Category Archives: Rings

breaking wave solitaire

Hand-carved Hokusai-inspired Great Wave solitaire with blue-green tourmaline, 14K yellow gold

Hokusai’s Wave-inspired solitaire, set with a wonderful sea-green Tourmaline. I gave the ring a satin/brushed finish for the most part, but with some brighter bits at the wave crest, etc.

Hand-carved Hokusai-inspired Great Wave solitaire with blue-green tourmaline, 14K yellow gold

Colored stones are often cut with deep bulbous pavilions, and while I prefer the tidy look of a bezel setting, sometimes I hate to enclose so much of the stone. However, carving a little opening in the side of the setting creates a little window to view the pavilion, and also lets additional light enter the stone for a brighter overall effect up top.

I continued the carved design around the gallery view and side window: one side has the lower wave/water, and this side I carved some clouds scudding across the sky.

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1/4ct peacock band

Hand-carved Peacock Feather wedding band with 1/4ct diamond, 18K gold

My original version of this ring was carved for a stone around 2.5mm in size, but in the past few years, I’ve altered it to fit a stone that was closer to 4mm.. So, I decided to carve a new ‘master’ wax that was specifically designed around a 1/4ct / 4mm stone and here is the first piece made from that new mold.

Hand-carved Peacock Feather wedding band with 1/4ct diamond, 18K gold

19K rose gold with a vivid peacock blue diamond (the diamond has been heated and/or irradiated to create and intensify the color. It was likely a brownish color originally). More pics after the click:

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ginkgo solitaire #3

Custom designed & hand-carved Ginkgo Leaf Solitaire in 18K yellow gold with 1.5ct diamond and small yellow diamond in base

I love LOVE this design. I’ve re-created it now three times over the past decade for three different diamonds and every time it’s my favorite.

Custom designed & hand-carved Ginkgo Leaf Solitaire in 18K yellow gold with 1.5ct diamond and small yellow diamond in base

This iteration I did more of a brushed/satin finish on the leaves and upper face of the ring, but polished bright the inside and sides you see above, around the bezel leading up to the stone, and the tips of the fluttery ginkgo leaves.

18K with a hair under 1.5ct diamond.

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emerald cabochon ring

Custom designed & hand carved Emerald cabochon pear Bat-wing statement ring, 18K yellow gold

This is a ring I carved for this sweet cabochon emerald I impulse-bought at the Tucson Gem Show a few years back. Usually, I have a list of things I’m specifically getting for current or upcoming projects, or just replacing stock I use regularly. If I bought random things, I usually bought them because they were cool (but inexpensive!); this one was an exception though, as emeralds are generally not inexpensive, and I could not resist the size 🙂

Anyway. I don’t usually have spare time to cook up cool rings for cool stones I couldn’t pass up. I LOVE how it turned out and need to do this more often.

18K yellow gold, emerald from Columbia.

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