“Put a name to your beautiful custom designed jewelry and you’ll see an increase in sales,” recommended one of Ron Needham’s buyers more than fifteen years ago. With that in mind, Gold Craft Associates officially launched their first personalized line, “The Ronaldo Collection” and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Ronaldo Collection was so successful, in fact, the name stuck. Everyone now knows Ron as Ronaldo, a designer jewelry artist who has spent more than 65,000 hours honing and developing his skills. His superior workmanship and incomparable attention to detail has made him known throughout the United States.

“The creation of The Ronaldo Collection is close to my heart because it lets me express my life’s true passion,” the artist said. Ronaldo’s heart may be in the design, but his head is definitely in the business. As a successful businessman, Ronaldo has enjoyed 30 years of success in the direct sales, marketing and motivational fields. His business ventures have included more than 32 mall locations, as well as selling his products from 900 different jewelry stores, and being represented by more than 1,000 sales professionals in 35 states and five countries.

Gold Craft Associates/The Ronaldo Collection has exhibited with Helen Brett shows for at least 15 years, enjoying success at all four shows in Memphis and New Orleans. Ronaldo likes to ensure show attendance and drive buyers to his booth with incentives such as coupons and gift certificates. He builds excitement by sending a postcard to current and prospective buyers before each show. “People don’t have to attend shows anymore because of the Internet. They attend shows because they want to get away from the stress of their lives and have a good time,” he comments.

“Personalized customer service is the key. Rather than spend money on advertising, I would rather put that money into taking care of my customer. We do business like it was done in the 50s or the 60s. I have direct contact with the customer,” said Ronaldo. They offer a lifetime warranty on all of their jewelry. They know that if the customer is satisfied, the business will build naturally by word-of-mouth referrals.

To keep up with the pace of his business, Ronaldo has trained 48 artisans in this intricate art form. Every piece from Gold Craft Associates/The Ronaldo Collection is handmade in Laconia, Indiana. Each piece begins as simple strands of wire and loose stones. One of the master artisans then sculpts the wire into a beautiful piece of jewelry. But, the master artisan doesn’t even start the piece until the order has been placed – just another way Ronaldo makes sure the customer gets great service.

There are no molds or machine made jewelry pieces in The Ronaldo Collection. Ronaldo has developed and copyrighted more than 892 designs. He uses only the finest raw materials, including 14kt gold wire, platinum, sterling silver and 14kt rolled gold to create his masterpieces. Once the designs are sculpted in metal, they are finished with top quality gemstones, semi-precious stones, cameos, pearls and coins.

Some excellent examples of Ronaldo’s skill can been seen in the Monarch series, a collection of single, double, and triple basket weave styles. These weaves have hundreds of bends and turns that took over a year to develop. ”Working with 14kt gold and platinum is in quite a different league than 14kt rolled gold or silver,” said Ronaldo, “These materials are so hard, it is like trying to bend and twist a coat hanger with your fingers. Imagine trying to wrap a coat hanger around a pretzel without scratching or denting the hanger or breaking the pretzel.” It sounds impossible, but that is exactly what Ronaldo does when he uses 14kt gold wire and platinum to wrap around precious gemstones, pearls and cameos.

Another outstanding example of master craftsmanship is Ronaldo’s Byzantine necklace. The Byzantine necklace has over 780 individually made links, all made perfectly to within 1/1000 of an inch. Each link is then put together one piece at a time. This creation can take up to a week to complete.

Take a close up look at Ronaldo’s exquisite work at the Helen Brett shows. For the latest booth information click here. You can also see examples of his beautiful work at www.designerjewelrybyronaldo.com.

Ronaldo Shares Tips for Jewelry Care
Cleaning your jewelry:
The easiest and most inexpensive way to clean your solid 14kt gold, platinum, 14kt rolled gold and sterling silver jewelry is to use any ordinary jewelry cleaner. Ronaldo recommends The World’s Wonder™. It’s a great product that doesn’t leave any residue on your jewelry.

Simply pour some of the cleaner in a small plastic bowl and drop in your piece. Let it soak for a few minutes, use an old soft toothbrush to clean the crevices and rinse with warm water. You can let your jewelry dry naturally or use a cloth. We like to use a blow dryer on jewelry because it dries the jewelry quicker and doesn’t leave any water spots. Once you’re finished, put a plastic lid on the bowl to keep the cleaning solution from evaporating. The cleaning solution can be reused.

Cleaning Sterling Silver:
No matter what you do, silver will tarnish. First use the jewelry cleaning method described above. You may have to let the piece soak longer than a few minutes, scrub it with the toothbrush a little longer, or even go through the cleaning process more than once. If the tarnish still doesn’t come out, there are excellent silver cleaners on the market. Just remember to read the labels carefully and follow the instructions on the container.

CAUTION:
Certain gemstones and semi-precious gemstones can be damaged if you use an ultrasonic machine to clean your jewelry. These machines use an acid based solution that you mix with water. This solution will damage opals, pearls, and many of the precious and semi-precious gemstones. It will pull out the pigment in naturally porous stones and many precious and semi-precious stones.