Engagement Ring

I have been working on this ring since August of last year. This is my engagement ring. The center ceylon sapphire (3.80 cts.) is the original stone from my ring. I had the stone recut several years ago, and it sat in my desk because I could not decide on a design. Over the past 12 years I have remade this ring 4 times. I am happy to finally say this is my engagement ring and I will not be remaking it again! The metal in this ring is a combination of 14k white gold and 10k white gold. The outside edges of the ring and the setting for the sapphire was designed on a computer using a cad program. Once, I cast this part of the ring I was able to cut and solder the square wires in place. I then had 8 square wire bars set with diamonds. These strips were separate from the ring at this point. Once the ring was pre-polished I took the ring to have the bars laser welded into place. This was the only way I could get the overlapping effect that I wanted with the diamonds set into the square wires. Then, the center setting was set with diamonds as well as the prongs, and the sapphire was set at the end. The overall height of the ring is only the depth of the sapphire stone, thus it sits low on your finger. The width is almost 3/4″  so it is a wide ring, but with the negative space created in the ring it does not have a wide or heavy feeling to the design. This ring is bold, but elegant at the same time, and I know I will enjoy wearing it.

Custom Leaves Pendant

I Just finished this custom designed pendant. The customer wanted a teardrop shaped amethyst stone with some of my leaves. On the left side, I created the bezel setting for the stone, and then carved the waxes to fit around the setting. The leaves were then cast, on the right is the finished necklace. The five leaves signify the customers’ family as he has three children, and the amethyst stone is his wife’s birthstone. This custom piece cost around $300.00 , not bad for a custom designed piece of jewelry. I was able to keep the cost in the price range of what the customer wanted to spend, and create a one of a kind custom necklace that I am sure will be loved by the recipient.

Nambe Necklace

This is one of a series of necklaces in the nambe collection. As you can see there are some sketches in the background, I was sketching a lot of this shape with curving lines inside the shape. This necklace is made of silver with citrine, amethyst, rhodolite garnet, and aquamarine stones. Although I usually do not make a piece with so many colors, I felt like this design was simple enough to carry off multiple colors. The stones are bezel set and are graduated in size. The largest stone at the bottom is a golden citrine with a checkerboard cut across the top of the stone. I love this type of faceting. It makes the stone sparkle and shine more than a traditionally cut stone. The necklace was constructed in silver, then molded and cast. You can read my previous post which shows the castings laid out before I decided what to make with them. I enjoy using rhodolite garnet in my pieces. The deep reddish/ purplish color is very striking.
Rhodolite is the name used to describe the lovely pinkish, purplish or purple-red garnet which is a mixture of Almandite and Pyrope. This popular garnet shows a wonderful velvety red with a fine purple or raspberry colored undertone. This name was first used in the late nineteenth century to describe the new rhododendron shade of garnet discovered in North Carolina.
Unlike the common red garnets which tend towards a very deep red with a brownish secondary hue, rhodolite is lighter and brighter in color. The best specimens are a rich raspberry that can sometimes resemble the more expensive rubellite tourmaline.

Nambe Collection

I did not know what to do with these castings when I got them back from the caster. I spent a long time moving them around to form a necklace, bracelet, or earrings. I felt like I was trying to solve a puzzle and the castings were my puzzle pieces. After a while I decided I should just take photos of the various ideas so I could look back at them and decide later. This photo was one of many ideas to make a large necklace with the castings. Ultimately, I did not make this design or many of the photos I took that day. Designing is a process and sometimes it just comes to you right away, and other times it takes a while to figure it out. To me this is a form of “sketching” weather I am actually sketching in my book, or taking castings and rearranging them in many configurations to take photos; the process is the same. I enjoy the process of designing something I did not several years ago. The path to designing a piece is never the same for me, I am always drifting into new waters and thrilled to see where it leads.

Leaf style Ring

This is the ring I made while I was working on the large leaf necklace. This ring is composed of silver, Swiss blue topaz, sky blue topaz, London blue topaz, and diamonds.
I have a love of London blue topaz. This stone has been used in many of my creations. The dark blue color is mesmerizing.
London Blue Topaz is a medium to dark grayish blue, sometimes described as “steely” or “inky.” Many London Blues have a slightly greenish tone when viewed from certain angles. The reason that blue topaz is so reasonably priced is that topaz is a very abundant material. But natural topaz occurs mainly in white (colorless) and brown; natural blue topaz is actually very rare. Virtually all the blue topaz in the market is produced by treating white topaz with radiation. Material treated this way is likely to be radioactive and may require several months of storage before the radioactivity decays to safe levels. There are very strict rules in place to protect not only consumers but also the cutters and gem dealers who handle these gems on a daily basis.

Gems and Leafs

This is the beginning of a large necklace. I created the leaves in many sizes and had them cast. I cast about 100 different leaves. I decided I wanted to use up some of the blue stones I had in stock. So the stones you see are sky blue topaz, Swiss blue topaz, London blue topaz, aquamarine, and blue zircon. As you can see there are many different shapes and sizes. Oval, teardrop, round, princess, and emerald cut stones. I spent a long time just making the settings for the stones. I counted up the carat weight of the combined stones and it is around 225 cts. This necklace was like making a puzzle, I had to create the look with combining the leafs and the settings for the stones to create a piece that had continuity and made sense. This necklace was very time consuming. Overall, it took me a year to get it to look just right. There were many times I just wanted to give up, but I knew I would eventually complete it to my liking. I ended up also making a ring, earrings, brooch, and the large leaf bracelet that I blogged about last week with all of these castings and stones. First I will put up a photo of the brooch and earrings, and next week talk about the necklace. Let me know what you think!

Engagement Ring

This is a custom engagement ring that I created recently. The ring was made with silver and 14k white gold. The center stone is a 6mm princess cut in a modern prong type setting, with the 3mm round stones on each side of the center stone set in bezels. The band also has 3 -1.5mm stones on each side set into the band. The band is my modern hammer texture look. This surface carving is very popular for engagement/ wedding bands. I have made many different rings for brides and grooms with this surface treatment. I think it is popular because it has a hammered look, but it is not hammered. I create this texture in the wax by using carving tools before I cast the piece. The surface looks nice over time and scratches are not as noticeable as on a smooth band. The stones in this ring are cz and white sapphires. I love using white sapphires in place of diamonds. White topaz is another stone that I use for this purpose, but I find that white sapphires have so much more sparkle and are clearer than white topaz.
Sapphires are a type of aluminum oxide which forms in a crystalline pattern. There are numerous uses for sapphires, ranging from industrial lasers to fine jewelry, and the stones also come in a wide range of colors, despite the traditional association with the color blue. Sapphires also come in purple, yellow, and brown, and they may have unusual properties which cause them to reflect light in a star pattern or change color under certain lighting conditions. Sapphires tend to be much less expensive than diamonds, and socially conscious purchasers who are concerned about conflict diamonds can avoid political issues by purchasing sapphires instead.

Leaf cuff bracelet

second view

Leaf Cuff Bracelet

This bracelet happened by chance. I had cast many leaf sections for a very large necklace and realized that I had extras left over. I laid out the leaves with the largest ones in the center and then the smaller ones on either side so the bracelet is graduated in the size of the leaves. The smallest leaves are in the back and you can see this in the other photo. I decided to make some of the leaves with a matte finish, and others with a shinny polished surface. This adds depth to the piece. As blue is my favorite color I added in the oval shaped blue topaz and aquamarine stones in various shades of blue. This is a large bracelet and quite a statement piece. I love the curves, twists, and folds in the leaves and it adds to the sculptural aspect of this bracelet. Since I had these pieces leftover from another necklace I did have to tweak the leaves a bit to make it fit into a cuff formation. I did use a thick silver continuous wire on the underneath side of the cuff to add strength and soldered the leaves to this wire and some of the leaves are soldered to each other for added support. In the end I decided to add 1mm diamonds to this bracelet. I was thinking of dew drops and that is what inspired me to add this detail. There is about .30cts of diamonds in this bracelet. Sometimes while creating jewelry I create an unexpected piece that was not planned, but I like not always having everything planned out and just to go with the flow. Let me know what you think of this bracelet.

Web design another view

Another view of Web brooch