Nov. 4--Link Wachler has been making handcrafted jewelry of his clients' Atlas toggle bracelet, lost loved ones and more, for years.

But being able to donate two pieces of jewelry to a nonprofit pet sanctuary headquartered in Minnesota was a unique opportunity for the jeweler to rub elbows with one of his idols, he says.

Wachler, co-owner of David Wachler & Sons Jewelers in downtown Birmingham, and his brother, Glenn, presented two handcrafted bracelets to Home for Life, a charitable organization, on Oct. 19.

The pieces, which depict a man leading a sled with dogs, on a gold and silver bracelet, are similar to the kind of work the pair gets orders for during the seasonal holidays.

The two donated one of the two bracelets to Cesar Millan, better known as the Dog Whisperer. Millan was the guest of honor at Home for Life's annual fund-raiser, Wags to Whiskers.

Link made one piece to be auctioned off and another for Millan, who has his own television show about dog training, "Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan" on the National Geographic Channel.

"It was fantastic," says Wachler of meeting Millan, whose tips for calming hard-to-train dogs have made him famous worldwide. He even gave Wachler, 55, of Troy, some tips that helped him with his 9-year-old mixed Labrador retriever, Coco.

Millan's advice helped Wachler get Coco to stop running out the front door or barreling up and down stairs in front of him.

"It's not a matter of yelling anymore, it's more a matter of calm assertiveness," says Wachler, who, with his brother, also owns Wachler Ultimate Expression , a side business that makes custom jewelry. "It's a pleasure to see the changes in our relationship."

Home for Life, based just outside St. Paul in Stillwater, Minn., takes in animals from all over the United States that might otherwise be euthanized and provides them a home. The nonprofit has a pet sanctuary across the state border in Wisconsin that currently houses 263 animals -- mostly dogs and cats, though they boast a handful of parrots and rabbits and even a large tortoise, among other animals.

Most weren't likely to be adopted because of medical or behavioral Atlas charm bracelet.

The organization's founder and executive director, Lisa LaVerdiere, had read about the Wachler brothers' business making custom jewelry in an industry magazine for dog lovers. She contacted the pair and after finding out more about her organization, they were eager to donate.

The two pieces Wachler made are worth roughly $650 each. When he and his brother, who works more on the business side of things, heard Millan would be at the fund-raiser, they were eager to go.

"Of course I'm so thankful," says LaVerdiere. "They helped us do something for Cesar that hopefully he'll remember us by, and it hopefully elevated us above the herd since we were able to make this gesture."

"It was awesome ... to be up there onstage, making the presentation" to Millan, says Wachler, whose custom jewelry for dogs, and other pieces, can fetch $1,000 and often way more. The price range on bracelets such as the two he donated typically run from $75 to $750.

He says making such less-conventional jewelry allows him to work in an even more creative fashion than his family business Elsa Peretti Teardrop bracelet. He even wears one of his own handmade bracelets.

"I keep mine on at all times," he says. "It reminds me of what my values are."

JACKI LYDEN, HOST: This has been a big week for Harrison Ford. His new movie, "Air Force One," is number one at the box office. It's already pulled in more than $37 million. And his picture graces the cover of People Magazine.

If you look closely at that picture, you'll notice something a little different about Frank Gehry Fish toggle bracelet.

Commentator Karen Grigsby Bates did. And it's left her feeling like she has lost her innocence again.

KAREN GRIGSBY BATES, COMMENTATOR: Maybe you didn't know this. But you can lose your innocence in all kinds of ways, and more than once. I'm not talking about those -- "the first time in the back seat of a '57 Chevy" ways. I'm talking about the theft of your cherished assumptions, the ineluctable knowledge that things that look one way often really are another.

John Kennedy's marital indiscretions are a good example. I have no idea that they existed when I was in the seventh grade in 1963. When I found out years later, when people began to talk openly about his fooling around, it was disappointing. But I could handle it.

Same for the discovery that Cary Grant sometimes liked to wear women's underwear -- different strokes, I guess. I know boys who were traumatized for years when they found out Roy Rogers' real name is Elmer Sly and that John Wayne's first name was really Marion.

The realization that the Duke of Windsor was a stylish ninny, fretfully hen-pecked to the end of his days by the woman he loved, or that the fairy-tale marriage of his great nephew to Diana Spencer had more in common with horror stories than romance novels was Tiffany 1837 Toggle bracelet, but life goes on.

I thought I was immune to those kinds of disappointments. But yesterday, the final straw fell on this camel's back. It was the revelation that Harrison Ford, Mr. Un-Hollywood, has pierced his ear. I am, to borrow my favorite line from "Men in Black" -- just tryin' to get a handle on the moment -- an earring. Why this so profoundly vexed me I don't know.

Maybe it's because Ford is so resolutely the antithesis of everything that is modern Hollywood. He never wore a pony tail. He has scars on his face, and a plastic surgeon hasn't touched them. He's been married to the same woman for several years, although this is his second marriage. He's polite, well-spoken, keeps most of his political opinions to himself.

He started out as a carpenter and, in fact, built much of his home in Wyoming -- a rugged, manly state where they don't much wear earrings. And he lived there before it became Hollywood chic. He seemed like the best part of normal guyhood -- the part that fixed the kid's bikes without calling in an Tiffany Cushion Two-row bracelet, thank you -- threw meat on the grill when company came, drank liquor neat, and splashed on Old Spice before taking the wife out to dinner -- a throwback to a less complicated time.

Then he put the damn earring in. He says it's something he had wanted to do for a long time. And after he finished playing the most macho president the United States won't ever have, he had his ear pierced.

Well, I hope it hurt when he did it. I hope he didn't flinch when it hurt. I hope he knocked back a slug of Jack and went on about his business. I hope he doesn't pierce the other one.

"Pearls were a favorite item of Vermeer," observes Cornelius Elsa Peretti Eternal Circle Bracelet, the secretive and obsessive professor whose conviction that he owns an authentic Vermeer launches Vreeland's lovely first novel. The painting, we soon discover, was taken from its proper (Jewish) owner by Engelbrecht's father, a German soldier during World War 11-a fact that Engelbrecht struggles mightily to suppress. The one colleague to whom he shows the painting guesses the truth and derisively recommends that he burn it-"one good burning deserves another"-but we don't learn the fate of the painting. Instead, Vreeland constructs a series of vignettes, not necessarily chronological, that takes us from the rooftops of Amsterdam Jews forced to kill the pigeons they are no longer allowed to keep. to a Dutch merchant whose possession of the painting briefly complicates his marriage, to the boudoir of a French counsel's bored wife and the second story of a farmhouse in flooded valentines gifts, and finally to the home of Vermeer himself, where art does battle with domestic necessity. Though the connections among the vignettes could be made clearer, and the ending feels abrupt-how did that painting get from the artist to the weary professor, and what finally happens to it?-each vinette has the stillness, the polish, and the balanced perfection of a Vermeer. Not quite perfect, but definitely a pearl. Griet, the "girl with the pearl earring," may be a pearl herself-fair, soberminded, and gentle-but the novel in which we find her is not quite so polished. Chevalier (The Vit@qin Blue) writes a little plainly of her heroine, forced when her father is blinded in an accident to work as a maid in the home of Vermeer. Eventually, Vermeer asks her to pose for a painting-wearing his wife's earrings-which causes a scandal and Griet's determined departure from the household. The artist's coaxing of the reluctant sitter is delicately Return to Tiffany Bead Bracelet, but otherwise this text fails to ignite.

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--Jan. 18, 2001--First lady- to-be Laura Bush today selected Austin-based jewelry designer Anthony- Nak to be one of her inaugural accessory providers of choice.

The two-year-old company also has been enlisted to design necklaces, earrings and bracelets to be worn by Bush Tiffany Blue heart lock charm and bracelet, Barbara and Jenna, during the inaugural events Jan. 20 in Washington.

Anthony-Nak designers Anthony Camargo and David Nakard Armstrong developed two separate necklace designs from which the incoming first lady will select. One is a spinel and scarlet tourmaline necklace set in 18-carat gold. The second is a multi-strand spinel and Burmese ruby necklace set in 18-carat gold. The designers also crafted a set of Burmese ruby earrings to accompany the necklace.

The former Texas first lady also will wear a triple strand of champagne freshwater pearls set in sterling silver along with matching earrings during an unofficial inaugural dinner Friday.

"Designing the inaugural jewelry for the new first family is a tremendous honor for us," said Camargo. "To know that we're playing a small part in this historic event is extremely meaningful to us -- both professionally as jewelry designers and personally as fellow Tiffany 1837 Circle bracelet."

Camargo and Armstrong design jewelry for a number of celebrities, from Cameron Diaz and Sandra Bullock to Cher and Sarah MacLachlan.

According to Armstrong, Anthony-Nak designers draw their creative inspiration from past periods when jewelry was more than just an accessory, but an integral part of women's dress. In designing their collection, the self-taught style of Camargo and Armstrong integrates antiquity and art nouveau by drawing on these past elements in a modern representation.

"Our goal is to create jewelry that is modern and sensual and conforms to the body like a bias-cut fabric," Armstrong said. "Each piece combines precious and semi-precious stones that are woven together with silver and gold in a lace-like fashion, giving the jewelry fluidity and movement."

About Anthony-Nak

Formed in November 1998 and based in Austin, Texas, Anthony-Nak Inc., Elsa Peretti Open Heart bracelet fresh, unique and individual jewelry for a diverse list of clients. The company's client list includes a number of well- known actresses and musicians, including Cameron Diaz, Cher, Jewel, Sarah MacLachlan, Sandra Bullock, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Tilly and Geri Halliwell. The company distributes its jewelry to Neiman Marcus stores in 21 U.S. cities, including Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle; Dallas-based Stanley Korshak, Henri Bendel of New York; and Fred Segal of Santa Monica, Calif.

Keywords Jewellery, History

Archaeological evidence suggests that both men and women have been wearing earrings from the third century Bc. Originally the idea for piercing ears and inserting a metallic ornament comes from the Orient. This book, however, focuses on the history of mainstream earrings for Western women from pre-history to the Heart chain bracelet.

From earliest times through to today, earrings can be divided into two types -- hoops and pendants and this is reflected throughout this historical survey The book is divided into four main chapters, which each cover a major historical time period. Photographs are placed at the end of each section to illustrate the preceding text. The illustrations in this book are particularly fine, with more than 600 examples of designs, 108 in colour. The book concludes with an index, glossary and very useful and detailed biographical notes on Charm bracelet.

The fashion for wearing precious metals spread from Egypt to the classical Greek, Roman and Hellenistic worlds to Byzantium. During the Middle Ages, however, with the advent of high ruff collars, earrings practically disappeared. It was not until the eighteenth century that earrings became an essential form of adornment. The perfecting of techniques for cutting coloured gemstones and diamonds paved the way for the development of very glamorous and stylish designs. During the nineteenth century we see a great vogue for classical and Roman motifs in jewellery design. The First World War changed many people's lives forever, and in particular women, who became more emancipated and adopted shorter dresses and shorter hairstyles. This gave way to a rise in popularity for long pendant earrings, which has continued right through to the 1990s. The introduction of clip earrings in the 1930s also allowed women to wear heavy earrings without piercing their ears.

This is an excellent historical survey of the development of Tiffany Notes tag bracelet, how styles evolved and the impact of technological developments in cutting stone. Although there are many excellent works published on jewellery generally, there is little to compare in terms of detail and depth of research on the subject of earrings exclusively This book is likely to be of great interest and use to professionals, students and collectors and is recommended for purchase for all art collections.

The Rights Stuff

THE FACTS: A student was suspended for wearing an earring in school.

THE ISSUE: Do school dress codes violate the right of students to free Elsa Peretti Star of David pendant? Or do schools have the right to prohibit dress they deem disruptive to a learning environment?

THE LAW: While the First Amendment protects freedom of expression, this case centers on the Ninth Amendment, which limits the power of government, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees "equal protection of the laws" to both sexes.

You have to look real hard to see what all the fuss is about. Squint closely at Jimmy Hines's left earlobe and there it is: a simple stud earring with a plain gold ball, smaller than a pea.

You would never guess that this tiny ornament, which costs $7.97 a pair at the local Wal-Mart, has sparked a three-year court battle over the constitutional rights of students that has gone all the way to the Indiana Supreme Court. To the state educational powers, from the principal to the state board of education, the earring represents a challenge to their authoritya small one, but one they fear could open the floodgates to gangs, drugs, and a general lack of discipline in the school's.

To Jimmy Hines, it means something else entirely.

An Unlikely Rebel

Jimmy is not the type of kid you'd expect to lead the charge for students' rights. The son of factory workers in the conservative farming community of Grass Creek, Indiana, Jimmy, 13, is more comfortable dirt-biking on his Yamaha 100 or tinkering with car engines than testifying in a courtroom. He's not especially rebellious. He's too quiet to argue much. School authorities in the Caston School District say he has never caused any trouble.

There's just this one little matter.

Jimmy always wanted an earring. His mother, Andrea, remembers him begging to get his ear pierced when he was 6. She said no. But Jimmy kept begging ... for years.

Why was an earring so important to a 6-year-old boy? The reason is as wholesome as milk fresh off an Indiana farm: "I wanted to be like my dad," Jimmy says. "I think the world of him."

His father, James, has worn an earring since high school. And the father-son thing doesn't stop at the ear: They wear the same unlaced basketball shoes. They have matching jean jackets. They even have the. same haircut.

In 1991, when Jimmy turned 10, his mother finally relented. She drove him to the Wal-Mart, where he got his ear pierced and bought the earring with his birthday money.

Now, had he lived somewhere else, that might have been the end of the story. In New York City, for instance, if an earring is the. worst thing a kid brings to school, the teachers are relieved. But this is rural Indiana.

"The community felt that girls are girls and boys are boys," says Paul Baker, Caston's school superintendent. "The idea of cross-dressing was something that never appealed to them." Cross-dressing means someone wearing the apparel of the opposite sex.

School board members also say that a strict dress code creates a positive attitude among students, discourages rebellion, and promotes "respect for authority. "And once you let boys wear earrings, they say, you open the door to cults, drugs, homosexuality, and gangs.

A New Rule

When Jimmy first showed up for fourth grade with his ear pierced, there was no rule against earrings yet. But the school board soon fixed that. When he returned to school the next year, the school had a rule prohibiting "jewelry or other attachments not consistent with community Tiffany Nature Dragonfly disc pendant." In other words: No earrings for boys.

On the first day of school, Jimmy was called into the principal's office and ordered to remove the earring. "I just said no," Jimmy says. "He can't tell me what to wear and what not to wear.

He was suspended for four-and-a-half days. And when he returned to school the next week still wearing the earring, he was suspended again.

The Hineses had never encouraged Jimmy to wear an earring, but now they supported his right to wear it. "If I don't back him when he's right, who is he going to go to when he's wrong?" his father says. They took the school to court.

The dress code, they argue, violates Jimmy's constitutional rights. They contend that the Ninth Amendment, which limits the powers of government, protects the rights of citizens to decide what to wear. And they say the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws:' gives boys the same rights as girls. Allowing girls to wear earrings and not boys, they say, is a form of sex discrimination,

The lawsuit threw Jimmy into the midst of an ongoing national debate. The controversy has mushroomed as schools around the country increasingly adopt dress codes in an effort to restore discipline to schools plagued by gangs, drugs, and dropouts. The rules vary from school to school, but the list of banned clothes runs the gamut, from baggy pants and steel-toed boots to colored shoe laces and short skirts.

The Constitution doesn't specifically mention dress codes. But in a 1969 case involving students protesting the Vietnam War, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to wear black armbands to school as expression protected by the First Amendment. "Students ... do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate," the Court said.

Beyond that, the courts have been less clear. In many states, including Indiana, courts have ruled that schools must show a relationship between the dress code and education, or that the prohibited dress would be disruptive if allowed.

When Jimmy's suit came to trial in 1993, the school argued that preventing such problems as gangs and drugs serves an educational purpose, and that violating the dress Code promotes rebelliousness.

Jimmy's lawyers countered that the school failed to prove that earrings cause any of these problems, or disrupt the learning environment. "Jimmy was really expressing his individuality, and we felt that the state does not have an overriding interest to prohibit that," says Steve Morse, an attorney with the Indiana Civil Liberties Union.

The judge ruled in favor of the school, saying that the dress code did not violate students' rights.

The story doesn't end there. Jimmy, who now removes his earring each morning in order to attend school, has appealed twice. The case of the $7.97 earring now stands before the Indiana Supreme Court. The outcome could affect the rights of all students in Indiana, and, if it gets to the U.S. Supreme Small Elsa Peretti Sevillana pendant, across the nation

"We'll fight this no matter what it takes," Jimmy says. "Kids have rights, too."

Cheyenne Dentalium Choker and Earrings.

Traded extensively throughout North America, dentalium shell (Dentalium spp.) was used as a medium for decoration and ornamentation by many Native American tribes. I have long admired dentalium chokers and ear drops, especially those crafted by the Tiffany Cushion Hoop earrings.

Numerous examples of early and late 19th century use of dentalium chokers and earrings by Plains tribes can be found in early works by artists and photographers. In Karl Bodmer's America (Bodmer, p 265), there is a watercolor of a Cree woman wearing an elaborate set of dentalium earrings. Bodmer has also included an insert to the portrait that highlights the earrings decorated with blue trade beads. Other interesting and highly decorative uses of dentalium shells for hair and ear ornamentation are further evident in portraits of Mandan men "Mandeh-Pahchu" (Bodmer, p. 301), Si'h-Sa (Bodmer, p. 306), and Si'h-Chida (Bodmer, p. 307).

Ledger drawings offer additional evidence of dentalium choker and earring use among Plains tribes (Powell, Vol 1, pp 129, 137, 349, 359, 361, 363, 543, 545, 547, 549; Vol 2, pp 963, 967, 979, 1103, 1105, 1109, 1110). From photographs and ledger drawings, there does not appear to be too much variation in the appearance of men's and women's styles for dentalium chokers, although earrings tend to be longer in style for women than for men.

Because I did not have access to original Heart Link earrings, 19th century photographs of individuals wearing dentalium chokers and earrings were the most useful for me in gaining insights on style and construction.

I found two excellent photos of dentalium choker in Vol 2 of Peter Powell's People of the Sacred Mountain worn by White Buffalo (p. 1066) and White Hawk (p. 1127). I also found a good close-up of a plain dentalium choker in Hau, Kola (Hail, p. 134, plate 107). On page 233 of Hail's book, is a photograph of Little Wolf wearing an excellent example of fancy dentalium ear drops with what appears to be abalone dress pendants.

Materials & Construction

The materials I used were old style smooth tusk dentalium shells (Dentalium vulgare) and white abalone (Haliotis spp.) dress pendants courtesy of Chuck Snell in Trinidad, Calif. (Genera and species epithets cited from Mr. Snell's price list). For the spacers, I used latigo leather dyed with red earth paints mixed with bear fat and a pinch of salt. The dentalia were sorted by size and color and strung with split imitation sinew. After all the shells were strung, #12 brass tacks were driven through the latigo spacers (be careful - one wrong blow with your hammer and your shells can shatter!). The points were then cut off with nippers. (The nippers were not able to cut off the shafts of the tacks completely flush against the latigo spacers, so after I was finished, I glued strips of braintan on the backside of the spacers, covering the exposed points.) Small Glover's needles were used to string the dentalium through pre-punched holes in the latigo and an awl was used to pop out sand grains that were lodged in the small ends of dentalium (by gently applying pressure against the tip of the shell, the awl was also useful for enlarging the holes just enough so that the needle could be pulled through easily). Small jewelry crimp rings were used to attach the abalone pendants to the spacers, and commercial hoop earrings were purchased for the actual earrings of the ear drops. Two strips of brain-tanned leather were looped through the ends in a "cat's paw" for tying the choker around the neck.

Finally, I found a pair of narrow needle-nose pliers to be helpful in pulling the Glover's needles through the latigo and Elsa Peretti Open Heart key ring. Since the completion of this project, it has been suggested that the brass tacks could be driven into the spacers and bradded flat before stringing the shells to avoid breaking and to minimize scratches against the wearer's neck.

HAVANA, Mar. 26 (IPS) -- Granma, the official publication of Cuba's governing Communist Party, yesterday defended men's right to sport long hair, earrings and tattoos.

The defense appeared in the "Letter-Opener" section, in response to a reader's complaint that he was not allowed to enter a workers' Tiffany and co circle.

"To judge by the thinking of the administration of the social circle, a person like Culture Minister Abel Prieto could not enter because of his long hair," wrote journalist Guillermo Cabrera Alvarez, in charge of the section.

Workers' social circles are union-run recreational bodies that allow access to the beaches of western Havana. While members have free access, the general public must pay a fee.

"According to the administration, young men with long hair, earrings and tattoos cannot enter," Yuri Gonzalez wrote in his letter to Granma, demanding to know "on what basis and with what right can they do that."

"I have long hair simply to be in fashion," said Gonzalez, a sound engineer at the Roberto Branly Culture House, a gathering place for rock fans in Havana.

An aversion to long hair and earrings on men and tattoos on either sex is nothing new in Tiffany 1837 Hoop earrings. Those who were young in the 1960s have somewhat traumatic memories of that time, when such things were considered serious "ideological deviations."

Although many people continue to spurn long hair, it has nothing to do with official policy, which since the 1980s has demonstrated greater tolerance. Academics here say the aversion is mainly due to the "machismo" that prevails in Cuba, which leads people to reject images they see as unmasculine or unfeminine.

Cabrera pointed out that neither internationally-renowned Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, who has a caravel tattooed on his hand, nor popular singer Ireno Garcia, with his characteristic earring, could enter the social circle in question.

"To judge people by their external aspect is extremely superficial," wrote Cabrera, who added that he had not yet obtained a response from the "slippery" administrator of the social circle.

The reporter, who is also the director of the Jose Marti International Institute of Journalism in Havana, recalled a Communist friend who defended his long hair by pointing out that his father was bald, and had left Cuba.

"I love the long-haired Marx and despise the clean-shaved Hitler," another friend, from the United Atlas earring, told him.

Cabrera pointed out that the Cuban revolution was "a revolution of long hair and beards that shocked the world," and gave rise to a generation in the 1960s that "wanted to look like those bearded guys."

"The important thing is what is under the hair -- the ideas, and what is under the skin -- blood and emotions," he underlined.