Keeping it in the family

I knew my girl liked her jewellery, like her mama.  I knew she loved to string colourful beads and I knew she loved to adorn herself.   However, that she would go away and make her mama a present so apt, so fitting and so in every way adorable, is just the sweetest thing.

My baby made me a ring.  

A ring with her hand drawn on it, and the artist's signature (twice, for good measure)

The mark of a craftsman-in-waiting?  She even sized it. 

I love that girl.

Birdie Love

I am fascinated by birds, always have been, so I couldn't have been more pleased when I started noticing more and more avian-stuff in fashion - suddenly birds were everywhere, from teacups to logos to jewellery. 

And I promise it is without an ounce of illwill to all those members of my family with a pronounced aversion to our feathered friends, and just purely as a tribute to this wonderful group of animals (now come on, who hasn't wondered how it feels to actually be a bird in flight, huh?) that I set out to create a few bird-related pieces:

A bird in a fountain ring in sterling silver.  He really looks like he's having a bath.

A selection of foresty charms of which one was, of course, an adorable little feathered creature:

And then this handsome fellow. 

This aristo peacock is a brooch, and at nearly 10cm long by 7cm wide, and made entirely in fine silver, there is just one of him.

I'll introduce him properly on a later post.

A Gorgeous New Ring

I loved doing this special commission that was the birthday present for a beautiful girl from her mum.  It is hand forged sterling silver, with a tube-set green sapphire.  Difficult to tell from this picture but the ring was v-shaped at the shoulders to show off more of the stone.  Gorgeous and sparkly.

Citrine Ring

Practiced a new style of ring today, with shoulders that come up next to the collet.  This one is sterling silver with a gorgeous faceted citrine which is a beautiful form of quartz.  I was surprised to learn that the quartz family includes along with rose quartz and smoky quartz, the less obvious agates, jaspers, chalcedony and even amethyst is a form of quartz!  and did you know that quartz is the second largest occurring mineral on earth and that it is the main constituent in granite stone.....   lovely family, the Quartzes.

Stone setting

My stone setting course at jewellery industry supremos HS Walsh just finished.   We learnt the professional way of doing three different types of setting:  rubover, claw and grain - they all have different personalities.  Rubover is a bit of a bullmastiff - you need a fair bit of brute force but can be moulded into a gentle and obedient curve.  Claw setting is the primadonna of the settings, very dainty, very exacting and surprisingly time-consuming!   Grain setting remains a bit of a mystery to me....   this is a calculated setting that requires not just a good understanding of geometry but also dexterity in the use of the setter tools - too much going on at once!  one to practice slowly, so please don't be asking me for pave set diamonds just yet!

And yes, these are unfinished cast ring blanks - no shine!