Web design

I decided I wanted to design something based on a spider’s web. I sketched may designs for a brooch and decided on this idea of having a stone cut so it mimics the shape of the web. I had a large golden rutilated quartz and decided to have it re -cut to fit the web design. The web is two layers deep. I dapped the outside square wire wall so it would be curved. The bottom wire wall is also dapped, but in the opposite direction. I soldered the two outside wires together at the points. The inside wire construction was hand fabricated and then molded and cast. This made it easier to work with because I did not have multiple solder points to contend with once I was ready to put the piece together. The inside wire construction was made to fit perfectly into the points of the outside wire frame. I also dapped the inside wire frames before soldering it into place. Once the structure was finished I decided to sprinkle white and champagne diamonds around the wires. The diamonds are set in 14k white and yellow gold, while the web is constructed of silver. I thought the white and brown diamonds would complement the quartz center stone. Setting the diamonds and quartz was not easy. The inside round wire construction is 18 gauge. This is not very thick and can bend easily. I used jet set and an vise to set the stones. I love the flicks of golden striations in the quartz. The lines in this quartz remind me of a web and that was why I decided to use this stone.
Rutilated Quartz is included with “needle like” rutile crystals. This is the golden striations you see when looking at the stone. This mineral is made up mostly of titanium dioxide, or TiO2. As a mineral, rutile is very high on the refractive index. Quartz is one of the most common minerals on our planet. In fact, it makes up over 10% of planet Earth’s crust. Furthermore, quartz is quite widespread and can be found in almost every geographical environment. Rutilated quartz can also be found with black, or redish striations.
I really enjoyed this project and designing something that I did not fit into my current collections. I spent a lot of time on this piece because there is no room for error, as it would be obvious to the viewer. Ultimately, I feel it looks too much like a spider’s web. I enjoy taking inspirations from life and using that in my pieces, but in a way that it is more abstract. Let me know what you think?

New Willow and leaf necklace design

This is a design that is still very much in process. On the right is the sketch, and on the left is the beginning of the necklace made in silver. I have enjoyed carving wax leaves lately and wanted to incorporate small leaves into a branch style necklace. Along with the leaves are 3mm hollow silver balls and 3mm bezels for stones. I wanted to add in color to this necklace. Although I have not decided on the color or type of stones that I will use. Please leave any suggestions….. for the stones! I would love any comments!

Nabe Necklace

This necklace is one in a small collection of earrings and necklaces based on the same theme. Nabe means butterfly in the Korean language. I was intrigued by the wings of a butterfly while visiting the Bronx zoo with my daughter. I started sketching many different versions of this design based on this inspiration. This necklace contains lemon citrine, diamond, silver and 14k white gold. I already had the lemon citrine stones for several years, which were cut in India and shipped over. At the time I could not decide what to make with them, and they sat in my drawer until I took them out for this project.The shape of the two stones at the top right and top left mimic the shape of the wings. The wings were flat because I made a sample and had it molded and cast. I wanted some depth to this piece so I formed the wings using several different wooden dapping blocks. I prefer to use wood dapping blocks and a rawhide mallet when possible because it does not leave marks/ scratches on the metal. You could also use steel tools, but the piece may need more clean up and it will take longer to finish. With this piece I tumbled the necklace set the stones, and then soldered on the chain at the end. The tumbler polishes the piece and works great on a necklace like this where there are many curvy wires, and a intricate design.

New Leaf Designs

This suite of earrings and necklace was made right before the holidays. For the necklace, I already had the stones and leaves made, and I decided it would look nice in a frame. I laid out the stones and leaves moving them around until I came up with this composition. I then made the frame out of 18 gauge square wire. Once the frame was finished I soldered in the leaves. I then had to take the piece to someone else to have the bezel set stones soldered into place with a special tool called a laser welder. The stones in this necklace are blue zircon, swiss blue topaz, and london blue topaz. After I finished the necklace I decided I should make a couple pairs of earrings. The earring on the right side has swiss blue topaz stones that are removable with a post, and the pair on the left have swiss blue topaz stones and hang on a french wire. All of the pieces range in price from $185- $550.
I love to use blue stones in general, but blue zircon is one of my favorites. Blue Zircon is the most brilliant blue stone because of it’s high refractive index. It also has a very strong dispersion or fire, the tendency to split white light into the spectral colors. Zircon also has very pronounced birefringence or double refractivity, where the difference between the two refractive indices is unusually high. This can be often be observed with the naked eye when you look down through the table of a cut zircon. Zircon is not well known by the general public, who usually confuse it with cubic zirconia, a synthetic diamond simulant. Zircon is a natural mineral, zirconium silicate, and is found in a range of colors. Blue zircon usually comes from Cambodia or Burma.

Modern Hammer teardrop necklace

Finished Necklace! I wanted to create a necklace with my signature teardrop design from my modern hammer collection. I keep a sketch book that I use to jot down ideas especially while I am riding on the subway. I always like working with smooth and textured surfaces, and you will see that some of the links are smooth and some have my “modern hammer” texture. To create this piece I carved all of the teardrop shapes out of wax. I then linked sections of 4-8 teardrops together in the wax by carefully melting a small section of wax where two links are touching. I did this from the back side of the links. I then had the sections cast in silver. Once I got back the castings cleaning the links up was very tedious and slow. I worked on this necklace for several months. I decided I wanted to use light colored stones to keep the necklace neutral. I love green amethyst and thought the pale sage green color would be perfect. Green amethyst is in the quartz family and has a hardness of 7 on the mohs scale. The green amethysts are pear shaped and about 10 x 15 mm in size. I decided the bezel setting would look best with this necklace. After I soldered on the settings, I linked the necklace together by rivets. I decided on rivets because I wanted the necklace to look seamless. Setting the stones was not an easy feat! Because this is a larger necklace I had to use a lot of jet set before putting the necklace in a vise for setting the stones. Jet set is a type of plastic moldable once you heat it up using hot water. As the plastic cools it becomes hard. Finally I was able to polish the piece and it was finished!!! Below is a sketch I did of the necklace.

Modern Hammer teardrop sketch

Sketch of new teardrop necklace.