18K yellow gold half-carat heart-shaped diamond ring with two 3mm sapphires on either side, a blue Montana sapphire and a fancy orange-red sapphire. This is the first time I’ve designed a ring with a heart-shaped stone. Previously, I’ll admit I never gave a thought to heart-shaped stones; my brain I guess lumped them together with all things cute and folksy and it didn’t really occur to me to ever use one. But, I have to admit, I really like the cut and this shape for a faceted stone. It was challenging and really fun to design for it.

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This is a re-vamp of an existing wedding solitaire with the addition of a few sapphires + smaller diamonds. I removed the diamond and reset it into a new hand-carved 18K yellow gold white oak leaf motif ring. The accompanying man’s band was a classic polished style with a discrete intaglio-style carving of two oak leaves on the inside of the band.

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Seriously epic double peacock ring in 22K gold! 6+ carat gray diamond center, .14ct antique Old European Cut diamond at the top, and four 1.5mm diamonds in the wings.

We started with the stone: a gorgeous high-domed rose-cut diamond with a cool steely gray color. We went back and forth on the metal color: rose gold, 18K yellow, etc. The design was to be art deco (oh boy!), and then as the design took shape, it seemed only fitting to go all out with 22K.

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The premise behind this storybook ring was four elements (earth, water, fire, air). Plus we hid tiny hearts in each scene. Because love! These are the two wedding bands together: Alan’s carved and cast into 14K white gold, and Kate’s 14K with a tiny emerald.

I initially did the ring shiny, which alarmed Alan a little bit as I’m guessing he was unused to wearing shiny things on his hand. So then we decided a matte finish would tone down the brightness and also maybe bring out the detail of the carving more.

It’s a hard call. I really like the matte, but I also like the shiny. I like it ALL.

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New eternity band!! This one has an abstract thorny motif with six little 1.5mm diamonds all the way around. I think it has something of a midcentury thing going. I didn’t plan it that way, rather just sort of started carving away and the design took shape as I went. I think this would be an excellent accompaniment to my rose motif solitaires and bands..

Yes! Like that.

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Joshua and I have been together for over 20 years. Twelve years ago or so I made him a ring from silver, but it has worn so much that it is easily half the thickness it once was. He has mentioned once or twice (or possibly, ahem, more) that I should carve a squid ring.

It’s about 8mm wide and made from 18K gold.

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This is a new wider version of my rose bramble band. It’s 12mm wide and 18K yellow gold. A fantastic weighty chunk of rose clusters, leaflets and thorny vines. I’m pretty damned happy with how this one turned out.

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Art nouveau/arabesque motif hand-carved solitaire in 14K rose gold with awesome 7mm peachy-colored sapphire (padparadscha). Even though the carving style is not as three-dimensional as some of my designs, it was just as hard (harder?) to carve in that I needed to keep the between-design areas nice and smooth, with no bumps or divots. I think the effect is really cool!

And the uber-rosy warmth of the whole piece is amazing! I’ve had many more orders this year than ever for rose and peachy colored gold. More pics after the jump: Continue reading →

I had been contemplating carving a peony ring for a long time. But I had all these reservations, like how to make it NOT look like a rose, how to make it awesome without making it just honking huge and heavy, how to deal with all those freaking pokey petals. Finally a client asked for a peony ring and kicked me into gear.

The idea was a solitaire-style cocktail ring, but with an elaborately carved three-dimensional peony bloom as the focal point rather than a diamond or other stone.

I like the way it looks paired with another solitaire!!

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