Kirks Folly, Marianna Jacobs, Somers and Brand

We’re behind on our blogging, been busy at work, but here are some tidbits and observations.

Kirks Folly will be bringing its whimsical fairy dust, jewelry and home décor back to QVC on Sept. 29. The line, which beacons the angels among us, is either the silliest thing you have ever seen or something you fanatically love. Jenniefer Kirk posted on Facebook about her return.

Back in the day Jenniefer and then-QVC host Judy Crowell would get dressed up in elaborate outfits, and sell Kirks Folly from an elaborate set. Don’t know if we’ll be seeing that again.

Sterling silver designer Marianna Jacobs and her husband Richard have been on several home shopping networks selling their handmade jewelry. Most recently they did a stint on Evine before joining HSN.

Marianna was on HSN host Colleen Lopez’s “Designer Gallery” show on Sunday with her Travelers’ Journey line and it looked like she had a makeover. She was totally glam – blown-out hair, tailored attire, totally different that her former free hair, casual hippy kind of look. And her husband Richard isn’t mentioned, as far as we could tell. They used to appear on-air together. What’s up?

We briefly saw Suzanne Somers – who sent from HSN to Evine to QVC — recently with QVC host Rick Domeir. We thought she looked good as she touted her new book, which in part touts her long-term marriage. Our mom thought Somers looked terrible. We will tell you what was terrible: The way Domeir was fawning over her.

By now we all know that HSN, in advance of Hurricane Irma, let its employees go off the safety and packed up a crew to televise from makeshift studios in Nashville, Tenn. We have seen a promo several times now where our buddy Bill Brand, HSN’s president, thanked viewers for their good wished and prayers. With Mindy Grossman’s exit to join Oprah Winfrey’s Weight Watchers leaving a vacuum at the top at HSN, Brand may be her replacement.

Offerings And The Jacobs Back On ShopHQ Tuesday

Has anyone seen ShopHQ’s promos for the return of Marianna and Richard Jacobs’ Offerings sterling silver line on the network?

We think they are goofy. We’re hoping that ShopHQ purposely made them goofy.

ShopHQ hosts, including Lynne Schacher, appear and loudly proclaim “guess who’s back?,” in an exaggerated fashion.

Back in the day Lynne, Marianna and Richard Jacobs

Anyway, the Jacobs’ handmade jewelry is already on ShopHQ’s website, and it ain’t cheap.

http://www.shophq.com/b/jewelry/offerings/?shopall=1&icid=DN-Jewelry-Right-2-ShopAll

The soulful couple, who also sell under the name Sajen Silver, have their own website.

http://www.offeringsjewelry.com/

The Jacobs left ShopHQ was a brief stint at HSN. But they will be back to Minnesota this week, as they posted on Facebook. Hence all those promos.

“Deja-vu at ShopHQ…it feels like we’ve been here before!?! Offerings jewelry re-launches this Tuesday October 7th, live on ShopHQ at 10AM and 7PM…guess the hosts?” they wrote.

HSN’s Honking Larimar Ring Is A Temptation We Can’t Refuse

We should have, but we couldn’t, resist ordering HSN’s TS, a huge larimar ring, and the matching pendant, Saturday.

It came from the husband-wife team of Sajen Silver, Marianna and Richard Jacobs, who defected from ShopNBC to HSN several years ago.

HSN’s larimar pieces, photo from Colleen’s blog

As host-with-the-most Colleen Lopez explained, along with the Jabobs, creamy blue and white larimar (it reminds of us a cloud-ribboned sky) is a one-source stone, coming from the Dominican Republic.

In fact, here is the dope on larimar from HSN.com:

Can’t make it to the Islands? Then bring a piece of paradise home with this serene larimar ring. This rare stone, reminiscent of the Caribbean’s sun-dappled waters, comes from only one place on earth — the southwest mountains of the Dominican Republic.

Ancient volcanic eruptions there infused this stone with the beautiful blue-green color patterns that make it so unique. Swathed in a curving, contemporary, sterling silver setting, it exudes a graceful charm that’s the perfect complement to your casual yet elegant style.

Colleen actually did a great blog on “the dolphin stone” (hey, Colleen blogging is our turf!)

http://blogs.hsn.com/blue-stone-atlantis_15837/?cm_sp=LNB-_-Blogs-_-ColleenLop&cm_re=LNB-_-Blogs-_-ColleenLop

By the way, we got THE warning from QVC about returning too many items. We’ll be blogging on that little gem in the next couple of days,

HSN Host Colleen Lopez Explains The Chemistry Of Bronze

After we wrote a blog headlined “Bronze Is Not A Noble Metal To Us, HSN!,” we got a nice response from HSN host Colleen Lopez.

We were complaining, what a surprise, about Marianna and Richard Jacobs being the latest HSN vendors to be doing jewelry in bronze, rather than silver and gold, whose prices have skyrocketed. Colleen had described bronze as a noble metal, and that sparked a debate about whether bronze was in fact “noble.”

Here is what Colleen told us today:

Hi Homeshoppingista!

I wanted you to have our thoughts on Bronze…. First – we love the warm patina, the wearability and affordability of bronze. As you have noticed, many of our designers are working with silver, bronze and copper.

The bronze we sell on HSN is 92% Copper (with zinc and/or tin as used in the alloy). Copper is often referred to as a noble metal. Although it’s not technically categorized as a noble metal, like gold or platinum, it does have some properties that allow it to behave similarly to the noble metals.

Copper or Bronze is very resistant to corrosion and will never rust. Copper is used in the alloy of other noble metals (gold and silver) – in fact 10K could technically have as much copper as gold in the formula.

Just wanted you to know where we were coming from when talking about Bronze. Hopefully metal prices will come back down to earth so we can afford the true noble metals – in the mean time, we love being able to offer a beautiful, long lasting alternative.

Thanks for keeping us on our toes.

Thanks for taking the time to write us, Colleen.

Bronze Is Not A Noble Metal To Us, HSN!

Et tu, Brute?

Yes, we’re talking to you, Marianna and Richard Jacobs.

This married couple, formerly of ShopNBC, does a jewelry line called “Sajen Silver” for HSN, made by hand in Bali.

Now we have Sajen Bronze on HSN, on host Colleen Lopez’s Designer Gallery show on HSN Sunday night.

Sajen's bronze peacock pendant

With the cost of sterling silver and gold skyrocketing, HSN’s silver vendors are now using cheaper metals such as bronze, copper or doing vermeil.

First it was Studio Barse doing bronze. Then it was Michael Anthony, formerly USA Gold, doing vermeil pieces. Then it was Chaco Canyon doing copper. Now it’s Sajen Silver doing bronze.

Colleen may be praising it to high heaven.

“It’s a noble metal,” she said.

Richard chimed in to say that it was so exciting to introduce a new metal.

but it stinks. We want silver!

“Genuine bronze” indeed, HSN.