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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Just a pretty picture of a bunch of colorful gold rings + diamonds. 18K yellow gold, 14K rose gold, 14K palladium white gold and diamonds. The large rectangular stone is a translucent rose-cut diamond set in a modified version of my poppy band.
Sometimes people I’ve made rings for send me photos from their wedding. I love seeing these!
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.
I took a ton of photos of this one: click for more more more! Continue reading
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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Snake ring #2: Coiled snake wedding band with 2mm diamond in 18K brushed gold. I burnished the ridge of the snake’s body mirror bright, which stands out nicely against the matte finish. I did a bit of research into the structure of snake heads for this one. Did you know that each scale on a snake’s head has a name and is more or less consistent throughout all the species? Science, man.
It pairs nicely with a solitaire, of course, as many things are improved by the addition of a large diamond. The little dip in the snake band snugs in well with the low-profile solitaire.
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This started off as an idle doodle in my notebook, then I kept passing by it on my way to other more serious pages and it would catch my eye. So I just carved it one day when I was feeling like I had a bit of free time. And it sat on my bench for a few weeks, making me look at it… It’s just not the super-carvey typicalness I usually do so I wasn’t sure if it was worth casting. Something about it is really appealing though so I finally threw it in with my last batch of castings, and did it in 22K no less. I’ve been wearing it around and I kind of love it.
I photographed it on my left hand, but I’ve been wearing it on my right. The diamond & little scrolly bit are very slightly off-set and balance better on the right hand. The diamond, by the way is a 2mm VS+ clarity top light brown diamond (maybe L-O color?), but honestly, it didn’t look it in the paper and it certainly doesn’t look it set into the metal. The only way I can tell they are off-color is if I open up a paper of F colors next to it. Those puppies are blinding.
I FINALLY ordered my hallmarks. I had 14K and 18K before, but now I also have PT950 (platinum), PD950 (palladium), 22K, and some cute little for-fun ones: a “CW” for my initials and a little butterfly. You can sort of see the butterfly on the right in this zoomed-in crop. I’m still getting used to stamping things. I was always really paranoid about stamping my pieces because many of my rings are carved all the way around and the pressure required to stamp in the mark can potentially damage the delicate bits in the carvings. I’m still figuring it out. It’s tricky to get a nice complete stamp if the ring is not totally flat on the inside (mine are rounded), or narrow (some of mine are), or is not smooth on the outside (many of mine aren’t). Also, each alloy is a different hardness, so I have to get used to how hard to push. I overdid it a bit on this one I think.
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COLORS!! These are some of the first solitaires I’ve made using non-white metal. LOVE them:
This is a cushion-cut diamond set in 14K rose gold. This is also the first ring I’ve made using a cushion and I love how it turned out. The diamond looked awesome in the pink gold.
18K yellow gold diamond solitaire with Rosy Eternity band (diamond, garnet, alexandrite, sapphire, and peridot used).
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