We started with a dragonfly and morning glory motif for this gorgeous blue sapphire. Then this was whittled down to only dragonflies because the two motifs together were feeling a bit cumbersome somehow.. But then I was thinking about what to carve along the elongated body of the insect, and going back to the morning glory motif ended up being perfect. Lends a bit of additional fairytale whimsy to the design.
I made a sketch a while back that I knew I had to create, and then I spent much of last year’s Tucson Gem Show on the hunt for thee perfect stone for it. I think I found it in this fantastic bluish green elongated tourmaline.
5.79ct tourmaline, and .12ct diamond. 18K yellow gold.
It’s about time I made a spider ring! And happily, it was the perfect piece to use this wonderful cabochon emerald I got at last year’s gem shows. This guy is 18K yellow gold, and also has a bezel-set Australian opal. Looks like a glowing water droplet.
We had First Cicada, yes, but what about Second Cicada?
This version was inspired by the spread-wing cicada and amazingly, my client had extremely similarly shaped stones. The pink and raspberry colored stones are tourmalines, and the rest are diamonds she also had lying around, as one does. 18K yellow gold.
What better muse for a fantastic jeweled insect than a giant beautiful weird cicada? They have incredible wing structure and a slightly robotic look about them. A perfect candidate to recreate in 18K gold and multi-colored sapphires.
It is no fun to leave the backside plain. The chain used for this pendant was an antique watch chain; we did end up swapping out the circular spring-clasp for another swivel clasp to match the other side.
This dreamy full spectrum opal I picked out of literal thousands a couple years ago at the Tucson gemshow. Let’s just say that this was not the first time I was unable to pass up a stone… Lately, I’ve been looking through my stock at these gems I’ve collected over the years and decided it was time to make something for them. I’ve always loved jeweled insects, and the weirder/wilder the better, so it seemed like a perfect match: design a series of fantastic insects for these singular stones I’ve acquired over the years. Here is the first I completed: Ethiopian opal & diamonds in 18K.
I was sketching some ideas for fantastic insects, and landed here. And I love him! He’s in my shop, and is offered in 14K or 18K, white or yellow gold and you have a choice of stone. Here I have pictured an Australian crystal opal, but anything around 4mm would work: diamond, faceted or cabochon emerald or other colored stone, birthstone for example..
This ring turned out wonderfully! Custom snake ring curled around a jelly-orange carnelian. Shoulders are carved with an Old European cut diamond-set cicada, and the Pleiades constellation with the central Maia star also an Old European cut diamond.
The base has a dogwood flower carved on the inside curling around the base to the outside. Just a little something-something. More photos after the click: