Yearly Archives: 2016

art nouveau snake pendant + pearl

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art nouveau snake pendant + Cortez pearl 18K

I just finished this one and I love it! I went full-on art nouveau inspired on this one and added a rainbow pearl drop from the Sea of Cortez. This one is 18K gold, and I’ll be listing it in my shop soon. (But send me an email if you don’t yet see it and would like pricing info.)

art nouveau snake pendant + Cortez pearl 18K

The amazing thing about these pearls is the variety of color in each pearl. Generally with Tahitians, you see one dominant overtone color, like green, or magenta. With pearls from the Sea of Cortez (a completely different species of saltwater oyster—different genus, in fact), you tend to see a variety of rainbowy colors: pink, green, lavender, blue all on the same pearl. Colors change depending upon the light, the background color they are next to, etc. They tend to also have a lighter bodycolor as well. I absolutely love them.

art nouveau snake pendant + Tahitian pearl 14K

I also made a version in 14K gold with a Tahitian black pearl drop. Yum!

I’ll be offering this pendant in 14K or 18K white or yellow gold, with your choice of pearl drop. The above two are ready-to-wear as is.

art nouveau snake pendant + Tahitian pearl 14K

Me wearing the 14K/Tahitian pearl version, to give you a sense of scale. Many more pics after the click: Continue reading →

baroque pearl drop + snake

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OOAK baroque Tahitian pearl w/carved 18K snake pendant

This giant baroque pearl from Tahiti was just so damned cool there was no way it wasn’t coming home with me. Because if its unique shape and overall spectacular coolness, I had to create something custom for it and only it, as it wouldn’t fit in any of my more “normal” sorts of pearl cup mountings, nor would a simple bail do it any sort of justice. Not surprisingly, I decided to go with a snake, as a means of feeding my several years’ long snake obsession, and because they are cool, but also because snakes are very forgiving motifs—you can drape and position them whichever way you please. Perfect for this blobular pearly awesomeness.

OOAK baroque Tahitian pearl w/carved 18K snake pendant

This baroque Tahitian drop measures an insane 17.5mm x 12.7mm. I really love this pearl; it has a gorgeous lustre and an incredible silvery oatmeal color. I have a particular affinity towards the lighter toned pearls—silvers and golden colors—over the more classic black Tahitians, and this one just kills me. The snake & chain are 18K gold.

This guy is for sale, by the way. Send me an email or check my Etsy shop for details. Thanks!!

Many more images after the click, ya’ll…

Continue reading →

angel ring

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18K custom angel ring

Angel ring! This one was a lot of fun, but very frustrating at times to carve. I probably cut her nose off 5 times in the process of shaping her teeny face, and had to reposition and rebuild a lot of body parts (toes, boobs, etc.) that were originally just a little… off. I’m really happy with how she turned out. I had fun wearing her around my studio while taking photos and getting the packaging ready, and then I was sad to see her go.

She is 18K gold and is holding an antique 3mm Old European Cut diamond.

18K custom angel ring

18K custom angel ring

Many more photos after the click: Continue reading →

guatemalan bird huipil

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guatemalan bird huipil

Some years ago, I found myself holed up in an estuary in El Salvador for several months. While I was there, I met a woman who had a collection of textiles from Central America. She had a Guatemalan huipil that was embroidered with birds and I thought it was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. I’ve been pining after this textile for years. My mom spends a lot of time in Mexico and was on her way to Oaxaca to visit some friends. While she was there, she found an importer of used textiles, and digging through them, she found my bird huipil!

guatemalan bird huipil

A couple more images after the link: Continue reading →

mermaid and shell ring

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Hand-carved Mermaid ring, 18K, blue diamond

One of my first rings I carved ever (oh so long ago) was a mermaid ring with two mermaids up each side, very art nouveau (in fact, I think I used a photo of an old art nouveau lamp as inspiration for one of my girls). It turned out kind of great, even though the anatomy was a little, well, off, let’s just say, and the stone I chose, while sentimental, wasn’t exactly a show-stopper. I still have that ring. Why I didn’t carve figures for so long, I don’t know why, because while very challenging, tiny figures in gold are just so damned cool!

This new one is in 18K with a little 5 point blue diamond; she’s around 8mm wide. Now I’ve got three more rings in the works with tiny figures on them and I cannot wait. There’s no stopping now!

Hand-carved Mermaid ring, 18K, blue diamond

Lots more photos after the click! Continue reading →

peter & christel’s rings

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Hand-carved dogwood + sparrow wedding bands

These are a pair of bands I carved for some friends. They call each other “Spatzle” (“sparrow” in German, possibly in dialect), so I carved a pair of sparrows sitting on a branch. And because the dogwoods were fully in bloom when I made these, and blooming dogwoods are about the best, I added a single flower across from the birds. 14K white gold.

Hand-carved dogwood + sparrow wedding bands

More pics after the jump: Continue reading →

mistletoe collar necklace

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hand-carved 14K mistletoe collar necklace

Back in 2012, I made a set of mistletoe-themed wedding rings for a couple in The Netherlands. A few months ago, they asked me to make a mistletoe collar-style necklace to match. It is in 14K white gold.

hand-carved 14K mistletoe collar necklace

I had never made anything quite like this before, either such a large carved and cast piece, or indeed very many necklaces at all. I had no idea how to calculate accurately how much gold I would need, nor was I sure even how much time it would actually take to carve; it was all more than a little experimental. But, as you can see, things went extremely well, and the finished piece turned out quite awesome.

A bunch more images + some progress wax shots. Continue reading →

tucson gem show 2016

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saguaro

Establishing Tucson shot: it was a warm dry day in the desert metropolis. The policeman directing traffic between the AGTA and GJX shows laughed at me when he realized I was taking a photo of a cactus. I think saguaro cacti are just so damned cool though. The ones in the city are in downright pristine shape too, very photogenic; I guess the critters aren’t as likely to choose the bustling city to build their homes, so the urban saguaro has few holes or gnawed-off portions. Probably gets watered more regularly too.

pile o treated sapphires

This is not the first large vat of multi-colored sapphires I ran across at the show. In previous years the vendors were kind of sketched by me taking photos of their merchandise, but now they are quite game. I guess they know it’ll just end up on some instagram or blog somewhere. Speaking of which, I had no fewer than 10 people ask me what my instagram account address was. Guess I need to get on that.

Read more… Continue reading →