Calla Lily ring in 14K rose gold with a really cool blue-green Montana Sapphire. Annoyingly, my photo light box made this stone look really boring. Here is a video of it outside in the shade where it looks awesome and lively. The stone did, however, change color dramatically depending upon the lighting: sometimes more greenish/aqua, and other times more smoky blue. More pics after the click! Continue reading
It has been really fun to see how this ring transforms with each new and totally different stone I make it with. I’ve been lucky enough to get to try it with the original boulder opal of course, this glossy and awesome smoky semi-black Lightning Ridge opal, an insanely gorgeous carnelian that looked like jelly candy, and a gorgeous white opal with a flash of turquoise running through it. I love the different vibes each stone lends this ring. I’m ready to make more!
This is the nicest carnelian I’ve ever seen; it is all natural color and actually the original stone was larger and I had it cut down to fit this setting. The diamonds in this and the smoky black opal above are both antique Old European Cut diamonds.
Pairing a bright green-blue paraiba tourmaline with this opal was a brilliant idea. It looked so good against the yellow gold and really brought the blue and green flashes out of the opal.
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Giant oval Tanzanite set in an 18K white gold bezel solitaire carved with poppies! I gave this solitaire a nice prominent height, and carved poppies all the way around the bezel. I’m always up for carving my favorite flower, and this ring turned out so nicely.
Tanzanite is a cool stone: it shows slightly different body colors depending upon the type of light you view it in; sometimes more purplish violet, sometimes more blue. When it comes out of the ground, it shows three distinct body colors depending upon the axis from which you view it: blue, purple, and a reddish brown. The rough crystals are then heated to remove the reddish/brown color and you are left with a blue/purple stone that is what you typically see in jewelry.
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This pearl is about the side of the top of my thumb—it is giant! And Tahitian, and with a really nice peacock-y iridescence. I carved this little octopus guy for it and it just turned out so cool! 18K yellow gold.
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Epic Crowned Heart & Dancing Ladies ring featuring an amazing 6.86ct 14mm+ black diamond heart, a tidy passel of rose-cut diamonds, an Old European cut diamond, and a little ruby. This ring was designed around this cool black heart and went through a lot of iterations en route to the finish line. It was so worth it—it turned out SO nicely!
Here’s a video of that stone in action too; it’s a glitter monster.
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It was inevitable that I would get around the carving an anchor pendant. Zillions of them are out there, and with good reason: they are iconic and symbolic and just flipping cool. Here’s my iteration.
Since this is not an anchor for dragging along the bottom of the sea, I made it in 22K gold and added a .11ct E-F-G VS pear diamond and a little 2mm emerald.
YAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!! That is a photo of The Sailing Jeweler + The Husband, once upon a time.
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New solitaire for the shop! This one is a little bit sturdier and made to accommodate stones in the 1.5ct range (~7.5mm), though I kept it very low profile. I art deco-ed out a little on this one and carved in subtle ‘facets’ to give it a little geometric interest. I think it turned out supercool!!
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Hand-carved pendant with a swirl of feathery Rococo-style leaves. I absolutely love carving free-form pieces like this—not so much that the overall shape/design is free-form, but more the detail and contour on each leaf, which I just kind of got to make up as I went. It’s in 18K gold with a 1/4 carat diamond dewdrop. Or maybe a moon rising through a break in the trees. I keep changing my mind..
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More snake rings: BIGGER snake rings. This ring I carved around a sweet boulder opal I just couldn’t pass up because I thought it was like looking down upon a little tropical inlet, like maybe in the Baja perhaps, specifically around here… I got a nice little Old European cut antique diamond to accent the piece and finished it up a couple of weeks ago! LOVE how it turned out. I was hard pressed to let it go, and honestly, if it weren’t one of my favorite clients who bought it, I may have had to keep it myself.
This is, however, a new studio piece and I can customize (different stones, change up the diamond, 14K, 18K white or yellow gold, etc.) and adjust for size. It’s now listed in my Etsy shop!
See how amazing this ring is? It makes even my ratty old studio sweatshirt look chic! (I kid.)
The other ring in this photo is my Coiled Snake Solitaire—also available in the Etsy shop.
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Completed wax carving for my tapered poppy band.
And the finished ring in 18K white gold! I love this ring!
I made this design as a replacement for a customer who was finding the evenly wide, fully carved-all-the-way-around band uncomfortable between her fingers. The tapered shape is perfect because you get lots of carved action up top, but the underneath is smooth, uncarved, and comfortable when you close your fingers. I kept the sides fairly low-action but still detailed.
Oh hey. I see it pairs nicely with the 12mm wide rose bramble band. Figures.
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