Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sweet Hearts Pendant for Valentine's

I always have these designs in my head of what I want to make for Valentine's Day.  I must be getting better because I made ONE of the designs this year.  Such a procrastinator!  Well, here it is.  Thought the prong setting is more appropriate for this stone since it has uneven top.  This is a tall stone too so a solid silver bezel will cost quite a penny. 

Sweet Hearts Pendant


A secret heart on the back.


This white druzy (sometimes spelled drusy) agate has nice medium size crystals to catch the light.  Whichever way it turns, some of the crystal points would catch the light.  Lots of fun rubbing a finger across the top.  The back of the stone has a glass-like polish, so I made a "secret" heart cutout.  I put a mottled black patina on the silver setting to contrast with the white stone.  Comes with a black satin cord.

I made three other similar but different pendants and will post them real soon.  Stay tuned.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Monday, January 10, 2011

RAW 52/02 - Marquise Moonstone Ring

This is the second ring for Ring A Week (RAW) challenge.

A relatively transparent piece of moonstone with a lot of blue pearly opalescence. 

You can make out the ring band through the stone.
I kept the back open.

In this picture, you can see the profile of the band that I hand forged from a straight piece of round wire.
I sculpted out a curve on the bezel.
With the stone being a long marquise shape, I thought a delicate setting will be more suitable.  It is a US size 6 and is posted on my website.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

RAW52/01 - Hammered & Engraved Band

RAW stands for Ring A Week, a ring making challenge project for a group of artists.  For my first submission, I made a silver band with hammered edges that contrast with a matte background for engraved text. Aside from the matte texture at the center of the band (which I curved slightly for a comfortable fit), the ring has a high-polish finish, even on the 18k gold accent. 

At my last show when I explained to a customer that I typically use reclaimed silver, he thought that was why my rings and pendants have matte finishs. To proof the point, I have the 2 finishes on this ring.


This design can be for men or women, a casual ring or wedding bands, with or without inscribed text. Yes, the text can be customized. On this prototype, I engraved the last two lines of Invictus, a poem by British poet William Ernest Henley. This quote was inspired by the movie, Invictus, that I recently watched.