Monthly Archives: May 2011

tree | wave | operculum

Tree-wave-operculum ring in Palladium

I carved this ring for an Australian surfer/rock climber/outdoorsy kind of guy. We have the weather-worn beach tree, the breaking wave, and an operculum shell, which is a hard spiraly bit that gastropods use to seal their shells tightly closed. We used to find them on the beaches in Central America but I had not previously known what they were actually called.

The ring is carved and cast in palladium.

Tree-wave-operculum ring in Palladium

Tree-wave-operculum ring in Palladium

Tree-wave-operculum ring in Palladium

Tree-wave-operculum ring in Palladium

Tree-wave-operculum ring in Palladium

Tree-wave-operculum ring in Palladium

turquoise and palladium ring

Palladium and Nevada Turquoise Ring

This is an engagement/wedding ring made from palladium with a gorgeous turquoise piece from Nevada. The couple I get my US turquoise from prospect, mine, cut, and polish all their own turquoise. They do not enhance or stabilize the stone in any way. They are awesome and their stones are amazing. This stone is from their Dyer Blue mine in Nevada.

Palladium and Nevada Turquoise Ring

Palladium and turquoise ring

Palladium and turquoise ring

More of their stones I have in stock:

Turquoise from Nevada and New Mexico

The large piece at 7 o’clock is amazing: it has reddish brown matrix and chunks of jet-black chert in it. The piece at 5 o’clock (has a pretty mossy green tinge) is turquoise that formed inside of a brachiopod clam fossil. (How cool!)

tapered ginkgo and rose band

Carved band with roses and ginkgo leaves and diamonds; 14K white gold

A carved band with rose clusters and ginkgo leaves scattered across the top. Also: five 2.5mm diamonds; hooray! This ring turned out great, I think. It was the wedding band to go with a 3/4ct diamond solitaire. The effect was quite impressive.

Carved band with roses and ginkgo leaves and diamonds; 14K white gold

Leaves of the ginkgos act as the “prongs” to hold the diamond in place.

Carved band with roses and ginkgo leaves and diamonds; 14K white gold

Carved band with roses and ginkgo leaves and diamonds; 14K white gold

More views of the ring. Tapered bands like this are surprisingly comfortable and non-constricting to wear. I am a huge fan.

And lastly, we have our model wearing the band and showing off her finest gray studio hoodie. Fancy!

Carved band with roses and ginkgo leaves and diamonds; 14K white gold

first jewels

Oh my poor, poor neglected blog. Sorry folks for the dramatic pause in pretty pictures.. I have actually been very busy and have not had enough function left in my brain to keep my blog populated. I bought a “fixer” house, moved, had a nasty bout of colds/flues that rampaged through the household, tore apart and remodeled the bathroom, and now am working on the kitchen. And we had family visiting. And I got way behind in my orders doing all of this.. (But I’m caught up now!) Whew. Onward.

I have a number of custom pieces I have made over the past few months and I will get them posted here over the next week. For now, I just wanted to point out how amazingly cool Michelle Obama’s jewelry was at the recent Correspondent’s Dinner. I usually think her formal ensembles are pretty great and whatnot but this time her jewelry picks were completely AWESOME AWESOME and AWESOME!!!

Michelle Obama's jewelry ensemble for the 2011 Correspondent's Dinner

The three layered necklaces. The pewter color scheme here is really nice and unusual and goes well with the dusty purple color of her dress. All pieces are pretty sweet: the chain lariat choker that hangs over the lower necklace of interesting metal beads.. But what really makes this for me though is the heavy cable chain on top. Too cool.

Michelle Obama's jewelry ensemble for the 2011 Correspondent's Dinner

Here’s a close up of the bracelet stack. Snakes! I love it when people wear snake jewelry.

(I have no idea who designed any of this; if anyone does, please mention it in the comments for me? Thanks!)

Michelle Obama's jewelry ensemble for the 2011 Correspondent's Dinner

The entire ensemble. Did I mention how awesome I think this is? Check out her snake ring too. The earrings are whatevs; I don’t have anything to say about them.

Anyway, I was super impressed with her jewelry choices (her stylist’s jewelry choices? Does she select her own clothing/jewelry for functions like these? I really have no idea how these things work) and I think she looked flipping gorgeous.

EDITED: I found out who the jewelry designer was: Irit Design for all pieces, including the earrings. Sterling silver and diamonds! LOVE it all!