Hand-carved hook clasp for some colorful baroque Tahitian pearls.
(more…)Archive for the ‘pearls’ Category
hand-carved gold clasp + baroque tahitians
Monday, February 24th, 2020giant tentacled baroque pearl solitaire
Thursday, February 20th, 2020
This amazing blue-ivory giant baroque Tahitian pearl deserved something pretty spectacular. I sat on it for about a year before finally designing & carving this twisting tentacled craziness for it.
I believe it worked out quite well! 18K and Tahitian pearl. This was a one-of-a-kind piece, now residing happily in the UK!
(more…)intense green pearl solitaire
Tuesday, February 18th, 2020
Gorgeous intense perfect green Tahitian pearl! Set in my favorite pearl mounting in platinum.
(more…)seahorse + cortez mabe ring
Monday, February 4th, 2019
This ring was such a joy to carve! This ring began as a design doodle that I never got around to really bringing to reality. Then I had thee perfect opportunity when a client brought me this gorgeous mabe pearl from the Sea of Cortez, and a juicy ruby to boot. And, she said, she would like to design something with seahorses! It was a perfect set-up for this ring and I think it turned out magnificently.
Many more images after the click:
(more…)swirled, crepe-y carved pearl drop pendant
Saturday, February 2nd, 2019
This pendant was inspired in part by Fujikasa Satoko’s sculpture. She makes these blindingly gorgeous flowing sculptures reminiscent of billowing silk, crepe-y poppy leaves, Loie Fuller’s dress dance..
The pearl is super smooth Tahitian with a cool greenish-pistachio color and lots of rainbow-y overtones. More images after the click:
(more…)silver-blue akoyas
Saturday, January 26th, 2019
I pretty much flipped out when I first spotted these gorgeous baroque silvery-blue akoyas at the gem show. I’ve only ever seen akoyas that were perfectly round, very prim, very Mikimoto-style. These are not those.
I have a particular fondness for blue-tinged pearls in particular too. I knotted these on silk into a 32″ strand with 22K carved snake S-clasp. I like the contrast of these icy akoyas with the super warm 22K.
This one is available for sale, by the way 🙂 More pics after the click:
(more…)giant pink pearls + snake clasp
Tuesday, October 9th, 2018
Hello, Delicious!
Amazing giant Chinese freshwater pearls in myriad shades of ivory and pink. Knotted on silk with a gold carved snake S-hook.
More pics: (more…)
pearl party!
Sunday, November 13th, 2016
I made a new batch of pieces for the shop in downtown Portland: these lovelies are 18K yellow gold with Tahitian pearls (the giant gunmetal drop & the pistachio drop), and 14K white gold with a lovely white South Sea baroque pearl. I want to keep each new thing that I make. It’s so hard letting go!
Here is another shot of the pistachio drop. I wanted to keep it.
Multi-color peachy and pink freshwater pearls! These awesome jobbers are knotted on silk and attached to a carved snake S-hook because that’s just how I roll around here. AAAHHH! Can I keep them already?!
** PSA: These guys are going really fast. If you are looking for a custom pearl piece, please send me an email. I’ll be stocking up on new pearls/raw materials in early February and before I go would be a VERY good time to get your custom order requests in. **
A LOT more photos of everything after the click: (more…)
coiled snake drop pendant + tahitian pearl
Monday, October 24th, 2016
More pearl drops! This time a ginormous perfect drop-shaped Tahitian black pearl with a hint of green and bronze to it. It’s held by a tiny coiled snake in 18K gold with an 18K gold chain. This pearl, the Art Nouveau snake below, and a few other pieces have actually been placed in a shop in Downtown Portland! First time for me to have my things in a shop. I’m a little nervous to see how they do, so here’s hoping it works out.
All sides of the snake are carved in full detail. More pics after the jump: (more…)
art nouveau snake pendant + pearl
Tuesday, October 18th, 2016
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.)
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.
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.
Me wearing the 14K/Tahitian pearl version, to give you a sense of scale. Many more pics after the click: (more…)
