More Nancy Dunitz Drawings Featuring Dunitz Fair Trade Jewelry

Time for new installment of Nancy Dunitz drawings featuring Dunitz fair trade jewelry. It's been several months since I share some of my drawings here. I love showing off my works after I've used Photoshop to add Dunitz & Company jewelry. It started with a class I took in 2019 with a talented artist, Isis Rodriquez in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. If you're looking for a teacher I highly recommend her. She actually teaches via Zoom now as well. (I know, because I have another talented artist friend who has studied with Isis remotely.)

Take a look! (These are posted below in no particular order.) You might find a pair of earrings, a bracelet or a necklace perfect for you or for a gift.

 

These drawings of mine are all created using charcoal and pastels. I'm ready to take commissions if you'd want an original drawing by me! What do you think? If you're inspired to own a new piece of Dunitz & Company fair trade jewelry, that's ok with me too. Looking for your retailer near you? Check out our store locator. And if you want to restock your store shelves, place your order soon on our wholesale site.  I appreciate all of you! - ND

Our Fair Trade Jewelry. We Smile Big When Our Clients Share our Designs on Social!

We smile big at Dunitz & Company when our retailers share pics of our fair trade jewelry. I just scoured through Facebook to find some of the shots that have been posted in the last several months.  There  are many more shared on Instagram. I confess, I can "save" them easily on Facebook. On Instagram, you can't right click and save. Here's a shout out to some of our clients with links to their websites. If you near any of these stores, go check them out. And - thank you for being our customer. We appreciate our stores and the shoppers that visit them.

Animas Trading, Durango CO - lots of ceramic and laser cut earrings, on our earring cards.

The Artful Nest, Marietta PA - currently has an excellent supply of our ceramic hoops!

Ethical Hope, New Kensington, PA - We just shipped embroidered and beaded earrings (shown) and glass studs!

Fair Trade Decor, Coronado, CA - Recently restocked beaded earrings. And - they consistently sell our Joanie M fused glass earrings.

Just Creations, Louisville, KY - You can count on finding a variety of Dunitz fair trade jewelry at Just Creations. This bowl features our butterfly studs and our fused glass studs.

My Fair Trade Lady - Haddon Heights, NJ - always has good stock of our famous art earrings. They recently added studs to their line-up!

Refunkit, Ashland, VA - Check out this social post. It features our new ceramic flower studs. These mod adornments are super fun, if we don't mind saying.

 

Summer House Designs, Port Townsend, WA - We confess. We have a secret shopper who always tells us about the fabulous displays at Summer House Designs. Our laser cut and embroidered designs are often in their window. Here's a shot they posted on Facebook.

Sunnyside Shop, Cambridge MD - has been our loyal customer for many many years.  Heidi the owner takes the BEST photos. They've carried many of our designs in-store. This shot captures our Joanie M fused glass almond shaped dangles oh so well.

Trinity Church, Boston MA - I confess. When I think of this customer, I'm reminded how they sell a lot of our monarch studs. But they sell other things too, including the one-of-a-kind embroidered flower earrings they featured on their social page.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond VA - Who doesn't love Starry Night? And VMFA offers fun gifts from so many vendors that feature Starry Night. Our earrings are part of their collection!

Zumbido Gifts, Eureka CA - always offers a fun selection from our fair trade collection. Recently they posted about our laser cut bird dangles. We thought it was fun that they used this blue sky background.

Seeds to Sew, Hopewell, NJ - Seeds to Sew is a non-profit that works with artisans in Kenya and their mission is to support them. Having said that, they do sell a few other fair trade lines in their store in Hopewell. Recently I spotted this pic on social of a group of students who organized a fundraiser for them. And on that table, among other goodies, you'll find Dunitz & Company jewelry.

Did I miss pitching your store? Send me a photo and a link where you shared it on Facebook or Instagram. The more the merrier. I want to tell everyone to find Dunitz & Company fair trade jewelry in your store. - ND

Fair Trade Jewelry - Custom for Your Store & Exhibitions

Dunitz & Company's been at it for a long time! And one thing we adore is collaborating with our clients on custom designs for your stores and art exhibitions.  Back in August, 2021, I wrote a blog post sharing some of our custom projects we had created up until that point. Here are some others from recent times, not in any particular order.

 

In 2022, Santa Barbara Museum of Art hosted a Van Gogh exhibit.  Through Vincent's Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources was a very well attended exhibition. We collaborated with the gift shop buyer so she could offer earrings that featured the artwork actually on display. This one of white flowers on a pale green background was one of my favorites. They offered dangles and studs of each of the custom designs we made for the show.

The Dayton Art Institute presented a wonderful exhibit, so I was told, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: The Birth of Modern Paris, which closed in January, 2024. Sadly I live too far away and couldn't get there to see it. The store buyers at the museum wanted to offer some earrings that featured one of the artworks that was up on display. This is what we came up with.

 

 

 

 

We've created several custom earrings for the Michigan History Museum and when they staged an exhibit showcasing the work of beloved artist, Mathias J. Alten, we were there to help. Several of his wonderful paintings became earrings! These shown here are my favorites.

But it isn't only about the paintings. The Michigan History Center also manages many regional museums. The earrings here feature the Tawas Point Lighthouse. Did you know that Michigan has the most lighthouses in the United States? More than Florida or California.

Back in 2022, the National Building Museum in Washington DC showcased Notre Dame de Paris with an interactive exhibition. We scoured every image of old paintings we could find and created these for their gift store. It's always fun to take a souvenir home after visiting a museum and these were a perfect choice for many museum visitors.

We've worked with the Detroit Institute of Arts for many years. Did you know I am originally from Detroit? And my aunt was a docent there for many years during my youth. This museum has a very special place in my heart and when I ship our fair trade jewelry for their store, I have to share widely to my Detroit based friends and family.  The DIA presented an amazing Van Gogh exhibition late 2022-early 2023. It was actually postponed because of the Covid lockdown. It was really fun to create dangles, studs and pins using paintings from their permanent collection. They sold a lot of the earrings we created for this show. That's good for everyone. We love it when these special projects provide a lot more work for the artists we work with in Guatemala.

For years the buyer from the Museum of Flight in Seattle and I had been discussing what we might create together for their store. From mid 2023 through January 2024, Art & Flight featured work of several talented artists. Seattle artist, Angelina Villalobos created two amazing murals for the museum. With her permission, the earrings shown on the right were created. Fun right?

What happened next? The staff at Museum of Flight thought it might be fun to offer stud earrings that look like paper airplanes. If you visit their website, you'll see a paper airplane serves as their site cursor. That's so cool! The earrings shown here can now be purchased at the Museum of Flight's gift store. They can also be purchased from us directly for your store.

 

 

Sometimes a store owner wants to show off their own amazing artwork. And in the case of Julia Mooney, a talented watercolor artist and owner of My Fair Trade Lady in Haddon Heights, NJ, this was the case. She had created a wonderful painting of the local train station. And on earrings, these make a terrific gift and souvenir. She provided a high-res image of her painting, and we created earrings. You too can purchase a pair here.

The truth is all you need is a good idea, and we can help you create just about anything. We have a lovely customer who is crazy for all things music. And so are her customers. In her case, most of her jazz fanatic clients are in Taiwan. Sora Designs had exhausted the musical instrument studs we offer.  We created custom bass violins, electric guitars and accordions for Sora. These have been turned into earrings, lapel pins and you name it.

Don't forget to revisit our original blog post where I highlighted other custom creations Dunitz & Company has made. We even laser cut out the state of Missouri for one of our clients. Our minimums are low. Our quality is excellent. And if you're already a Dunitz customer, you know our prices are more than reasonable. What are you waiting for? I'm here to help you create your next custom project. -ND

Reminiscing About Our First Mascot, Byron

Byron and Me

Dunitz & Company has had several mascots since we first started our business. Byron was our first. My sweet Vizla - Weimaraner Mix was the light of my life for over 15 years. Can you believe it? Byron was not a rescue. My mom purchased him for me for $100.00 from a "backyard breeder" who was a friend of a friend. The year was 1995. We knew the dog parents. It was before I was aware of dog overpopulation and overcrowded shelters having to regularly euthanize them. What I do remember is my mom's voice when I thought I might not be able to care for a dog, "JUST PICK ONE OUT!" She was right. Byron brought me so much joy.

Cutest Puppy EVER!

Byron was only 7-1/2 weeks when I brought him home. And he was a little terror. I caught this photo of him (my favorite puppy pic) when he jumped up into this planter. Not long after that he shredded the entire plant to smithereens. My neighbors teased that his name must be "Bad Dog, NO!"  He was so adventurous and super high energy. Most dog people said he was lucky to have me because most people would not have put up with his activity needs. We spent a lot of time at dog parks, hiking and running stairs at the Hollywood Bowl. He was the best kisser. One kiss meant a face wash because that dog had the largest tongue ever.

But, alas, this is a post attached to my fair trade jewelry business. For that reason, I'm going to share a bunch of photos of him wearing beaded jewelry.  It had been a good year and I decided to hire an amazing photographer, Amy Cantrell to take an amazing collection of photos I enlarged and shared in my trade show booths for a few years. (I remember when I stopped showing them, my customers would sheepishly as if he was OK and still living.) For the purpose of this blog, I actually took snapshots of the posters. That means they're not quite as crisp as if they were 1st generation.  Just the same, I know you'll love seeing them. I sure have enjoyed reminiscing. This pic with the glasses is one of the funniest. And I'm surprised we ever "got it" because he kept tossing them off his face.

 

The 'blue necklace' photo showed off Byron's absolute beauty and those enviable ears the best. I liked the photo so much, I 'pissed away' $$ on pins I gave out to my customers. It was good for a few laughs.

Here are the other photos I hung up in the trade show booth. Byron in "rainbow", Byron in "turquoise", Byron in Swarovski crystal necklaces. My boy looked so stunning in all of our jewelry designs.

 

 

A HUGE kiss for Nancy

Amy sneaked in this one on photo shoot day!

 

 

 

 

The Color Answer Book

In the early 2000's, I collaborated with artisans in South India to bring beautiful beaded dog collars to doting dog parents in the USA. Sadly, the project didn't last. However, Byron the model is featured in perpetuity in "The Color Answer Book" by renowned color specialist, Leatrice Eiseman. Eiseman is the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute. She saw this photo in our New York trade show booth and asked if she could use in her then upcoming book. The book was released in 2003. The photograph was taken by me.

Byron life ended before the Facebook and Instagram craze. Toward the end of his years, Facebook was catching on. Digital cameras were the norm. And print film was a thing of the past. We actually mailed out paper holiday cards with Byron's image several times. With Photoshop artistry we offered up some fun ones. And later on, we posted a few to Facebook when social media was gaining traction and we didn't want to purchase sooooo many stamps.  How can we not share some of those fun images?

 

A Big Kiss for UPS man

My parting thought is to speak to Byron's loving disposition. That dog wouldn't have hurt a flea. (Although sometimes the fleas would bug him.) He's the only dog, so I was told, that our vet would allow near his infant son. Byron wanted to play with every dog or human he met. And if allowed, he had a kiss for everyone. At Dunitz & Company, that happened daily with our UPS driver. -ND