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(Classic Steve Ruse design.)
Owner: Steven and DeAnna Ruse
What: Handmade sterling silver rings, other jewelry, & carvings
Started: About 30 years ago
Website: www.stevenrusedesigns.com
Contact: rusedesigns@cox.net or 805.683.0338
or write: P.O. Box 6856
Santa Barbara, CA 93160
2011 Tucson Show Schedule:
The River Park Inn Show (part of the "Frontage Road Shows"--Pueblo Gem & Mineral Show)
Room 108
About Steven: Steven grew up around the world, attending schools in Singapore and Australia, and he worked different jobs every year for 7 years (and beyond) while he lived north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska. He's always been a builder; he is a master of many construction skills from welding to diving, pipe-fitting to pile-driving (he's helped build bridges and docks), and along the way, he also became a journeyman carpenter and ironworker. He retired from the diving Industry and began importing coral and seashells. At one point, his wife asked him what he was going to do with all of it, make jewelry? And so he began wire-wrapping rings for his wife while he did a hospital stint for a broken back. He quickly realized he wanted to cast and solder, so he enrolled in a beginning jewelry class, which he quit after seeing that the techniques weren’t for him. He finally found an ancient Mesopotamian Copper Age techniques class that suited his skills and vision for his jewelry.
About Steven's jewelry: Steven's commitment to creating each and every ring design and never mass-producing has earned him a faithful following. Over the years, he's sold over 44,000 rings. Although he has hired apprentices to complete the grinding and polishing of his distinctive rings, he continues to be involved in the design and making of each of his one-of-a-kind pieces.
(Steve with his daughter Ambershawn.)
Start-up cost. His coral collection. When he first came to the Gem Show with his coral jewelry, there were about three venues.
What Steven likes best about the gem show. There’s no other venue in the entire world where you can walk into a spot and the seller knows more about the subject, speciality, item, and process, and will talk with you about it. It’s their passion, they love it.
Best advice: First, love what you do. Second, you've got to make the buyer feel comfortable saying to you, the producer, what went wrong here?
  
(Pendant, walrus ivory carving, amethyst point ring.)
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