blog post when I noticed the oyster po’boy on the daily special menu. I have a policy of not typically eating seafood anywhere over 100 miles from a coastline but for this one time I made another exception and I’m really glad that I did.

A balance of flavor between the spicy tartar, homemade pickle and lightly fried oyster on this sandwich was really, really nice. It was as though without any one of those ingredients, it may have failed, which makes the medley of flavors, in my mind, perfect. Nick had a pulled-pork Benedict and seemed equally satisfied with his meal. It is fantastic to see this small restaurant thrive while apparently sticking to its original goal of local  and sustainable in its offerings as much as possible!
After Chow, Nick and I rode our bikes out to Smith Rock State Park

to meet Pat, who had eaten at our hotel and arrived earlier to Smith. After hiking down to the river with Nick, I had to part company to begin my journey home, a thoughtful journey of memories and forward thinking.
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a piece that for me, embodies both melancholy derived from its symmetry with sublime, forward-looking optimism in its use of rarely combined materials.  This is one of my favorite pieces from long ago.  For a look at contemporary cool stuff check out Gary Dawson Jewelry Design we are having yet another heyday right now!
Happy Trails Amigo!

 I will be attending the Santa Fe Symposium of Jewelry Manufacturing Technology this month to keep up with emerging technologies and insights in jewelry manufacturing!  This year marks 40 years of my own experience in jewelry design and manufacturing and this conference keeps me current on emerging industry technologies.
Here is a look at a couple of pieces from my custom jewelry making past. I am particularly proud to have participated in the creation of a belt of Conchas presented to Eddie Bell, founder of the Santa Fe Symposium.  A Concha is a typically a round decorative piece of metal seen on a western saddle and other horse equipment descended from the Spanish tradition.
I have presented research topics there 5 times so far and will contribute again.  Making this Concha for Eddie’s belt remains a highlight.
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First posted on August 7th, 2011 in this blog, the ongoing Janus project has developed a life of its own as one of the most popular designs I offer. The Janus charm featured in the movie The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie was the original inspiration for this project.  I haven’t kept the best records going back that far so I don’t have exacting info but my version of the Janus design has shipped to many far-flung locations in Europe, Asia and Australia over the past few years!
Since I elaborate on the development of the design in that 2011 post, I won’t do it again here. If you haven’t seen that post and are interested, you can use the blog’s search feature using “coupla” as a search term and get right to it.
Earlier this month I got a call from Cathryn Feely (name used with her permission) in Southern California asking about the possibility of a two-toned version of the Janus pendant/charm. This is something I had thought about before but had not yet implemented. This is the story about that implementation and it is a perfect example of the juxtaposition of old and new technologies…the idea of “appropriate technology” being one of my current focus points.

In working with Cathryn, the first step was to do a concept rendering. For this I imported an existing photo of the pendant in Sterling Silver into Rhinoceros, my 3D design application and simply superimposed a circle of yellow beads around the perimeter.
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Then, by trimming an injection-wax version of my original Janus
carving, and printing the bead ring with bail connector on my trusty B9Creator®, I was able to show Cathryn a live version of our progress.
Upon receiving Cathryn’s enthusiastic go-ahead, I cast the two components separately, the trimmed Janus faces in Platinaire® (a Sterling Silver alloy containing 5% Platinum) and bead ring and bail in a warm-toned 14K yellow gold. Mating the two with a laser tack-weld to insure perfect alignment and then soldering with silver solder resulted in this finished piece!

Jewelry Design Inspiration = Designspiration!
The ideas of multiverse, teleportation and inter-dimensionality seem to co-mingle frequently in popular culture, perhaps reflecting recent insights into the building blocks of our perceived universe. (e.g. Higgs boson, et al.)  Two movies released in 2014 are good examples. “Predestination” a Michael and Peter Spierig take on Heinlein’s short story, “All you Zombies” is one contemporary-classic mind-fuck that I can highly recommend. I thought it was very well done as the plot unfolds slowly, layer by layer to the twisted end. “Interstellar”, is a Christopher Nolan epic that didn’t fully captivate me but did hold my interest. In fairness, the theme of inter-dimensionality is a tough row to hoe, (pun if you’ve seen the movie) so I think a little slack here is appropriate especially as it offers up the sublimely profound statement, “Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends time and space”. Think about that for a moment and you may have an epiphany. I found the statement by TARS, the robot, “I have a cue light I can use to show you when I’m joking, if you like.” less profound but amusing. I wonder if I can get one installed on my forehead for those that just don’t seem to get my humor?
So after a recent late evening in my studio, I flipped through  entertainment options as I indulged myself a cocktail and began to prepare my dinner of various leftovers. Alysia was somewhere else and I was, for that moment, completely in my own space. I’ve always been a sci-fi fan so without any real fantastic options I landed on a 2008 Doug Liman movie, “Jumper”. This movie apparently had a great opening weekend but pretty much got ravaged by the majority of critics. The fact that I didn’t even finish it may attest to its banality but I suspect it was the second, or maybe third drink that eventually put me to bed prior to the end. I’m usually good through any movie that I start.
The following morning, I woke up with this exact design in my head…
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…and at that point had no idea where the heck it came from.  I had a Jewelry Design Inspiration or “designspiration” and I was intrigued enough to sit with “Design Station”, (my trusty built-for-me desktop) while I had morning coffee and create this fairly simple geometry. Still a little baffled about from where the inspiration for this design came, I posted it on both my personal and business Facebook pages with the query of, “Does this mean anything to anybody?” An acquaintance of mine, another well-known jewelry designer said that it was an inter-dimensional portal. I had to like that comment because…
About then I remembered Jumper and the entire fascinating concept of the Multiverse, something I actually think about a lot. It dawned on me that this design probably wasn’t a portal, but could

be a key to a portal! Layers of meaning began falling into place as I took this design through the printing process on my trusty B9Creator© and then cast one in 14K Rose Gold and one in Sterling Silver.

Toying with the cast design, I note interesting visual effects when I peer through one grid pattern onto the opposing one.
The most fascinating thing for me remains that empirical science seems to be circling back around to include metaphysics. I found this button sometime around 40 years ago and it has since decorated my workspace environment along with an amulet given me by my best friend of that time.

Maybe we all, mostly unknowingly, make our own world after all!
Check out Gary Dawson Jewelry Design to make your jewelry dreams come to life!
And speaking of portals, stay tuned next week as we revisit the Janus project, with the introduction of a new twist!  Janus, of course, being the Roman god of portals and new beginnings.  Thanks so much for reading this and sharing it with your friends!

Once the gems are shaped and polished they can be set into the ring.
Ring with one gem set

Using a graver to clean up the bezels holding the gems securely in place.
With both gems set, the bezel is cleaned up with a sharp tool called a graver.
This demonstrates a very primitive, but effective gem cutting process.  To see the work of one of my favorite cutters check out the award winning page of John Dyer!

Cutting edge 3D jewelry printing augmented by old-fashioned rock cutting…appropriate technology at every step of the way.
I went from this…

To This!
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In several steps.
I had taken an order for this ring design, created with CAD and 3D jewelry printing, with an unusual gem placement request from my client.  Instead of putting the two gems he wanted on the top of the ring, he wanted them place at the 3 and 9 o’clock position on the shank.  For this purpose they had to be not only a certain diameter, but fairly shallow so as not to impose on the sides of adjoining fingers to the point of being uncomfortable.  Not only did I not have the perfect gems in my inventory, I couldn’t find them as I called around my normal supply chain.  I did have, however, a few nice rough, river tumbled Montana Sapphire crystals.  So I cut them myself…
Next week: The Steps.
Stay tuned as Gary Dawson Jewelry Design walks through the steps of cutting rough Montana Sapphire into gems to integrate into a CAD design.  Custom Jewelry at its finest!

After watching and enjoying Anthony Bourdain’s various shows over the years I decided to finally check out his writing. I was interested to see how his quick wit and wryly critical observations came off in the written word. Turns out I’m not real crazy about his literary style. (thus far anyway, still reading) His frequent overuse of adjectives is a repetitive detour on my road to a fluid read. But hey, he’s having fun while making a decent living and I respect that in any man or woman. And then there are the bits of real wisdom…I’ll cite one example in the “Dishwasher Syndrome” he describes in his book “The Nasty Bits”!
As Bourdain describes it, the dishwasher syndrome reflects the moments many high-profile chefs take “…between spooning foamy sauces over pan-seared scallops and foie gras, or bulling waiters, they sneak over to the dish station and spend a few happy, carefree moments washing dishes.” And he elaborates, “…I have seen owners of multiunit restaurant empires blissfully sweeping the kitchen floor, temporarily enjoying a Zen-like state of calm, of focused, quantifiable toil far from the multitasking and responsibility of management hell.”
I can relate!
If you know me at all you know that my first love is working closely with people on custom projects. I love the challenge of communication, and the challenge of creatively turning what I hear from my clients into something tangible in gold, platinum, silver and precious gems of all sort. And there is a certain pressure in doing that. You might imagine…every job involves a new “boss”, no two jobs are the same and there is usually a deadline! So my “dishwasher syndrome” includes things like doing a few repairs once in a while or just designing something simple and fun!
And speaking of food-related metaphors, I have a few newer designs with the “foodie” or serious cook in mind.

Watch my website for more!

I’m proud to say that together, we were able to elevate his fledgling project to the point that there are now options for B9Creations and the company is leaping forward with innovative technology and a new corporate structure. Not wanting to leave my home in Eugene, OR I decided to turn down the position of VP of Sales and Marketing with B9Creations.  I remain connected to the B9Creator project and will continue to sell these incredible machines while I return more fully to my first love, designing and manufacturing meaningful jewelry for the most wonderful clients in the world.
Gary Dawson Designs never went completely to sleep but was low-key for a while as I focused on helping Mike J. build his project. Now, with a completely updated website, featuring both “fine” and “fun” jewelry, Gary Dawson Designs is coming out of its peaceful slumber.
We invite you to pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage, peruse the new website, offer comments and please think of us for your custom jewelry projects.

Almost 36 hours of time off!  Well, not completely off of course, when you work for yourself you’re always working in some manner or another.  But to put this in context, on one day last week I fielded 42 support and inquiry calls before I took a lunch break around 2pm…didn’t count the after-lunch crowd!  Gary Dawson Designs is rockin’ on!!  But on Saturday, after tending the garden…
Alysia and I decided to get on bike and go!
First stop was River’s Edge Winery located on the West side of Elkton on the Umpqua Hwy (Oregon Hwy. 38).  Keith and Marcie

were delightful hosts for our tasting of River’s Edge offerings and we selected a 2008 Elkton Vineyard Pinot Noir and 2010 Pinot Gris wishing we had more room in our sparse luggage.  We ended up hanging around for a while chatting with this couple and these guys know their wines, have very nice wines to offer AND know food so can make valuable recommendations based on your taste in both food and wine.  Recommend the stop!
Next stop Winchester Bay (also known as Salmon Harbor) on Hwy 101 just south of Reedsport.  I had previously enjoyed several meals at a deep-fried fish place on the north end of the boat basin called Griff’s so that was our lunch destination.  I had a disappointingly luke-warm Cioppino.  This stew had obviously been frozen and microwaved back to serviceability.  Alysia had scallops that were, in fact, cooked to perfection but were served with soggy fries and a mediocre tartar sauce.  This place has remarkably high marks on Trip Advisor, Urban Spoon and Yelp so maybe this was the occasional bad day that every place has, but after that meal I’m a little sorry that I had recommended it to Marcie and Keith at River’s Edge.
In Bandon we stayed at a reasonably nice place but can’t say a lot great about it so we’ll let that part go…on to food, ya!

Alloro Wine Bar is likely the nicest place to eat in Bandon and I think they work hard to serve quality food in a nice atmosphere.  When we arrived for our 9pm reservation however, we were pretty happy to sit in a hallway booth out of the main dining area that was occupied by two inebriated and unnecessarily loud groups of Golfers.  I suppose Bandon Dunes, a world-class golf resort is a boon to this small beachside community but, well, I hate shouting over dinner to have a conversation!  If our server is correct about the frequency of this type of atmosphere, I may recommend getting there earlier in the evening, before wine kicks these types into overdrive.
Our server was gracious enough but went pretty blank when we asked for a wine recommendation based on our food choices.  “Something middle of the road” was not the specific advice we were seeking.  Our eventual choice of a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir was a bit pale but did service our food reasonably well.
We shared a nice appetizer of Zucchini Blossoms Stuffed with Oregon shrimp, prawn and basil, deep fried with saffron-lemon aioli and then Abby’s Greens, a salad of Local organic greens, beet vinaigrette, blueberries, goat cheese, and balsamic onions.  Of the two the salad was much better balanced though we wished that we could have had more than one tiny balsamic onion on the plate.
Our choices of Maple Leaf Farms duck breast, cranberry-cherry salsa, wild rice, farro and hazelnut pilaf, and green beans and Ravioli of Herb-roasted pork, beet greens, hand-dipped ricotta, local lobster mushrooms, in a butter sauce were  both very finely prepared and savory.  But our ravioli shared a common trait with the squash-blossom appetizer which was an awkward balance that tended to heaviness.  Fortunately for us, we had asked for lemon slices to be served with our water and we discovered that by simply adding a small squeeze of lemon juice to both dishes, we improved the balance to elevate these dishes from ok to really great!
Our desserts of Cannoli with fruit and a chocolate gelato with coconut and macadamia nuts were both excellent!
Overall the prices were reasonable for the quality of food served and we were happy to have sampled the fare of this small boutique eatery.  But for the style of service and what they seem to be trying to do there, it seemed a bit out-of-place to have to doctor our plates at the table to really bring out the flavors of this otherwise well-prepared food!
The next day began with great coffee at Bandon Coffee Cafe. with biscuits and gravy, apple pie, and a cranberry cookie!
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The way home was fun with a stop on a sunny beach to share a bottle of wine al-fresco!
No caption needed!!
And look what we found in the roof of the announcement shelter at the beach stop!!  

Prior to that trip I had finished writing a research paper for the Santa Fe Symposium of Manufacturing Technology and soon after returning I traveled to southern California to meet other SFS speakers.  After three days of networking (and playing) in SoCal, we all went to Albuquerque to attend the symposium and present our research.
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My paper was very well received.
Then, in late May, I helped Mike Joyce, the inventor of the B9Creator 3D Rapid Prototyping machine roll out his invention to the jewelry industry at one of the industry’s most important yearly events, JCK-Las Vegas!

Design work here is ever interesting and my learning curve with Rhinoceros and Rhino Gold is proceeding rapidly, thanks to my ability to print my designs and get that immediate feedback.  Here are two versions a bracelet component in 14K rose gold that I’m currently working on.

​The ability to  develop concepts using CAD has already revolutionized the jewelry industry and my recent participation is just in time.  The technology has matured to become a huge asset to me in my design and manufacturing!  That’s it for now but expect more frequent posts in the near future!!

I have been spending the past few days on the ‘Speakers Trip’ where those of us who are speaking at the Santa Fe Symposium are spending time in a community building setting.
This group of speakers includes people from many interesting places from around the globe! We have been bonding over dinners, breakfasts on the beach, a yacht tour, and even a tour of the world headquarters of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) located in Carlsbad, CA.
Off to Santa Fe on Saturday for the big event where I will be speaking about Direct Casting Photopolymer Resin Models.

​People often ask about the photography on the Gary Dawson Designs website.
I do it.
And it hasn’t always been this good. In the beginning stages of my business, I took archive photos of my stuff but hired a variety of excellent photographers to shoot my jewelry for promotional materials. What I found was that a photographer may capture excellent landscapes, or portraiture, or action, but the successful creation of an image of jewelry was a different animal altogether.   Back when we used film, and my learning curve toward making my own images involved documenting the precise exposure settings on every image I took, it was ‘normal’ to  shooting a 5 image “bracket” of exposure around a single item.  I felt like it was a good day when I could get one great image on an entire roll of 36 exposure slide film.  Fujichrome Provia was the ticket with beautiful saturation and fine grain.  The best images usually resulted from slight underexposure.  Digital, of course, has changed a lot but not the basics of image creation.

Direct Casting Photopolymer Resin Models
Photopolymers are not new and have been in some form of prototyping service for at least a couple of decades. And historically, photopolymers have not enjoyed a reputation of acceptable direct casting. With a proliferation of rapid prototyping systems evolving into the jewelry industry at prices much more accessible to smaller shops, direct casting of cured photopolymer resins has become an issue of high importance. This paper will explore the process of developing a technique for direct casting of a specific photopolymer. In consultation with the developer of this resin and the director of the University of Oregon’s CAMCOR Polymer Characterization Facility, and using practical casting tests with photomacrographic documentation, the goal of this project is to achieve optimized direct casting results from this polymer.
Mr. Dawson is the founder and former owner of Goldworks Jewelry Art Studio and current owner of Gary Dawson Designs, an internet-only business that was recently named among the “Best of the Best” by Instore Magazine. Well known for his ability to showcase gemstones creatively in custom pieces, he has also explored new jewelry-making techniques and trends through his articles for MJSA Journal and his papers for the Santa Fe Symposium®. He is a recipient of the Santa Fe Symposium Ambassador Award. This is Mr. Dawson’s fifth presentation at the Symposium.

That’s right, no Spring Chicken…at least in terms of working closely with my clients!  I’ve been designing and manufacturing jewelry for nearly 40 years now.  Gary Dawson Designs is a relatively new entity, and we’re on the cutting edge with our new CAD design software, Rhinoceros and our 3D printer.  But the only Spring Chickens around here are in our new batch of laying hens, just picked up today.
In a few months, these babies will be producing little orbs of golden goodness…