Tom Burns Jewelry

Sunapee Update #2

tomburnsjewelry — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:36:44 +0000

What a delight the Craftsmen’s Fair at Sunapee has been this past week! Mollie, Honor, Vicki and Vickie made it fun and easy in the booth and I am SO thankful that (probably) you and so many others liked what I brought and went home with a brand new piece of my, and the Earth’s, craftwork! The delightful weather made it just a pleasure to spend some time with a lot of my old friends and make some interesting new ones too. It’s a little surprising to me, even after years of Craft Fairs, how quickly we can let down any walls we have and make some really close friendships right on the spot. It helps too that I put some time into a piece of silverwork and now you’re spending your time with it-a little sharing there.
If you came to Sunapee, thanks! My next show will be one that a lot of you would enjoy-The Hildene Fair, in Manchester Vermont (Hildene was Lincoln’s summer place) happening the first weekend of October (Oct 1, 2 and 3). It’s always near the very best foliage time and a beautiful drive to a beautiful valley to see some beautiful crafts (the creative food selection at that show, and wines, can almost be worth it by themselves!) See you there or in Sunapee under the summer skies next year!

Sunapee update

tomburnsjewelry — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:13:09 +0000

Wow, is this fun! The Sunapee show is raging along. It’s been many years since the crowd’s been this big, and I must say I’m really thrilled with the reception my jewelry’s been getting (maybe from YOU?) I just can’t help getting excited when I see a new piece on someone, and they’re beaming and I’m beaming, and it all makes sense. Oh yeah, THAT’S why I made that piece. THAT’S the person I made it for! But what’s going on here? Why is the attendance so up? Why are more of you buying a piece of my jewelry, when we all know we’re being more careful with our spending? It sure feels great, and maybe validates the effort we craftspeople have been putting in all along. I’ve got some awesome new pieces to bring to the booth for this second weekend, and I hope that if I haven’t seen you yet this week I will see you this weekend. Thanks so much for coming out and liking my new work!

Summer ‘10 Update

tomburnsjewelry — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:42:44 +0000

Hey nice person checking my site! Summer is here, even in Vermont. It’s my time to recharge my jewelry stock, as well as body and soul. Body and soul got juiced recently from a last minute addition to my show schedule: The Saratoga Jazz Festival, in Saratoga New York. What a blast to see so many old friends and meet some fun new ones, and my jewelry was a hit! Saratoga will be on my show schedule from now on: the week before the Fourth of July. Now it’s on to making sparkling new things for the upcoming League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s Fair, August 7th-15th. Yup, 9 days in the hills of Sunapee State Park, New Hampshire, next to a 7 mile long crystal clear lake! Sunapee is the original craft fair, the nation’s oldest, and is consistently ranked one of the very best. If you’ve never been, it is SO worth a drive to one of the prettiest parts of New Hampshire. So far, I’ve got 24 brand new designs to unveil there! I hope you’ll come and let me show them off to you! Follow the link in the sidebar to the right, Upcoming Shows, for more info. I’ll see you there!

Spring ‘10 Update

tomburnsjewelry — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:25:31 +0000

Update from Brian: Hello favorite person who’s visiting this site! We’re writing this update at the end of one of the best seasons (winter), and at the beginning of one of the other best seasons (spring). Though, if you look at this picture, it’s hard to imagine anything but SNOW!

The picture is from a Colorado trip I made with Tom (AKA the old man), taken about halfway down Loveland ski area (approx. 12,000 feet). The one below is from a hike taken at a more-normal altitude. Apart from the trip, the winter consisted of more snowboarding (no surprise there), a great sugaring season that’s just wrapping up, and the first annual sledding party. Surprisingly and thankfully, no one was injured!

As I write this update, Tom is driving down to the DC area, set to kickoff the show season in style this weekend at Gaithersburg. We’ll be in the same spot, in the same barn (you know where to find us), and we’d love to see each and every one of you there!

If you do go to the show, let us know here in the comments section. Of course, we’ll be back to post a wrapup sometime soon, and to give info about the rest of the shows this summer. Enjoy the beginning of the warm weather!

December ‘09 Update

tomburnsjewelry — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:27:43 +0000

Update from Tom: Hello you kind person checking the site! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I’m feeling so thankful that so many of you chose to buy a piece of my jewelry this Fall — it was surprising and very very gratifying that somehow this was one of the best years I’ve ever had. I can’t thank you enough if you’re one of the people who’s wearing my jewelry. I’m a lucky guy to have so many people respond to the work I do!

The November Gaithersburg Sugarloaf show was my last until spring ‘10, and what a fun successful show it was! And now we just got 5″ of fresh new snow in Vermont, so I was able to test out the tools for my next major project: I’m glad to say that the snowboard boots still fit and the board’s edges are sharp! I’m also fully stoked to begin work on some of the new jewelry designs in my sketchbook — I’ve got some good surprises up my sleeve for next spring!

Before we get to then, though, we’ve got some tree decorating, hot chocolate, toboggining, Christmas cards, and apple pie eating to enjoy. Good luck with all your holiday ideas, and I’ll see each one of you (hopefully) in the spring!

Wrapping Up Show-Season 2009

tomburnsjewelry — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:20:51 +0000

It’s November. In Vermont, or in Colorado (where Brian is right now), that means one thing: the season for hot chocolate, snowboarding, and making a TON of new jewelry is nearly here!

Before winter sets in though, and before Christmas shopping reaches its peak, we have one last summer show. We’ll be in Gaithersburg, MD for the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival from November 20-22. We’re excited to see you all, and we know you’ll be excited about the new stones and designs we’ll be bringing along. Gaithersburg will be our last show until next spring… so you better find a way to get there!

September Update - New Jewelry and The Cape

tomburnsjewelry — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:40:03 +0000

Update from Tom: Here it is early September, and I’ve already got the heater on in my workshop! Vermont sure is a great place to live, but the summer is way too short here!

I just got back from a quick trip to Cape Cod, trying to squeeze a last little bit of summer in. I had hopes of doing some sailing, but the tides were wrong, the wind too heavy then too light… so it ended up being a lot of walking by the ocean, steaming up lobsters and clams on the beach, then seeing whether we could eat them before the mosquitoes ate us!

I love it out there, and I always come back mentally refreshed and with some new jewelry ideas. That’s why I’m posting this today — I’m in my shop working on some fun new things for the upcoming fall shows: The Hildene Fall Festival in Manchester Vermont, and the Sugarloaf show in Gaithersburg on Columbus Day weekend.

I’ve got some really ancient and cool fossil bugs I’m setting (very NOT gross), and a couple stones with seeming pictures of trees in them — Van Gogh trees! Lots of other exciting stones and designs too.

You’ll have to come see for yourself how I’ve taken that Cape Cod beach vibe and turned it into wearable art for you. See you there!

Sunapee Update — AUGUST 6

tomburnsjewelry — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:39:28 +0000

Hey everybody. We wanted to give you a quick update of the week so far here in New Hampshire. In a word, it’s been GREAT. We’ve had great weather (pretty much the only nice week all summer), we’ve seen some great people, and have gotten some great feedback on our new stones and pieces. Old friends, and new jewelry… what could be better?

If you went to the show, and stopped by the booth, we’d love to have you leave a comment on this post. It’ll give us a good idea of how the website’s working so far (it’s still new itself), and will give us a good feel for what you’re up to. So please, SPEAK UP!

Sunapee Is Coming Up!

tomburnsjewelry — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:18:46 +0000

Hey guys. We’re still here, both Tom and Brian. In fact, we’re working hard packing up, and getting ready to ship off to New Hampshire for the Sunapee Craftsmen’s Fair. The show is starting next weekend, and runs from August 2-10. One week and two weekends in the hills of New Hampshire, right on edge of a beautiful lake, with great art all around? Yes Please!

We’ve got lots of new jewelry, and we’ll be bringing about 100 (!) new pieces along with us. We have fun new stones, and some fun new designs to go with them. Even if you have a piece of our jewelry already — especially if you do — we guarantee you’ll find something you like. So come on by, at least say hello, and take a look around… we’ll be glad to see you!

Polishing Sterling Silver Jewelry

tomburnsjewelry — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:31:29 +0000

People ask us a lot about polishing sterling silver jewelry. It’s common they buy something at a show, take it home, and notice when it starts to develop a little tarnish. That can come as a surprise – the piece no longer looks exactly as it did in the booth – but also remember that it’s a good sign. It means the jewelry is made with the real stuff!

We recommend you let the tarnish become a part of the piece, developing as it does. But if you’d like to keep your new piece shiny and new-looking, there are a couple methods you can use. First, which is our favorite, is to wear the jewelry! Your skin oils help keep the tarnish off sterling silver, so wearing your piece consistently will help keep it (and you) looking great. It’s pretty simple… buy something you LOVE, and tarnish won’t be a problem!

If, for some weird reason, you do have to take your piece off, you can choose keep it in a resealable ziploc bag. Oxygen is what causes the tarnish, and the bag keeps oxygen out. Just make sure you DON’T use commercial cleaners, or any products advertised as jewelry cleaners. We don’t trust any of ‘em, and they’ll likely do more harm than good.

Finally, you can polish your piece of sterling silver jewelry with a polish cloth. The polish cloths are often yellow, and look like the picture above. You can purchase one at your local jewelry store for nothing more than a couple dollars, or just stop by and see us at the next show in your area. We’d be glad to give you one for free!

And that’s it. Tarnishing is part of owning a high-quality piece of sterling silver. Wear your piece, enjoy it, use any of these anti-tarnish tactics you’d like, and you’ll be good to go. Did we mention the enjoy it part?