Harvest Gold Summer Opening!

Harvest Gold Gallery, on route 5 in Center Lovell, Maine, has received Yankee Magazine’s Editors Choice award for “Best Gallery” for 2016!  The Editors Choice Awards are published in Yankee’s Best of New England edition. The publication is a tour guide to some of the best places to see while visiting New England.

Harvest Gold Gallery is busy getting ready for it’s nineteenth year here in Lovell, Maine.  The gallery exhibits the work of over 150 American artists, along with the Harvest Gold Jewelry collection created by owners Lynda Rasco and Bill Rudd. Lynda and Bill specialize in different styles of goldsmithing, and the union of these styles makes the jewelry shown in Harvest Gold elegant and contemporary. Their unique jewelry has been sold in galleries and jewelry stores across the globe for over 30 years.

“It is such an honor to be recognized by Yankee Magazine and we couldn’t be happier to celebrate this award along with the 150 other American artists and craftsmen who help make up Harvest Gold Gallery,” says gallery owner and jewelry designer Lynda Rudd.

The 2016 exhibit features new artists and new works.  The collection features internationally awarded artists, nationally awarded sculptors, museum quality glasswork, and many more fine art gifts. Come see some of Gwen Nagel’s pastels of local landscapes, Gene Whitney’s wonderfully carved fish, or Jean Swan Gordan’s brilliantly bright floral watercolor bouquets!

"The Life of a Flower" by Jean Swan Gordon 

Outside of the gallery are beautifully arranged sculpture gardens, which compliment a breathtaking view of Kezar Lake and the White Mountains. The ever-blooming gardens are a sight in themselves to stop by for. Indoors, the art and craftwork fill seven rooms to provide for you a tranquil adventure to undertake one fine summer day. 

Harvest Gold is open daily and is located just past the Center Lovell Market at 1082 Main Street. For further information about the Gallery, please contact us at (207) 925-6502 or check out our website at www.harvestgoldgallery.com.

We can't wait to share this with you so HERE'S A SNEAK PEEK!

What an exciting couple of weeks here at the Gallery, with the launch of our new website right around the corner we have been working diligently on getting some gorgeous pictures of all our jewelry ready for the launch!

Lynda and our Graphic Designer Aaron Tripp capturing the perfect shot

I was on Archiving Duty :)

A SNEAK PEEK AT SOME  FINISHED PHOTOS

The "Clever" Necklace is a 16in Peridot and Gold Beaded Necklace

The "Baroque"  22in Freshwater Pearl Strand





Kaishi Pearl Strands in "Autumn Harvest" and "Wedding White" (you can find these strands in our new Wedding section)

The "Scholar" Coin Pearl Strand (these are NATURAL colors) 17.5 in

The "Virtuous" Necklace is a 17in Pink Tourmaline and Coin Pearl Strand

Stay tuned friends our new Website is launching SOON!

Our new Website Logo :)

Take Me out to the Ball game... and Say I DO!

This past week one of our customers took his girlfriend to a Red Sox's game at Fenway park and proposed to her on the big screen! He gave her a custom made Harvest Gold Jewelry ring and she said yes! Baseball, weddings, and engagements really spell out summer to us, so why not combine them!?

And here is the ring!! It looks lovely on her beautiful hand, and the back drop isn't too bad either! Congratulations!!

A Custom Engagement Ring- made from heirloom jewelry

We LOVE making custom jewelry, it gives us an opportunity to work closely with our customers to help translate their love and their story into an heirloom they will cherish!

Here is the story of Bethany and Wade's engagement ring (pictured above). Bethany and Wade are engaged and they came to us with the hope of repurposing a few pieces of family jewelry into one ring.  Bethany is a big fan of etsy and sells her own work on the site. Thus it was only natural for her to search for a ring on Etsy. And through her search Bethany found us!

Bethany wanted a non-traditional ring that would be both comfortable to wear on a daily basis and yet would be classic, lasting a life time.   Bethany also wanted one ring with the look of two bands. In addition, she wanted different textures, various widths, and a combination of different golds- all wrapped into one beautiful ring.  To start, Bethany had her father's yellow gold wedding band which was very sentimental, especially because of its engraving. In addition, Bethany also had a sapphire from her mother that both her mother and grandmother had worn in its original setting, a high traditional tiffany mounting. As with most family jewelry, over the years the stone had received a few "love taps" and therefore the stone's chips needed to be concealed. 

Keeping all these factors in mind, we began brainstorming. We worked all these ideas and materials into one ring with 2 textures, two colors of gold, two widths, engraved with the parents sentiment and a bezel setting for the sapphire to hide the "love" taps!  Bethany now has a ring that incorporates something from her father, her mother and grandmother- what a great foundation to have as one begins their own marriage, to be so blessed. Now Bethany can wear this custom ring for a life time and pass it on to the next generation. 

Bethany sent us these fantastic photos! Here is Bethany modeling her ring.

Above: the preservation of the engraving from her Father's wedding band.

Bethany was a treat to work with and we are so thrilled she is so happy with her ring!

Bethany left us fabulous feedback on our Etsy Shop:

I can't express how much I enjoyed working with Lynda to design our engagement ring. I originally found her through etsy, because I was looking for a jewelry designer who would recycle my parents old wedding/engagement rings. Not only did she spend endless time helping us design the ring, she gave us ideas we wouldn't have thought of--such as saving the inscription on my Dad's ring. The ring came out just as I imagined. And it fits perfectly!! I highly recommend contacting Lynda if you have an interesting idea or you want to recycle/reuse an older piece of jewelry. We were able to create our entire ring from these family pieces. Though my Dad won't be able to attend my wedding--I now have something that will represent him. Thanks again Lynda--for giving these materials a new life.

Graduation Rings

Hey everyone! The two kids just graduated college and Bill and I thought it would be a great idea to make them Harvest Gold Jewelry custom class rings. Check them out!

We engraved the inside with their school name, their name and the year.

 

Congratulations to Morgan and Aurora! They both graduated from Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe. Morgan received his degree in Environmental Science and Ecology. Aurora, his girlfriend, received her degree in Fine Arts. 

And a big congratulations to my daughter, Carley. Check out her ring.

 

Carley received her degree in Communication Studies from Stetson University in Deland, FL. 

Bill and I couldn't be more proud. What a great start to our busy summer!

The happy couple: a custom 5 diamond engagement ring

We had the pleasure of making a lovely diamond engagement ring for a friend of ours! The to-be-groom was so sweet and wanted the ring and the entire proposal to be a surprise. He told us he wanted a 5 diamond ring and mentioned the style of the cut. We found the diamonds and I went to work setting them in white gold. Constructing the setting was a welcome challenge and with Bill's architectural thought process and my artistic approach we came up with the perfect descending arrangement. Once completed then came the biggest challenge- keeping it all a secret!! Thankfully we didn't have to wait too long since he proposed this weekend!

Then on Sunday the couple stopped by to share the happy news and to show us the ring on the bride-to-be's finger!

This is our favorite part of being jewelers seeing the happy faces and making something that represents a couple's love and commitment to each other. Congratulations to our friends!

Wedding bells and custom orders

We've been busy around here with some romantic custom orders and we wanted to share the pretty results.

   ABOVE: is a matching set of our popular Tree of Life Ring one made in yellow gold and the second in white gold. I took this picture with the rings perched on our white fence over looking our view of the mountains and Kezar lake!

See the picture below for a more accurate depiction of the gold colors. The rings were sent to Vermont the land of maple syrup so they will fit right in with all their friendly trees!

We made these beautiful custom bands for an etsy customer to fit with her engagement ring. We bent the rings allowing them to create a lovely nestled border around her diamond ring. One ring is beaded and the second is smooth. What a fun idea to add a little variety to an engagement ring!

Selling our jewelry through etsy has been a real treat. We have met- virtually- with some fantastic customers and the dialogue and collaborations that follow always reinforce why we love making jewelry in the first place!

One customer wrote, "I am so happy to have my wedding ring made in Maine! I spent all my summers growing up in Maine. It's a wonderful state and I love to support family businesses there whenever I can!"

We couldn't agree more!

The story of us.... and our rings!

As we've mentioned on past posts and in our blog's mission, we want to share the stories behind the jewelry we design and make. So it was only fitting to share our own story! Recently on ETSY, there have been features of couples working and running their etsy store together and so we started to look back at our own story that began YEARS before etsy and has continued to grow and flourish over the past 25+ years! Above is a picture of L & B back in the day, hard at work in the studio making jewelry.



Our braided band was one of our first designs and became our wedding bands. It's a funny story behind our rings! We had the gold from L's grandmother's teeth and we repurposed it by melting and changing the alloy to the three different golds that constitute the braid! It's definitely an untraditional source of gold, one that speaks back to olden time, but when your young and just starting out- recycling gold can be a great option. We have had many customers stop by with old gold, or a grown out wedding band, etc and we have worked with them to make a brand new piece that fits their style and needs!


And a more recent photo- of L&B with Mount Washington!

We love being jewelers and wouldn't change a thing! We work well together, starting our day early and always take a break for one of B's fantastic lunches. Then it's back to the studio to fulfill retail and etsy orders! And if the sun is shining and the weather is right, we'll close up shop for a gaunt of skiing or come summer- for a dip in the lake. We have many more stories to share with you about past and present designs, so stay tuned!

Matching wedding bands, a custom order.

Another great story in our little series!

Since being told to join etsy this past fall, we have enjoyed the new connections and people that the crafting community has introduced us to! We love working with couples in designing the perfect piece for their engagement or wedding, so Harvest Gold and etsy feels like a perfect match!

Anyway, so one day we received a phone call from a couple who was vacationing in the Caribbean. They had found us online and were so delighted becomes it turns out when they weren't on vacation, they lived relatively close! Oh the power of the internet.

So when they returned they stopped by and we discussed making our mountain range ring for them. Instead of our original yellow gold mountain range on the rose gold band, they opted for a white mountain range instead. The color combination is realy striking and we think they turned out splendidly if we do say so ourselves! Their rings are pictured above. click here for etsy click to the item.

They live near the mountains and were in fact married near them, so it was only fitting that the eternal symbol of the mountains became their own symbol.

A CHARMING custom order!

We recently had a woman come to us with her grandmother's vintage charm bracelet. On it hung a charm of she and her brother from when they were children. Now that the bracelet is hers she wanted to add new charms of her own children. So sweet, adding on to a family heirloom with something of your own.

So we made identical charms of the exisiting ones and above is the result. You can see the original charms are at the bottom and the new ones by Harvest Gold are at the top. Next we will attach them to the gold bracelet.

*We Love sharing the stories behind the jewelry we make and plan to bring you many more.