I would think twice before I make a statement like this one. The most masculine men are the men I see on motorcycles, the men covered in black leather, leather boots, rugged pair of jeans, and lets not forget – bands of leather bracelets and thick silver chains… You get the picture.

Motorcycles give you the sense of fearless power, unstoppable movement, and freedom.

As Yamaha describes the 2012 Stryker model – “with its raked out front end and “fists in the wind” riding position, this bike is pure attitude”.

The man in power is the man who knows how to calm down the beast, show some attitude, and look sexy while doing it. A man like this one knows how to show off not only by the style of bike he picks but also by the style of jewelry he wears while riding it – simple yet bold, earthy yet modern, minimalistic…and always ment to make a statement.

Although, I have my women’s jewelry line, I have the passion for creating masculine statement pieces for men. I get inspired every day by the look of my husband – by his simple yet elegant style, by the surgical precision in putting together his outfit.

Most men care about their looks more than women do. But their secret of looking at their best is not how much stuff they put on but how little. No man with style overdoes it to achieve perfection. There is a purpose for every little detail – there is a reason behind choosing every accessory.

A man with style can appreciate the simplicity of the accessories he picks because he has the confidence that it is him who is the star and the accessories are just there to stress that confidence.

To solute that confident man, I am designing a new line of men’s jewelry that bears simple but effective sterling silver details combined with the bold and luxurious look of genuine leather and gemstones.

Do you want to have your leather jewelry forever? Do you want to pass it on to future generations?

Than you have to put some work into it. But you say: “I love it so much, I don’t want to take it off! I want to shower with it, wash dishes with it (some of you might actually wash a dish or two…), swim with it, work out with it…”

Let’s face it – leather is like fabric. Every shirt you wear, it gets dirty, it gets sweaty…The difference is – you can put that shirt in the washing machine and have it cleaned BUT you can not do that with leather. Actually, you can clean it, but the more you do, the more essential oils you are stripping off it.

Think about it a little more – you wash and wash your shirt and ultimately it deteriorates. Wholes start popping out, colors get washed out…Do you really want to do this to your leather bracelet?? It is not that hard to take it off and spare it another wash. The less you soak (ultimately never) that leather bracelet, the longer it will stay with you!

And YES, there are products out there that you can apply to your leather jewelry that will make it water resistant BUT they are going to make it water resistant for a short period of time. Eventually, my friend, you will have to constantly re-apply that product over and over again. Did I mention that is not easy to apply a protective coat on a leather jewelry piece.

There are three other steps that you need to go through before you even get to applying the protective coating. Ok, I get it. You want to know them. May be, explaining them will help me prove my point:

First, you have to clean the leather with leather cleaner that is gentle enough to not strip the oils of the leather. Also, don’t use something with any type of grease in it because that can cause the leather to actually fall apart and break the strings holding it all together. This also can cause bacteria to grow in and around the leather (nice!). To add to that, you should clean the leather in a well ventilated area, which immediately should ring the bell that you will be working with harsh chemicals.

Second, conditioning…When conditioning a leather bracelet you should use a conditioner with fats and natural oils. Stay away from conditioners that have petroleum products (this is obvious, but just to throw it out there). Conditioning is something that should only be done occasionally because as the leather ages, it will break down the bracelet.

Third, polishing. Polishing should only be done if you want to achieve some shine for a more elegant look. Before adding the polish to the entire area of the leather bracelet, you should test it to a small area and make sure that the polish isn’t going to clog the leather pores and isn’t going to come off of the leather onto your clothing.

After all this struggle, you are ready for the application of the water protecting coating.

I hope that by explaining all the nuts and bolts on how to clean, condition, polish, and protect your leather jewelry, you will do me a favor and try to TAKE it OFF before starting all your lovely water routines.

I’ve decided for myself that even though I could use cheaper base metals to produce my jewelry pieces, I would not want to sacrifice the value and the quality of my jewelry. Therefore, I’m using only sterling silver and copper as main materials in all my designs.

I finally found a good explanation about the difference between sterling silver and silver plated and hope that by sharing this information, I’ll also help my customers in their future jewelry purchases. The answer comes from SilverHeaven.com:

“The major difference that will be immediately noticed is in the price of the item. Sterling items are much more expensive, but they will hold on to their value over time. Silver plated items are far cheaper, but the items become worthless very quickly. In terms of how the items feel, sterling items are generally lighter than silver plated items of the same size. This is due to the inherent value of the silver – leading to using less of the metal in the manufacturing process. Silver plating is a chemical process that adds a very thin layer of silver to the item, which is made of a different metal. This allows the manufacturer to make heavier items out of cheaper metals.”

Yes, that’s the question I was asking myself before I started this collection. Although I was trying to be different and come up with different color palette, I can’t help myself thinking about white snow, dark brown-gray, moisten from the snow soil, green pine trees, red socks, and colorful presents and decoration.

So, I have to admit – that was part of my inspiration…

You can’t have a better metal to work with, that represents that coldness from the winter, than the sterling silver. Its high-polished surface, is wonderfully reflective like the virgin untouched surface of ice.

The gemstone that first jumped out at me was tourmaline quartz, because of its light grayish transparent color and its fossil-like dark gray, almost black speckles. Another one was the opal and the aqua. Aqua reminds me a lot of a faceted cube of ice and the opal with its milky white surface reminds me of the white snow.

On the other hand, living in Florida the nice sunny weather and the always vibrant colorful nature made me create Holiday jewelry with a twist of bright and lively colors.

Therefore, next to the jewelry pieces, having the traditional colors, associated with the winter, I am placing the jewelry pieces, inspired by that wonderful sunny weather outside my window.

With Thanksgiving coming in a little over two weeks, with the aromas of pumpkin, cinnamon, apple, nutmeg, allspice, and raisins, surrounding me everywhere I go, no wonder why I got inspired to create my new copper jewelry collection.

For some reason, when winter starts showing its presence and I have to change my wardrobe to warmer clothes, I always envision brown-beige overtones. It’s probably because winter is so white and cold, that I have the need to see warm, bright colors.

My new collection is not finished yet, but I am getting so excited about it with every new piece of jewelry that I make, that I wanted to share it with the world.

I’ve been working on creating vintage look that complements the color of the copper.

I take special pride in several pieces that I created. The Copper turquoise bracelet is one that stands out to me every time I open the jewelry box. The warm copper creates such a beautiful background for the luscious green-blue overtone of the turquoise…

The Copper earrings collection is starting to take shape as well. With unique and one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces such as the Copper and Amethyst Earrings, the Copper and Rose Quartz Flower Earrings, and my absolute favorite Copper and Aqua Earrings…

I am still working on creating copper necklaces that will hold the same warm feeling of fire and sun.

Sincerely,

Silvia Nikolov