The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-07-15
JEWELRY MAKING BY WOMEN
Work Well Suited to Dcft Feminine Fingers--A Demand
for Better Designs in Jcwcry Than the Shops Can
SuppIy--Field for Women Who Possess Good
Tastc-r1iss Edith Vail Tells About Two Rings.

Miss Edith Vail, jewelry maker by call
pecially adapted to women and that II
offers a remunerative field in the larger
cities to women with good taste and deft
fingers.
MY choice of making jewelry was from
preference entirely" said Miss Vail when
asked by a New York Sun reporter to
talk about her work. II have always
been a great admirer of gems. l may as
well tell you at the beginning that all |
have accomplished is due to the encour-
| agement and assistance given me by my
father.
Il was an only daughter with three
brothers, but my father always had 1t dis
tinctly understood that my being a girl
should not stand in the way of my efforts
to express my individuality. My mother
had oid-fashioned ideas about what a girl
might and might not do. Had she had
her way would have been brought up to
sew. keep house and make myself beau
tiful.
Following my fathers instructions l
was at liberty to go into the fields and
rake hay. climb trees, ride bareback and
do many things that shocked my moth
er's sense of propriety. 1t is to those years
VI III Ill., aR1iAI III AA1 0
Of Illinois gathering stones, observing the
flowers and making friends with the birds
and the insects. that l owe my success
TODAY. NV ieweIry is a reproduction of the
colors and tones of nature.
Il never polish either stones or their
settings to the extent now fashionable
among the makers of jewellery for the
shops. Silver is too beautiful a metal to
~ moan a. sto,as tho
siVeiy poiisheu' Aihois ~
opal is ABOUT the sreatest uie.e
the craze LOT excessive poisn' II - po.I
1shed so hlghIy tnat tne most peau'inui
eolors are obseured by the glitter OF tne
window lights.
Il never make diamond birds or PIGS OF
horses for the simple reason mat they
are too unnatural TO be beautlfuL
1.-THE use of fourteen-carat gold is an
other thing that ofIends the refined taste
in 1ewelry. 1t is that red, coppery-looking
gold that you see SO mucn OF IN the snop
windows. l use twenty-five carat gold:
See how much softer and more peautllul
the effect.
M experience teaches me that tne
public does want better designs In 1ewelry
than the shops supply. indeed, that IS
just what gives me my trade. III people
were content with what is to be had In
the shops they would never come to me.
aside from my nature and art studies
I think L can say that the only instruc-
ton I have had for my work was the
course which / took at the Pratt Insti-
tute, Brooklyn. There l learned to work
in several metals. to make copper mugs
and things of that sort. I make no pre-
tense to being one of the arts and crafts
workers of whom we hear so much Just
now. l am a 1eWelry maker ana L WISH
to be known as such.
I'm spite of the fact that never adVer-
tise and only take orders from persons l
know about. | have had several expert
ences with persons who were not an they
represented themselves TO be. n lass
was a man who called mere ana ~introouceu
himself as the head OF a nourishihs
school.
H explained that some OF MS trlenos