I’ve carved a few pictorial panorama rings with similar themes: tree, ocean, wave, shell, etc. It is a really fun ring to carve because I get to have so much real-estate! On this one, the client wanted to have his favorite mountain: Mammoth Mountain in CA. The finished piece was cast into Palladium.
More photos after the jump of the full panarama… Continue reading
This was a custom engagement solitaire in 18K white gold with a ~1/3ct diamond. I carved a scrolling leafy/arabesque design and worked in initials of the bride and groom. At the bottom of the band is a pi symbol. More images after the jump! Continue reading
Ring carved with morning glory motif. I went very three-dimensional here—kind of a Rivendell vibe. 14K palladium white gold, lavender sapphire and diamond.
I don’t often use the palladium white gold alloys (14K or 18K palladium white gold); it amazes me how every alloy is different from one another. The color of the 14KPd white is deeper—steelier even—than the standard 14K alloy I normally use (nickel alloy). I feel like it also takes a more intense polish than the 14K nickel white, but maybe it is an illusion of the darker color.
A LOT more images after the jump… Continue reading
Just a quick sneak peek a new piece I’m working on for me for the shop. (This is the bottom of the ring.) I am still waiting to buy the stone for it; I am thinking a ruby would be suitable. The red color with the 18K gold seems to work really well.
Oh hello there! I’m still here. I got slammed with Christmas orders (why I thought this would not be no big whoop, I have no idea) and then once I finished and shipped everything, I spent a month stumbling around with my eyes glazed over.
I have some new custom pieces I made, which I’m very excited to show everyone. I just have to wait for the recipients to get them so I can post pics.
In the meantime, here’s one that is not necessarily a new design, but used a very unique natural color peachy-pink rose-cut diamond. Quite loverly!
Man. Nothing beats the color of 18K yellow gold. I always thought I was more of a white gold person but lately I find myself loading up on the 18K yellow.
And actually, here is another version of this same ring I did using rose gold and a gorgeous 1 carat stone:
I wonder how this ring would look using a huge champagne-colored diamond…
14K white gold, 1/3 carat diamond set into a blooming rose. Pretty pretty!!
18K gold wedding bands carved with oak leaves and acorn clusters.
Katherine’s husband is a botanist and the two of them have a particular fondness for white oak trees. I designed this set of wedding bands with three leaf/acorn clusters wrapped around the band. Each time I carve a new ring, it is my new favorite, and these rings are no exception. I think they turned out beautifully.
And some wax images..
Lunar landscape rings. I carved a scale version of the moon’s South Central Highlands (craters Ptolomaeus to Clavius, roughly) onto a pair of wedding bands. His is palladium 950 and hers is rose gold with a tiny pink champagne-colored diamond set into a cute little crater called “Hell.”
To behold the mildly embarrassing geekery that preceded these rings (and see a zillion more photos), please read the rest of the story… Continue reading
Hand-carved Forest of Trees band with eight (I believe) recycled diamonds (picked out of old jewelry the client sent me). I am damned happy with how this ring turned out. It was a long time in the making, with no fewer than fifty thousand emails back and forth with the client beginning in October of last year I think it was, extensive research into how not to be charged customs for stones and metal that she was sending me to use in the ring, extraction of stones and recycling of old gold, and then I began carving! Whew!
The design started out as “trees” and finalized to be Ancient Oak Forest on a Bright Night with Rising Full Moon and Early Evening Stars peeking through the branches.
Here’s a shot of the early wax. I sort of ran with the initial ancient oak theme and got a little overzealous with the trippy branches. “Healthy happy oaks!!” called the client. I fledged out the trees with leaves and this toned down the creepy Halloween vibe that was threatening.
Moving around the ring. Main stone was about 4mm in diameter and the rest of the little guys were around 2mm. It is really hard to get good photos of bright shiny things that have a lot of texture and detail. I have to say though, no matter how nice something might look in the photos, it ALWAYS looks at least ten times better in person.
When I at last finished the ring and had it packaged and ready to ship, we were chagrined to find the Canadian post on strike; no mail was being delivered in the country unless by private courier. After a couple of weeks, things had been “settled” and the ring was shipped and delivered without incident (or customs charges! Hooray!).
The choice of 18K white gold was I think perfect. It is not as white as platinum, palladium, or even 14K white; I do not rhodium plate my white gold. It has a very slight yellowish cast, which makes it look like metallic ivory to me. Warms it up a little and gives it a more antique-y feel. It worked nicely to represent a silvery moonlit night.
14K gold Pond Lily ring set with customer’s salvaged 3.8mm diamonds! I had to do some reworking of the petals and bloom sizes to accommodate the diamonds and the finished piece looked pretty sweet.
Mmmmmm buttery.
Why hello there!