Monthly Archives: April 2015

entwined snake rings

Entwined snake rings with star sapphires - 14K

I think I could carve snake rings until I was blue in the face. Here are a pair of snake wedding bands in 14K with tiny oval black star sapphires set into their mouths. I’ve never tried to set a stone on the side of a ring before, and it wasn’t all that different from normal setting, but figuring out a way to securely hold the ring solidly sideways where I could have good access for working the setting was complicated. I managed, but I have a sneaking suspicion it could have been accomplished with a bit less awkward…

Entwined snake rings with star sapphires - 14K

The original plan was to carve scales onto both snakes, but I got halfway there, and the contrast in texture just looked so nice. We decided to leave it be and I’m glad we did!

More pics after the click: Continue reading

velociraptor fossil band

Velociraptor fossil ring in 14K gold

This was a hugely fun one to design & carve: the scattered and fossilized remains of a dinosaur onto a ring! One thing that never ceases to amaze me is that they existed over a spread of like 160 million years. The Velociraptor was a relatively recent species, at a measly 75 million years old (compared to oldsters who date back to 230 million years).

velociraptor battling protoceratops

Velociraptor battling (winning, I daresay) a Protoceratops. A dinosaur (the Protoceratops, that is), incidentally, that some historians speculate might have been behind the origin of the griffin myths. They think that well-preserved fossilized skeletons of the dinosaur were found by Scythian gold miners in central Asia, who then traded with the Greeks. Stories of griffins emerged right about the time the two groups made contact.

More photos around the band here: Continue reading