This started off as an idle doodle in my notebook, then I kept passing by it on my way to other more serious pages and it would catch my eye. So I just carved it one day when I was feeling like I had a bit of free time. And it sat on my bench for a few weeks, making me look at it… It’s just not the super-carvey typicalness I usually do so I wasn’t sure if it was worth casting. Something about it is really appealing though so I finally threw it in with my last batch of castings, and did it in 22K no less. I’ve been wearing it around and I kind of love it.

I photographed it on my left hand, but I’ve been wearing it on my right. The diamond & little scrolly bit are very slightly off-set and balance better on the right hand. The diamond, by the way is a 2mm VS+ clarity top light brown diamond (maybe L-O color?), but honestly, it didn’t look it in the paper and it certainly doesn’t look it set into the metal. The only way I can tell they are off-color is if I open up a paper of F colors next to it. Those puppies are blinding.

I FINALLY ordered my hallmarks. I had 14K and 18K before, but now I also have PT950 (platinum), PD950 (palladium), 22K, and some cute little for-fun ones: a “CW” for my initials and a little butterfly. You can sort of see the butterfly on the right in this zoomed-in crop. I’m still getting used to stamping things. I was always really paranoid about stamping my pieces because many of my rings are carved all the way around and the pressure required to stamp in the mark can potentially damage the delicate bits in the carvings. I’m still figuring it out. It’s tricky to get a nice complete stamp if the ring is not totally flat on the inside (mine are rounded), or narrow (some of mine are), or is not smooth on the outside (many of mine aren’t). Also, each alloy is a different hardness, so I have to get used to how hard to push. I overdid it a bit on this one I think.

MORE photos after the jump!