Lessons In Jewelry

Friday, September 26, 2025

I grew up with the saying, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” In mid-20th-century culture, that line carried enormous weight. A diamond was more than a glittering accessory—it symbolized status, romance, and permanence. It was also, and very often, a woman’s only financial safety net. When women had little access to income or property, a diamond ring could be converted into cash if someone suddenly found herself left and on her own.

Working in jewelry today tells me how much has changed. Modern women build careers, manage investments, and create their own security. Diamonds remain desirable, but less as a lifeline. Talking with customers has taught me that diamonds are just one option among many ways to celebrate love, beauty, or success.

I see today’s women often choosing pieces that tell their own stories. A birthstone ring, an heirloom reset into a modern design, or a pendant from a local artisan can mean more than a flawless solitaire. Essentially, jewelry is becoming autobiographical—and saying, this is who I am, rather than this is what a woman should have.

I also see the shift favoring ethics and individuality. Many women prefer lab-grown gems, recycled metals, or fair-trade stones. Others embrace color—emeralds, sapphires, and tourmaline—or opt for raw crystals and asymmetrical cuts. Jewelry is often collected in layers and stacks, shifting with mood and season.

So what replaces that old “best friends” phrase? Maybe nothing—and everything. Younger women, especially, are unbothered by distinctions between mined and manufactured diamonds. They want bold sparkle and personality, not conformity. Meanwhile, women from traditional cultures often still value mined diamonds as both symbol and security.

What I see every day is that the “best friend,” rather than being a single stone, is having choice itself—the freedom for a woman to define what sparkles brightest for her.

— Diana

Yielding

Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Weeks ago, ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence, appeared on my iPhone. It would let me converse with AI using its male or female voice. I played with that and enjoyed the interactions. I appreciated the site’s potential but soon drifted away.

The other day, at my outside job, a young co-worker described using ChatGPT for “almost everything” and willingly paying $20/month for its stepped-up version. She described sending a photo to that AI and asking for an enhancement or a detailed explanation of what the photo suggests or represents, or sending drafted paragraphs and requesting improved rewrites, or sending complex questions and asking for detailed answers.

I know many uses of AI and have occasionally used it for writing help. AI has aided me in writing an idea or a paragraph more pointedly for improved clarity. I’ve never submitted a photo or video while asking for a description or detailed information, but my coworker does often.

She did some interesting demonstrating for me, and I decided to test the paid version with a real-time example.

I was working in the Jewelry Department. I had been showing a recent customer a set of Tahitian pearl earrings. She understood the pearl type’s beauty and value and loved how she looked wearing the earrings. She struggled over purchasing them and finally didn’t.

My coworker photographed those Tahitian earrings and sent the image to her ChatGPT version, requesting the pearls’ history and attributes. AI identified the price value of those earrings and sent paragraphs explaining the pearl type.

I recognized that by employing some of AI’s responses, I might have spoken confidentially and more thoroughly about the earrings. While my customer debated over buying, I could have encouraged the potential sale by demonstrating more knowledge about the pearl type, its history, and why its value stays high.

As my colleague and I played more with her version of ChatGPT, I saw the potential added value of using the paid version and will upgrade to it.

Dear Friends: AI is increasingly available, accessible, and impactfully useful. Diana

Boo!

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Halloween is dawning here in Central Oregon. The thermometer outside shows 32 degrees. It’s also a damp morning. Altogether, the heralding weather is well-suited for Halloween.

On several mornings, my creative co-worker Lily arrived at work looking ghoulish but always too pretty to frighten anyone.

If the department store isn’t busy, my role in the Jewelry Department becomes boring. I spoke about this to a key manager, who gave me the green light to leave and assist other departments in dull times, but available if Jewelry needs me.

Yesterday, because the Jewelry Department was boring, I shifted away to Intimates and helped clear dressing rooms, straighten and rehang apparel, and ring-up purchases. Staying busy made time pass quickly and improved my working hours. Plus, I found it easier to help customers find apparel than a perfectly fitting jewelry piece.

Today is a day off, and I’ll continue transitioning my little ranch to winter. It’s time to drain hoses and handle the most needed repairs. As for my habitual escapee, he’s now confronted with higher fencing and has returned to digging. Yesterday, he and Mitzvah slipped under the fence while, happily, I was at home to corral both and block Chase’s dig.

Dear Friends: Have an enjoyable Halloween with fun-costumed visitors. Diana

Adornments

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Yesterday, the department store where I work part-time hosted a traveling jewelry show. The jewels, primarily of gold and diamonds, were beautiful and expensive. Those luxuries in these economically stressful times drew individuals who wished to self-identify uniquely from others; however, it appeared (to me) that actual sales might be falling short of the goals.

I remember reading somewhere that, “First man made tools, and then he made jewelry.” The earliest jewels worn that identified individuals uniquely probably were real seashells and artist-created resemblances.

Watching customers yesterday, I was struck by how long they (mostly women) studied the array and carefully selected pieces, one by one, to try on. Most arrived wearing their favorite jewelry pieces, hoping to match or complement those items. Many found choices they loved and looked fine, tried on, but decided against making a sizable investment.

Sure, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Nonetheless, potential buyers did show up and spent much time looking and playing with offerings. It resembled a sort of practice event, like entering a department store’s dressing room and trying on clothing, self-assessing, and then deciding against purchasing.

If the store’s goals did fall short, it’s likely for not advertising or promoting adequately an upcoming, unique opportunity to discover fine jewelry locally.

I’m often struck by yet another recognition of today’s businesses inadequately providing training and learning opportunities. Maybe I could have helped more with yesterday’s selling effort and improved the bottom line. However, I wasn’t adequately trained before the event.

About inadequate training: Experience has taught me that regardless of how many computer-generated training videos an organization provides, time spent “learning via videos” quickly becomes a brain-deadening sentence. Simply put, teams need regular meetings to gain a common understanding and be on the same page.

Dear Friends: At least I glimpsed “a little inside” of key jewelry showing. Diana

A Stone Diary

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

My short time working in jewelry sales has awakened my desire to learn more about the technical aspects of jewelry art. Understanding the properties of different metals, alloys, and gemstones requires knowing how various basic materials interact in a complex combination of chemistry and physics.

There’s much to know about jewel-making. The artists work with earth materials and have analytical minds. They have dived deeply into geology and have a scientific perspective. They can identify future jewels by knowing why a stone’s “growing environment” creates unique optical properties. They can assess a raw stone’s potential for cutting and shaping and estimate its future value.

A stone’s potential value involves another complex dive, into the “commercial world” of appeal. Consumers assess their wishes for apparel items against complicated innate desires, involving self-expression, status, cultural influence, passion, and investment worthiness.

While selling a jewelry piece, I am aware of how long a potential buyer views an object. I watch for body language clues and listen for verbal cues. To encourage a customer’s interest, I ask open-ended questions and do my best to teach by providing technical information.

Falling short in teaching drives a desire to learn. I want to understand the elements involved in identifying a raw stone’s potential and the ways artists transform found raw earth objects into desirable jewels.

Dear Friends: This is unlocking a door to endless possibilities. Diana

On Display

Saturday, June 22, 2024

I recently began selling jewelry in the department store where I work part-time. Yesterday, I discovered that coworkers had placed bets on how long it would be before I purchased a piece of jewelry. They were laughing while I was settling a deal for my shiny new ring.

I gain new intentions upon learning, and to me, quality becomes irresistible. Although I needed a ring like a hole in my head, I felt that my finger, flashing quality, could enhance my jewelry sales role (or some such rationale).

All logical rationale aside, jewelry simply attracts attention and admiration, especially pieces that host superior craftsmanship, intricate designs, precious metals, and gemstones. Attraction to high-quality jewelry varies among individuals. Some people become attracted by aesthetic appeal, others by investment potential, and for most, by fine jewelry’s emotional triggerings.

My jewelry choices reflect elements of personal style, taste, and creativity. For example, my new ring is conservative, high-quality, has good gemstones, and its design reflects my preferences. Eventually, I might wish for a more prominent ring. That could happen after I understand more about gemstones—their sparkle, shine, precious metals, and “sensing qualities” of feel and aesthetic appeal.

Dear Friends: The allure of high-quality jewelry extends beyond mere aesthetics. Diana

Stretching

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

I have two days off! I don’t see tree limbs blowing outside, so the weather might be lovely. I’m so ready for warm and windless days. Get this: Two evenings ago, before going outside to feed my horses, I selected from my closet a long woolen coat to wear against the insistent, freezing winds. It’s mid-June!” Although the summer solstice is around the corner, I still am using inside space heaters.

Today, my first obligation is handling some waiting chores. Then I might take the dogs to the Badlands and give them a good run. That’ll also get me hiking, much needed after a couple of learning days of learning in a new workspace.

By the way, my learning there, so far, is less about selling jewelry than about handling department-critical routines in the openings and closings. Some tasks are physical and require lifting and bending that my back resists. Thankfully, my friend Susie recently demonstrated some stretching routines, which I’ve begun using. I hope stretching will increase my overall flexibility, and meanwhile, it’s boosting my self-confidence; I’m more willing to take on physical tasks.

Selling jewelry is a different animal. Selling an expensive luxury item requires technical knowledge about its design, structure, and worthiness. A jewelry seller starts by articulating specifics that address an item’s value while teaching a consumer. I’ve been listening as my mentor Marie sells. She has fantastic product knowledge and is highly sensitive to customers. I understand now that ahead my path is very challenging. While learning how to sell jewelry, I must also be searching to find my footing in that complex role.

Dear Friends: I enjoy learning challenges, and now, I’ve found a doozy. Diana

Bejeweled

Monday, June 17, 2024

After my first day in Jewelry, Wow! There were, and still are, many elements to learn about working in a fine jewelry department. A primary responsibility is keeping an ongoing accurate count of items for sale and unarguable accounting for everything on record. One carries keys and opens display cases holding jewelry, one at a time, and relocks a case immediately after showing an object. Then, there are safes with absolute procedures for what goes in and out and when.

That’s not all. There are iPads and internet searches, training materials, record-keeping, lists of customers for each salesperson, and, at the end of each day, protecting jewelry by hefting a series of awkward Kevlar coverings onto display cases.

With much more ahead to learn and remember, oy vey.

In retrospect, while not as romantic as becoming surrounded by jewelry, my former role of rehanging dresses and putting away bras was way less stressful.

During a pause, Marie (my trainer in Jewelry) spoke of her history as a jewel creator, adding that she used to operate her own shop in town. Listening as she explained her background and stone sourcing, it struck me suddenly that Marie and I had met many years ago.

I was a newcomer to town; I spotted a sign for her shop and stopped in. My curiosity turned into interest as she described her stones, their sources, and those she chose to design and craft into jewelry. Captured by her story and sensing its reality, I purchased a ring of her design and creation.

The ring highlights an emerald (my birthstone). Marie explained finding that stone in Brazil and considering it special. She had lived in Brazil as a fully Certified Gemologist and there had discovered unique gemstones. She could visualize a raw stone as being cut, could do the cutting herself, and craft cut pieces into fine jewels. She sold her creations worldwide.

I’ve not been much of “a jewelry person” and rarely have worn the lovely emerald. Today I’ll take “Marie’s ring” to work for her to see and recall.

Dear Friends: It’s said, “What goes around comes around,” and often that’s so. Diana

In The Rough

Friday, June 07, 2024

Assuming the outcome of my background check won’t be troubling, I will shift into a new role selling Fine Jewelry. While waiting for an outcome, I am reading books and going online to learn about geology in general and a gemologist’s role in the gemstone world.

I was toying with the idea of studying to become a certified gemologist. A little research teaches that studying and evaluating gemstones involves numerous highly technical tasks. An accredited gemologist has gained the specific skills to identify and grade stones.

A certified person distinguishes among natural, synthetic, and imitation candidates by identifying each stone’s quality, shape and potential, light absorption and reflection, and facet measurements. A gemologist assesses a stone’s unique characteristics to grade it, using factors like color, clarity, cut, and carat weight.

Other elements of a stone’s quality are its rarity and market demand, making valuable the element of selling experience

Gemologists do their work in many settings. They research gemstones, are educators teaching others, act as consultants to jewelry stores, and have personal clients they advise on gemstone selection and purchase.

Where might all this information guide me? Or seem too much and leave me? Am I intrigued and energetic? Above all, am I inspired?

Dear Friends: A sales role that invites some formal training will help to advise me. Diana