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.

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.

Many more photos after the click:

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.