Nebraska Sandhills Sunset

DESIGNER OF THE MONTH

DAVID MANDEL

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Date of Operation: 1980’s to now

Company Info:

David Mandel’s journey into the designing world of costume jewelry began as a small boy when he discovered his grandmother’s costume jewelry tucked away in a drawer. This fascination continued into his adult hood and became a catapult for his highly acclaimed career of designing and creating “One of a Kind” pieces of art in the form of Costume Jewelry.

In the 1980’s his apprenticeship with Lawrence Vrba, a highly collectible costume jeweler himself, David was encouraged by colleague and friend, Robert Sorrell to embark on a solo career of designing and creating his own masterpieces of costume jewelry. Within a short period of time he not only established himself as a highly regarded member of the fashion and costume jewelry industry but started his own jewelry company, “The Show Must Go On”.

In addition to winning the 2008 Create Your Style Swarovski Design Award, David Mandel has designed several pieces of jewelry for films including “To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Love Julie Newmar. He has also donated several pieces of this jewelry to charity and auctions over the past 20 years.

Known for his “Over the Top and Oversized” creations from anything that sparkles, glitters and shines his pieces have become highly collectible throughout North America, Europe and Japan. The quality, design and craftsmanship of his pieces are superb with most pieces being “One of a Kind” that are created with all vintage stones.

Please visit my store, "Prairie Rose Vintage Jewels" to view one of David Mandel's glorious pieces.

About Me:

I was born and raised in a small farming community in the beautiful Sandhills of Nebraska, (many moons ago!), and still live in the same. I am married to my high school sweetheart and have been for just short of 50 years. We are the proud parents of 4 children and really proud grandparents of 13 grand children. (Have you seen the plaque that says, "Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your own children?" It is quite true!) We are both retired, my DH from a rural electric company, myself from a 30 year home based business repairing antique and collectible dolls from all over the United States. I fell in love with costume jewelry in my early teens and have collected it for the last 25 years. After my retirement and a considerable amount of anguish, I decided to part with a large part of my collection of vintage dolls and costume jewelry. So began the sometimes tearful parting of me and my treasures.

I opened an account with EBay in August of 2006 and have been here since. Being the type of person that jumps into a whatever without thinking, I am still struggling to learn all that there is to this EBay selling. Just when I think I've got it, something changes and I have to start back on page 1 again. Thank goodness that there are wonderful people here on this sometimes confusing site to aid me when I get stuck. I have come in contact with so many lovely people in my 3 year journey, both other sellers and my wonderful, kind and always courteous buyers.

I hope to continue buying and selling on EBay for a long, long time. At least until they tell me it is time to unplug the computer and take an extended vacation, a very long extended vacation. I will not go quietly though, I will be kicking and screaming all the way!

HOW TO DISTINGUISH A SANDHILLER FROM NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA

We do not wash our clothes, we worsh are clothes.

We do not eat squash, we eat squorsh

We do not squash an insect, we squorsh a bug

We do not eat dinner in the evening, we eat supper. The only dinner we eat is on Sunday at noon.

We do not have creeks, we have cricks.

Our gardens do not have potatoes nor do they have tomatoes, they are filled with taters and maters. (long a’s on both)

There are no strangers in our midst, only friends we have not met as of yet.

When we ask, “How have you been?”  We really want to know.

We do not walk to our neighbor’s house, we mosey over to our neighbor’s house.

Distance is measured by; a hop, skip and a jump, less than 10 miles: a fair piece, over 10 miles.

We do not drink soda, we drink pop.

We do not vacuum the carpets, we Hoover the rugs, never minding that we are using a different brand.

There are certainly more ways to distinguish the Sandhiller from this area but this will give you a good start when you visit our beautiful area. I hope to see you soon. My door is always open; the coffee is always on and most of the time, fresh baked cinnamon rolls are ready and waiting.