Letters from Wendell

Whether at home or far afield, the company's namesake plush rat also known as The Intrepid Wendell loves to share his stories, thoughts, and perspectives. Join him and follow along to learn about jewelry, gems, and how going the extra mile makes all the difference in each bespoke piece of jewelry we make.
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Skardu, Pakistan, 2021
Sphene

Sphene is a rare and inspiring gemstone. It flashes green, red, orange, and white when it moves in the light. With every movement, colors dance tirelessly through the stone.

Sphene Stone

Sometimes called titanite because of its high titanium content, the sphene gemstone possesses a unique optical effect called trichroism. When viewed from different angles, the stone refracts light in multiple spectra, including colorless, green, yellow, or red. Sphene has incredibly high dispersion. When light strikes the stone, it separates into wavelengths. This creates a dazzling display of light and color in a well-cut stone. In the very best cut stones, the color bounces against the lower facets of the stone, creating a brilliant show for the viewer.

Sphene is mined all over the world in limited qualities. Because it is relatively soft, this stone is seldom made into jewelry and should never be worn in rings. Most fine sphene is kept in collections and out of public sight. However, we do not believe gemstones should be hidden away. Though sphene is generally collected and not worn, we believe these stones should be worn and loved. The Intrepid Wendell loves to share your joy – and the rare beauty of this uncommon gemstone.

Sphene Jewelry from The Intrepid Wendell

We currently have a small collection of museum-quality sphene and are preparing them for bespoke pendants. If you would like to view these unique stones, or possibly add one to your jewelry collection, come by our office and take a look at our show-stopping suite of stones.

We love to share our beautiful gems with you. And we love to share your joy.

Tahiti, 2020
Pearl Primer

The elegance and luster of pearl captivate the eye and the imagination.

It is said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But I believe that pearls are a woman’s — or a man’s — best treasure. Queen Elizabeth I of England loved pearls so much that she had them sewn into her sheets. Queen Elizabeth II was married in 1947 in a wedding dress decorated with 10,000 seed pearls. World War II had just ended, and the dress was paid for using ration coupons.

It isn’t just women who have fallen under the allure of the pearl. Mexican diver Kino, in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, finds one so grand that he calls it “The Pearl of the World.” The Maharaja of India powerfully wore a series of pearl ropes from the Arabian Sea.

The lavish Edward IV of England possessed a toothpick made of gold, decorated with diamond, ruby, and pearl. King James I of England and VI of Scotland wore a hat pin called “The Mirror of Great Britain” to represent his hope for a United Kingdom, which included massive diamonds and two large pearls.

Pearls are entirely organic in nature and are made of aragonite and conchiolin. The luster that makes pearls beautiful is produced when light is reflected off aragonite and conchiolin. Aragonite and conchiolin are secreted by the animal to surround a foreign body that has entered the pearl. In natural pearls, usually they are secreted to wall off a parasite that has entered the animal through its shell. In the case of cultured pearl, the secreted wall surrounds a bead nucleus that is inserted by hand into the animal.

Many animals produce pearls. Even snails and periwinkles can produce pearls. The three most common saltwater pearls on the market today are “Akoya,” “Tahitian,” and “South Sea.” They come from three different varieties of oyster. Freshwater pearls are also very common and are cultured to grow inside farmed mussels.

Akoya pearls are typically about 7~ to 9~ mm in size and are white, cream, or pinkish in color. They grow inside the pinctata fucata oyster. The first successfully cultured oysters were the Akoya, and the vast majority of them are farmed in Japan, although Korea and Vietnam produce them as well.

Tahitian pearls are normally larger than Akoya pearls, measuring between 8~ and 11~ mm and grow in the pinctata margarifitera oyster. These pearls come in many different hues, from black and silver to blues and greens. Some Tahitian pearls, called “peacock” in the trade, have orient in multiple hues. Grown all across the Pacific Ocean, from Mexico to the Philippines, these pearls are often strung together in mixed colors strands.

The largest commonly worn pearl is the elegant South Sea pearl. Much larger than either the Akoya or the Tahitian pearl, the South Sea pearl comes from the pinctata maxima oyster, which is about the size of a dinner plate! Billowy and luxurious in white or gold, these pearls are the mark of sophistication.

The Intrepid Wendell is a merchant of fine pearls of all types. We would love to share our knowledge of this treasure with you.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2019
Our 2019 Travelogue
purple shadows stretch across gravel.

Long midday shadows in winter Alaska

In 2019, we have emphasized celebrating beauty and researching designs and materials.  This new website caps a year of inspiration at The Intrepid Wendell.

2019 has seen us in the tundra and the tropics.  We hiked in the highest mountains and strode on frozen rivers.  We met old friends at familiar haunts and paused for newfound experiences.

 

Creative people often have sensitive hearts.  This year, our hearts were especially touched in Sri Lanka very shortly after the brutal Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.  In Hong Kong, our emotions sometimes lacked for words as we directly saw the people of Hong Kong protest for their cause.

 

The Intrepid Wendell shared joy all around the world, staying over 125 nights in hotels, inns, and houses.

 

A fountain comprised of circles sits in the middle of a well lit lobby. Crimson velour seats and intricate lattice match the geometric tiles

ITC Hotel, Jaipur

We visited these cities in the USA:

1.      Carlsbad, California

2.     Denver, Colorado

3.     Fairbanks, Alaska

4.     Las Vegas, Nevada

5.     Los Angeles, California

6.     Nashville, Tennessee

7.     New York City, New York

8.     Richmond, Virginia

9.     Tucson, Arizona

 

The tallest mountain stands above the sky

Mount Everest, Nepal

And visited these countries:

1.      Belize

2.     Bhutan

3.     Estonia

4.     Germany

5.     Honduras

6.     Hong Kong

7.     India

8.     Italy

9.     Mexico

10.  Singapore

11.   Sri Lanka

12.   Thailand

13.   United Arab Emirates

14.  UK

 

A desert is split by a road and the sound of the jet turbine

Arabian sands from the air

We traveled on these airlines:

1.     Air India (AI)

2.     Alaska Airlines (AS)

3.     Cinnamon Air (C7)

4.     Druk Air (KB)

5.     Emirates (EK)

6.     Lot (LO)

7.     Lufthansa (LH)

8.     Silk Air (MI)

9.     United (UA)

 

Airport with maroon brown seats

Jaipur International (JAI)

And we flew over 425,000 air miles to these airports:

1.      Washington Dulles International (IAD) (home)

2.     Washington Reagan National (DCA) (home)

3.     Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK)

4.     Chennai International (MAA)

5.     Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)

6.     Colombo Bandaranaike International (CMB)

7.     Delhi Indira Gandhi International (DEL)

8.     Denver International (DEN)

9.     Dubai International (DXB)

10.  Fairbanks International (FAI)

11.   Frankfurt am Main (FRA)

12.   Hong Kong International (HKG)

13.   Houston Bush Intercontinental (IAH)

14.  Jaipur International (JAI)

15.   Las Vegas McCarran (LAS)

16.  London City (LCY)

17.   London Heathrow (LHR)

18.   Los Angeles International (LAX)

19.  Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International (BOM)

20. Munich Airport (MUC)

21.   Nashville International (BNA)

22.  Newark Liberty International (EWR)

23.  Paro Airport (PAR)

24.  Polgolla Reservoir Waterdrome (KDZ)

25.  San Diego International (SAN)

26.  San Francisco International (SFO)

27.  St. Louis Lindbergh Field (STL)

28.  Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA)

29.  Singapore Changi International (SIN)

30.  Tallinn Airport Lennart Meri (TLL)

31.   Tucson International (TUS)

32.  Venice Marco Polo (VCE)

33.   Warsaw Chopin (WAW)

 

A train station at sunrise

Colombo Fort station, Colombo, Sri Lanka

On land, we rode on these railways:

1.      Amtrak

2.     Dubai Metro

3.     Hong Kong MTR

4.     Indian Railways

5.     Italian State Railways (Trenitalia)

6.     London Underground

7.     New York City Subway

8.     Sri Lankan Railways

9.     Tallinn Transport

10.  Washington Metro

And finally, we rode on countless buses, vans, sedans, jeeps, Ubers, Lyfts, shared cars, taxis, tuk tuks, e-bikes, conventional bicycles, water ferries, and camels.

 

Founder and President are on camels in front of the sunset

Camels like having their ears scratched!

 

Going above and beyond to bring the best to share is an ethic that will never fade in our house.

Peace on Earth and Joy to All.

Longmont, CO, 2019
On Friendship and The Elliot Clef

“The Elliot Clef”

This year, I had the great joy of meeting and becoming friends with the conductor of the Longmont (Colorado) Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Elliot Moore.  I met Elliot with my parents over a memorable meal of Colorado buffalo and Italian wine.

I liked Elliot immediately.  His enthusiasm for music, his vision for music as service to the world, and his charm were impressive.  We sat together breaking bread and sharing joy for four hours.  I asked Elliot if I could make a piece of jewelry for him to wear as my personal salute to his artistic vision.

Inspiration for the piece wasn’t hard to come by: Elliot loves Bach and so do I.  Elliot sent me a handwritten note after our dinner.  His penmanship immediately reminded me of a special signature by our favorite musician.

Bach’s Signature

J.S. Bach was a profound musical geek who had a clever way of signing his name. Other musicians reading this can decode the image into a name by turning the picture ninety degrees at a time. As the staff ligature changes, the letter of the note on the clef changes from B to A to C and finally to H. Quite a signature.

Back at Wendell’s office, using the magic of technology and our idea of making a signature lapel pin, we took Elliot’s signature and placed it on a staff.  However, unlike Bach’s name, which revolved around the four existing clefs, we decided that Elliot’s name should become its own clef.  Completing the design is a breve on the staff after Elliot’s signature.  The breve is a marking for a double whole note, which is the longest duration of note for which there is a standard notation.  The piece is made in 18-karat cast white and yellow gold and attaches to a garment with two 14-karat gold straight pins.

Only Elliot can define how that note will sound on his own clef.  But it is my great hope that I will learn – over many years of growth and friendship together – how Elliot’s clef sounds.  And it is with great joy that we at The Intrepid Wendell can share our playful adaptation of Elliot’s signature with him.

We have had a wonderful and joyful year at The Intrepid Wendell and have made many new friends along the way.  We look forward to a prosperous and joyful 2019.

New Orleans, LA, 2019
The Jewelry We Wear to Say Goodbye

Jewelry has been around for a long time. Humans have been adorning themselves with gemstones throughout recorded history. Nowadays, stones are used to guide the airplanes we travel on, keep time, treat sickness, and do many other awe-inspiring things. I believe that almost all of them make things better and more beautiful.

Today, I had the profound joy of joining a group of friends, family, and parishioners to send Wagdi Hanna to the next stop in his celestial journey. The men and women of St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in New Orleans prayed, chanted in English and Coptic, remembered, perfumed the air with incense, and wept. They shouted names and tasted the moment when this dearest man met death and began his next life.

The congregants at the funeral wore their finest gems and jewelry to say goodbye to Wagdi.  The jewels also remind us that we are still alive: that we are still here and our bodies are still beautiful, strong, vibrant, and asking for adornment.

Wagdi’s body lay in a coffin at the base of a golden and jeweled iconostasis. Pearls, the historic Egyptian symbol of accomplishment and power, hung around many necks. Even the priest mentioned his special white robe, which was fine and embroidered in gold and gemstones.

Many Americans think of a wedding ring as the quintessential piece of jewelry. However, doing so forgets all of the other gems and jewelry that are around us every day.

We need and use jewels for many reasons. Often, the gems speak for us when we don’t have words.

R.I.P. Wagdi.

Tallinn, Estonia, 2019
Wendell in Estonia

Wendell is frequently on the road.

Last year, we counted hundreds of thousands of miles on jets, propellers, helicopters, floatplanes, trains, subways, busses, cars, vans, three-wheelers, and rickshaws.

We do this because the best things rarely come knocking on the door. We know that, in order to truly give our clients an experience that matches the joy they share, we have to go find the pulse of humanity for ourselves and bring it home.

This week, we found ourselves in frozen Tallinn, Estonia. Estonia is celebrating 100 years of independence but has been ruled by other sovereign crowns over much of the past 1000 years. Their own language of Estonian has been supplanted by Swedish, Russian, German, Finnish, and now English as the language of convenience. Today, the Estonian spirit is thriving and has found itself as a member of the European Union and NATO.

In the cold and dark of 60 degrees north latitude, we shared in a private and fearless jewelers’ scene. With the knowledge and information, we have gathered here, our own work can acknowledge the inspiration of the Estonians who were casting gold in the centuries before the Christian Era and the artists who work today.

Denver, CO, 2017
Candyland: A Tiara for an American Princess

In America, we have no formal royalty. Nevertheless, this post is about one young American princess. Her name is Clarissa Capuano.

Clarissa is a wonderful young lady who was born with a different array of chromosomes than most of us were. The medical community says she lives with Down Syndrome. Anyone who knows her personally knows that she lives with a special joy that she can’t help spreading to everyone she meets.

The Intrepid Wendell had its first chance to host Clarissa in its offices in the summer of 2017. On first sight, we knew we had a princess of the most special sort. The obvious outcome to any jewelry design for Clarissa was to build her a tiara.

This tiara, which we call Candyland, hit the runway with Clarissa at the 2017 Global Down Foundation’s Be Beautiful Be Yourself ball. The precious gems and metals were shaped to evoke thoughts of real lollipops and candies.

Yes, she is upstaging Joe Mangianello. And he clearly loves it.

Washington D.C.
The Intrepid Wendell HQ
These posts are more than just travelogues. Some are related to gemology and production methods; others to our own unusual, yet great personalities.
  • October 2023
    How to Clean Jewelry
    How to Clean Jewelry

    Fine jewelry is not impervious to grime. As you wear your jewelry, you may notice dirt around stone settings or tarnishing on silver plating. Care for your jewelry and keep it looking beautiful through the years with a regular cleaning process. You can also use cleaning to restore vintage pieces you inherited or purchased.

    How to Clean Jewelry by Type

    Cleaning is an essential step in jewelry care. You always have the option to take your pieces to a jeweler for cleaning, but you may find some pieces need more frequent cleaning, given how often you wear them. In these cases, regular cleaning at home helps you maintain the beauty of your jewelry.

    Silver

    You may be familiar with how to clean silver jewelry if you have ever owned silver dinnerware. Silver tarnishes quickly because the metal reacts with chemicals in the air, like sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. The reaction leaves yellowish, purple, and black tinges on silver surfaces that dull the metal.

    The best way to clean silver jewelry is with silver polish. This purpose-built cleaner contains ingredients that dissolve the tarnish on the surface and add a protective coating to the metal. Use a polishing cloth or disposable wipe to rub the polish on the surface of your piece. Use a second, clean cloth to wipe it clean.

    Gold

    Gold does not tarnish like silver and likely will not require as much upkeep to maintain its brightness. Often, warm water and a soft cleaning cloth can work wonders. If water alone does not remove spots on your gold chain or other gold jewelry, you can use a mixture of dish soap and water. Ammonia glass cleaner also works well on gold.

     

    Hard Gemstones

    Diamond and other hard gemstones, like ruby and topaz, can tolerate standard jewelry cleaners. You may encounter diamond-specific cleaners, but any jewelry cleaner will work well. Apply a small amount of cleaner to your stone and scrub lightly with a toothbrush. A toothbrush is an ideal cleaning tool because it can help you reach any dirt that has collected in a stone’s setting.

    Soft Gemstones

    Soft gemstones — pearls in particular — require a gentle touch and special care when cleaning. Pearls have porous surfaces that collect dirt and dust, dulling their luster over time. Even so, water that is too hot can damage these stones. The best at-home method for pearl cleaning is mixing warm water with a mild shampoo and gently brushing it on the stone’s surface with a soft brush. Wipe clean with a microfiber cloth.

    Given the delicate nature of these stones, it can be beneficial to take them to a professional jeweler for cleaning.

    Design Exceptional Pieces With The Intrepid Wendell

    The Intrepid Wendell creates bespoke pieces using high-quality metals and fine gemstones from around the globe. Our detailed design and creation process leaves you with a stunning final piece for your collection. Protect the longevity of your bespoke jewelry with at-home cleaning or by bringing your pieces to us.

    Get in touch with The Intrepid Wendell to start designing today.

  • April 2020
    Creativity in the Hour of Crisis
    Creativity in the Hour of Crisis

    The Intrepid Wendell is a luxury jewelry salon. One of the most important blocks in our foundation is creativity. Unfocused experimentation and focused implementation of the creative process are critical to the wonderful jewelry we build for our clients and for the world.

    Creativity and freedom of expression are also a part of the human experience. Even more, for Americans, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution secures our right to be free in speech and thought and action. In other words, our founding documents give us the right to be creative.

    For us at The Intrepid Wendell, to wear our hearts on our sleeves is a job requirement. We see things acutely, taste things romantically, feel things deeply, hear things majestically, and utter things rapturously.

    Those things make us passionately human. They also make us sensitive. Much of what makes this company Intrepid is carried out every day by challenging society creatively. We observe, we adopt, we adapt and coopt.

    As sensitive people, sometimes we come across as strange and even slightly pointless. As my friend Mark McGuinness put it, “The creative process can look a little odd from the outside. Sometimes it looks like we’re doing nothing at all—strolling in the park, lazing on the beach, or staring into space while the rest of the office is busy being busy.”

    Our office suite is full of toys and games. We have stuffed animals that starred in theater productions and the teeth of a Sri Lankan bat that died of natural causes while in our friend’s care. There are magnets from every place on earth and an Olympic gold medalist’s judo uniform in a case on the wall.

    For the next month, we can’t go to the office. The toys and games and precise randomness are alone. We feel alone too. Every single one of us is dislocated today — aching dislocation.

    The unnaturally quiet Natural History Museum.

    Our beautiful city of Washington, DC also offers us nourishment. The museums of the Smithsonian Institution are second to none. The wonderful expressions of architecture – be it the uplifting Brutalism of the Metro Subway or the neo-classical Federal buildings – give us a creative sandbox to dig in.

    The gritty bars and dance halls offer a playground for the soul. And the sculpture gardens throughout the city resound with year-round venues for recharging. But even that is now blocked. Our Cherry Blossom Festival is canceled. Our watering holes are dry. Our office building is locked. Our foliage is somehow separate. The awkward space of living at home – with separation to save lives – is just new.

    Rights create duties. This is perhaps most important in times of trouble. The cherished American right of free expression creates a moral duty to use our expressive talents for good.

    We creatives perhaps can offer leadership in this crisis. We cannot turn off the creative tap just because we must stay home. In fact, we must open the well of creativity even wider today – right now – because it is the creatives who will help us make sense of what we are going through. And tomorrow, when this is past, it is we who will lead society with our impressions of the hurt, the joys, the confusion, and whatever else we pick up emotionally along the way. It is the creatives who will tell the jokes and write the songs.

    Plum blossoms in Washington DC

    As rights to free expression create duties, we see the fundamental duty to being creative as potent. It is an hour now when we can use our creative talents to help each other, our first responders, and the foundation of our society as well.

    At the Intrepid Wendell, we will make jewelry that reminds us of where we are, where we have been, and what matters.

  • March 2020
    Healing, Survival, and Connection: We’ve Been Here Before
    Healing, Survival, and Connection: We’ve Been Here Before

    By now we are all aware of the Coronavirus. Physicians, politicians, leaders, and grandmothers the world over have given us counsel on it. Our free markets have bucked wildly because of it. Our pundits, political challengers, and neighbors have keen viewpoints. The cultural iconography of plague is ancient and — again — brand new.

    In January of 2020, China built two major hospitals to prove that their machinery could outwork the disease. In 1666, Londoners dug new and, for the time, quite sophisticated burial pits to contain the infection. In Provence, in the 1720 plague of Marseille, rural folk built massive walls to try to keep the pestilence that tormented the city at bay.

     

     

    Michel Serre, Vue de l’hôtel de ville pendant le peste de 1720 (View of City Hall during the Plague of 1720), Michel Serre, Vue de l’hôtel de ville pendant le peste de 1720 (View of City Hall during the Plague of 1720), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille.

     

    Humanity also turns to jewelers to soothe worries and treat their illnesses.  Gold, long known for its hypoallergenic properties, was a favored tool of surgeons in ancient days.  Even today, people who wear gold earrings rarely suffer infection in the piercing.

    Some people praise minerals as having specific impacts on the health of the wearer.  Today, people might visit their jeweler to select and display these stones.

     

    Desk with assorted crystals

     

    I wrote about the scarab amulet, and how the Egyptians wore it for protection.  The legend of Aida, which has been immortalized in the Western library, lets us consider that sometimes, protective charms fail.

    The Intrepid Wendell’s not-for-sale collection includes this bracelet.  Its charms are meant to protect the health of the wearer.  It is from the Sinhalese and dates from the 1800s.

     

    a sri lankan bangle

     

    Today, we trust our physicians and our leaders to bring us back to general health. No beautiful amulet made with The Intrepid Wendell will take the place of well-heeded messages from scientists and politicians. This week, we wish all our friends and family health and joy.

    We are glad to be a member of humanity especially even now.

    WE LOVE TO SHARE YOUR JOY.

  • January 2020
    Holst, The National Symphony Orchestra, and Peridot
    Holst, The National Symphony Orchestra, and Peridot

    The Milky Way

    Last weekend, the National Symphony Orchestra performed Gustav Holst’s iconic piece The Planets in the Concert Hall at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The NSO has seldom sounded better than they do this season.  The audience was delighted with an additional rarity in the industry — an accomplished and youthful woman guest conductor. Creative minds often inspire one another; I find evenings at the Kennedy Center to be fantastically inspiring.

    John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

    Holst was a stargazer and lover of astrology and astronomy.  When looking at the sky, he explained that “no planet borrows colors from another.” If you’ve ever heard The Planets, you know that Holst was able to see each part of the cosmos both individually and as a complete unit.

    Closer to our home in gemology, we find a few gemstones that arrive on planet Earth from outer space.  Among them is peridot, also called olivine.  This peridot has fallen from the sky on several meteorites.  Known as “pallasitic,” these gemstones have gemological properties that broadly overlap with their terrestrially-formed counterparts.

    The Gemological Institute of America’s journal Gems and Gemology detailed the methods for telling the difference between and among pallasitic peridot in a 2011 article. Using very specialized equipment, the presence and concentration of six particular elements is diagnostic in identifying these “gems from space.”

    2.26ct pallasitic peridot 

    The Intrepid Wendell has also been captivated by the stars, by space, and by this very special peridot.  Among our inventory are some notable examples of pallasitic peridot, which you can see in our office.

    “The Heavenly Spheres make music for us” quotes Holst from an ancient Gnostic poem in his 1917 The Hymn of Jesus.  The Intrepid Wendell finds gemstones from the heavenly sphere that inspire another of our senses — these delighting our eyes.

    The Intrepid Wendell
    We love to share your joy

    Wendell’s artistically joyful representation of pallasitic peridot on its commute to our office, background photo by NASA

  • April 2019
    Joyfully Cast: The Intrepid Wendell Story
    Joyfully Cast: The Intrepid Wendell Story

     

    A few years ago, The Intrepid Wendell was born out of a vision that joy can be shared through beautiful design, remarkable natural gemstones, and an honest intersection between our company and our clients.

     Today, The Intrepid Wendell is made up of two full-time creators, Daniel Boettcher and Joshua Collier.  We have a supporting cast of new and old friends and family.  We also have a collection of clients who have become like family to us.  Wendell himself is a very special plush rat toy with an eager work ethic and a welcoming air.

     We have been working quietly, doing our best to strap on our design boots, learn the scholarship related to the gems and jewelry we sell, and make friends who are interested in our vision of joy through design and jewelry.

     Our days of quiet work are ending. This blog is here to let you, the viewer and consumer, into our salon for a visit.  We believe in our products and we present our goods sincerely.

     The word “cast” uses seven pages of the Oxford English Dictionary, while the word “joy” uses barely a column.  We hope that Joyfully Cast will give you many and new dimensions for experiencing joy.

    For those of you who haven’t heard from us before but like our content, please subscribe.  And please share our joy by letting your interested friends and family know what we are up to!

     


     

    THE INTREPID WENDELL

    WE LOVE TO SHARE YOUR JOY

  • February 2018
    What is Gemology?
    What is Gemology?

    Sakura No Mai Pendant in UV Light

    Simply put, gemology is the study of gemstones.

    More academically stated, we see gemology as the field of study that details the scientific, historic, economic, anthropological, and artistic aspects of the use of precious gems.

    That’s a mouthful.  The intention is not to cause your eyes to glaze over.  But the fact is that the study of gemology is a big field.

     

    Training in knowledge of the gem and jewelry industry takes a lifetime.  The field is unique in its conversation among geologists, museum curators, investors, jewelers, young men and women in love, historians, and any number of others.

    In Joyfully Cast: The Intrepid Wendell Story, we will go into these issues in more depth.  We will also discuss some of the organizations who offer gemology training and academic advice on the subject.  Our hope is that you can find the place where gemology becomes relevant to you.

     


     

    THE INTREPID WENDELL

    WE LOVE TO SHARE YOUR JOY

  • February 2018
    Scarab: The Glow from Inside the Tomb
    Scarab: The Glow from Inside the Tomb

    The ancient Egyptians revered the scarab, which symbolized regeneration and rebirth in their culture.  The Elton John musical Aida, currently on at DC’s Constellation Theatre, features this scarab amulet that was designed and made by The Intrepid Wendell.

    In the musical, Egyptian warrior and hero Radames wears a scarab to ensure his safety. In battle, he captures and enslaves the daughter of the enemy king, Aida. The two share an impossible love affair that ends in epic tragedy.

    Radames gives Aida the scarab amulet to ensure her safe passage as a slave in Egypt. The amulet’s charm fails. After their impossible love affair is revealed, they are sentenced to be buried alive in a tomb – together.

    Finally, Radames holds his lover Aida in their shared tomb. Radames tells Aida that he will find her again, even if he has to search a hundred lifetimes. Entombed, with Radames’ scarab around Aida’s neck, the two lovers achingly enter the great tumble of eternity and regeneration.

     

     

    The Intrepid Wendell was asked by Constellation Theatre to build their production’s scarab amulet as a piece of fine jewelry. We assembled a special piece made of gold, turquoise, diamond, moonstone, garnet, and labradorite.

    We used gemstones that play with light in a special way. The glow – called adularescence – of the central moonstone and the flash of the necklace beads – called labradoresence – invite the viewer to imagine that the scarab is storing light and energy. The light and energy glows for Radames and help him find Aida across the space of time and place.

     


     

    THE INTREPID WENDELL

    WE LOVE TO SHARE YOUR JOY

  • January 2018
    Hydrogen: An elemental ring that reminds us of our origin
    Hydrogen: An elemental ring that reminds us of our origin

    Jacob introduced the roomful of his friends to his new ring by saying: “We all come from something basic.”

    This massive, 18-karat gold and diamond man’s wedding band features two diamonds arranged in the structure of the element hydrogen.  Hydrogen’s nucleus is represented by a fancy black diamond and is attached by engraved line to a smaller colorless diamond that represents the element’s single electron.  Hydrogen is the first element on the Periodic Table.

    The owner of this ring, which is finished in hand-hammered metal, is anything but simple.  But as he simply put, we are all made of very small things.

    THE INTREPID WENDELL

    WE LOVE TO SHARE YOUR JOY

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